White Bass Rig

[Sam]

I've been playing with small to medium size white bass in the K Dock area for several weeks now. They're surfacing some, but when they're not on top they're biting pretty slow.

One of the problems is that they're biting best on a white Roostertail, and it's hard to get that down deep. When they're not surfacing the fish are 15'-20' down, they're moving around a lot, and they're not concentrated enough to cast to. That means it's best to troll and cover a lot of water while watching for boils to chase - and a Roostertail will only run about 3' deep when trolled. Mostly, they won't come up that far to hit it. Casting an unweighted Roostertail into a boil works fine of course, but the boils aren't happening that often.

I've tried trolling heavier spoons, a Rattletrap, a Bandit, a Little George, and a Swimmin' Minnow with a heavy jighead to go deeper - but they like the Roostertail best. For a couple of trips I put a Texas-rig slip sinker above a swivel tied 18" above the Roostertail, and that worked better. I think that rig trolls about 7' deep.

Yesterday I came across the answer. I tied on a 1/2 oz. Little George with a white 1/6 oz. Roostertail 18" below it, tied onto the tail of the Little George. I used 10-lb. Stren monofilament between the two lures, as there's no swivel and the heavier leader resists being twisted by the Roostertail. That works great!

This rig trolls deep, and it doesn't tangle when casting. Just before it hits the water I pinch the line a little so the Roostertail lands furthest away from the boat and the rig stays straight. Using a medium-heavy 6 1/2' spinning rod and a sidearm cast, I don't know how far I can throw this - but it's a long, long ways and that helps when fish are surfacing.

This rig gets lots of doubles, too. White bass are competitive, and having two in-line spinners chasing seems to get more strikes. Then when one white bass is hooked, the others try to take it away from him and lots of times this gets two fish on at once. The only downside is the chaos that ensues when I'm trying to get TWO flopping fish off of treble hooks in the boat - but that's part of the fun.

This is a real productive way to rig for white bass, and I thought I oughta share. BTW, I like Bass Pro's "Uncle Buck" knockoff a lot better than the original Roostertail - the hook and blade are bigger and they spin a lot easier.

[Jason Essary]

Sam, anouther productive way to troll for them is to use a poor-mans planer. I have done it since i was back in highschool. Take a large crankbait and take of the rear hook and run 2 to 4 feet of line to a roostertail. The old Hellbenders are what we used, as they are very stable with the rearward pull. Some will run sideways with the rear tension. Also, hellbenders have a swivle on the rear of the bait for a small spinner. White hellbender and a white roostertail was always the best. If u get lucky, might catch a big walleye on the crank.

[Sam]

Sam, anouther productive way to troll for them is to use a poor-mans planer.

Yes, I've done that too at times. As you say though, it takes a big plug like a Hellbender to make it work.

With anything smaller (that 11" white bass would bite), the pull of a Roostertail on the rear hook-eye keeps the plug from wobbling - then the diving lip causes the plug to spin around.

If I was fishing where a big plug would get anywhere near the bottom, I'd use a "poor man's planer" in hopes of a walleye. But the fish are in 40-45 feet of water, and there's not much but white bass and some Kentuckies suspended halfway-down out there.

[shaker]

Sam have you tried the Vibric RoosterTail? It has a inline blade with a offset body that resists line twist, and blade spins very easy. I like your idea looks like a good one!

[rps]

An old trick I learned at Texhoma while striper fishing:

To avoid pulling your plug off course with the trailer, remove the FRONT hook and attach a swivel to the eyelet. Tie the dropper to the swivel and you erase line twist problems while acquiring the ability to use a smaller plug to reach the same depth. The advantage of the plug is that the baits either don't sink or sink more slowly if you stop or slow the boat.

[Martin]

Or you can leave all the hooks on the Hellbender and use a fairly large ball bearing snap swivel. Put the snap around the shank of the front treble on the HB. You have to use a little care when letting that rig out to make sure the trailer line doesn't foul in the rear hook, but you can't cast it anyway, so just use some care and it works great. If you're going to have a large crankbait down there, you might as well have hooks on it !

[Sam]

Thanks, fellers - I'm learning all kinds of good stuff here.

I've always been innovative about catching fish. Back when we were first married (wow, 1965) my new wife would sometimes get upset at me when she was doing the laundry. She'd find a good white T-shirt with a strip cut off the hem.

That meant I'd been fishing with whatever tackle I could carry in my shirt pocket, and I'd unexpectedly come across crappie. I'd cut a strip of white cloth to fish on a bare hook below a split-shot sinker, and I'd bring some crappie home.

Sometimes I wonder how I used to fish just fine with what I could carry in a shirt pocket, and now I need a whole boat-load of stuff. Figuring out things that catch fish is a lot of the fun, though, and you gave me some good ideas.