Big Whites

[slipknot]

Greetings from this new poster from Oklahoma. I am finally getting the opportunity to fish the Rock over this July 4th holiday. Myself and my family will be at Big Cedar. I am pulling my boat up there to fish for those huge white bass that this lake has quite a reputation for.

I would sincerely appreciate any tips you can share with me on what part of TR lake in July will be my best bet to fish for those monster whites.

Thank you all in advance !

[taxidermist]

Zara Spooks on the points from 5:30 to 10:00AM, also white Rooster tails will tear them up.

[SKMO]

There is usually a good topwater bite right on the dam on that end of the lake. Over extremely deep water, it can start as early as the first hint of sun, more often about 0530 - 0600, and will last 20 minutes to ?? long depending on the whims of the fish, ammt of cloud cover, and ammt of boat traffic/fishing pressure which can turn them off.

Overall and generally lakewide they come up early in the AM, if it is cloudy sometimes they don't appear until as late as 0900 or 1000. It is fairly common in my experience for them to appear and hour or so later than the black bass species on cloudy days. On sunny days the KY's and other bass will usually stop all topwater activity as soon as the sun crests the hills and hits the water, yet the possibility always exists for whites to make a showing in that next hour.

If I was targeting whites I would want to be launching in the dark. On a cloudy funky weather day they seem to come up later, and you have a good chance of finding them surfacing on and off all day. Actually do not be surprised to find them surfacing on a bluebird day when you least expect it. Locations are wherever you find them, but the key is they will always be around the shad. Smack dab in the middle of the lake off expansive gravel flats, or in the mouth of deeper coves seems to me to be two general areas they can be located. In other words you can get into them about anywhere if you are in 30-40' water or more.

When I am chasing the topwater fish I have at a minimum 3 rods on deck with 1) a topwater plug (Sammy or Redfin) for when you can put it in their face. Any topwater will work, just pick one you can cast a long ways. 2) a grub on a 3/8 jighead when I know I am casting to where they just were 30 seconds ago but they are now back deep 3) a 3/4 oz spoon that I can fling a mile and get to the surfacing fish pronto no other way. A good surface bust will probably last 15-30 seconds max and if you are not laying something on top of them you have probably missed out. Get yourself in general casting position toward their last location and stay quiet and off the trolling motor. Who knows where they will come up next. Trying to run from bunch to bunch is usually counterproductive, by the time you get there they will be gone, and probably surfacing right where you just left. I have better results positioning the boat in the middle of where they are generally surfacing and sitting tight.

When you can find them surfacing and put something with a hook in front of them I am convinced they will hit pretty much anything.

If you can't find surface fish I think you just need to find the concentrations of shad on your electronics and probe downward. Lots of people also troll for them as well, throughout the day with 3-way rigs, with good results.

There can also be an evening topwater bite, same general places.

Lots of big whites in the pond but I think they can be frustrating when you target them specifically, the July 4 crowd will not be an advantage, pray for some rain and clouds.

[Whack'emGood]

Pay attention to SKMO's post... he really knows what he is talking about. Also Babler, House, Prey (focused fishing) or Stone (ozarksfishin) are excellent guides and they may have something to post for you (pay attention to what they say to the T). I usually don't target them because they are so unpredictable and can be anywhere. We sometimes get into them when we fish for blacks... They will just start busting shad out of nowhere. It is key to be in a spot that is choc full of shad thats for sure... they will be around somewhere when that is the case. Could be anywhere on the lake with some depth really. Even right out in the middle. I always have a grub and topwater tied on and ready to fling when they surface within casting range. They are alot of fun for sure... and when you cast to them... HANG ON! Sorry I can not be of much more help. Welcome, and good luck!

[Phil Lilley]

Great post JL!!

I know people troll one cove to the north of Big Cedar- Clevenger- and do pretty well. We are still looking for the whites to show up in several areas for the early morning bite- some areas they have been the last few years. I'm sure word will leak out when they do show.

[Bill Babler]

The Post by SKMO is an absolute primer for early and late White Bass.

Lilley touched on deep trolling some fantastic areas.

I would also suggest the flat across from point 16 to the mouth of the James. 3/4 oz shad raps on 10 pound mono trolled behind Goat Island to Wolf pen may be as good as any. Also the Baxter flat across for Baxter Marina.

You have recieved the best info possible.

Good Luck

[skeeter]

Slipknot you just got about $5000 worth of advice from the best there are around these parts.

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in about spoons. If you can still find a Kastmaster ( actual brand name ) spoon anywhere these days in shiny chrome finish with a white feather trailer on the treble hook, buy one for each person in your party. You can throw these things about over the horizon on a good spinning rig with big enough line guides to allow the line to come off the spool quickly. Use a high quality ball bearing snap swivel to attach to your line as they will twist the line and you're not going to be retrieving them slowly. Cast beyond where the whites are coming up ( if possible ) and chasing and retrieve through them, preferrably in front of them if you can figure out the direction they are headed as they chase the shad. Most days you don't have to do anything fancy, just turn the handle on the reel and they will bust it. When the fish go down and look like they have stopped, many times you can fan cast the area and allow the spoon to flutter down 10-20 feet and catch another fish or two or even the Kentuckies or Largemouth that sometimes follow underneath the whites picking up the scraps. Locations given in previous posts are the best and sometimes, if conditions are right those big four pounders will corner a school of baitfish against a pea-gravel bank right alongside a long sloping point. Best of luck to you and hope you find 'em.

[slipknot]

Thanks to all from this Okie that you have all made feel right at home here on your forum. My brother and I just fished a Crappie Tournament on Truman a few weeks ago. We were both very impressed on how well your state maintains it's lakes, ramps, campgrounds, roads and facilities.

I am grateful for all of your direction, experience and willingness to share.

I am really excited to apply all of your advice, locate those whites and put that 4lb'der in the boat

[SKMO]

A couple people PM'd me asking what a 3-way rig was so here goes.

Take 3-way swivel and attach it to the end of your line. Tie a big crankbait on one of the remaining eyes with about 2' of line. Tie a rooster tail or small twister tail grub on the other eye with about 4' of leader of 8# clear mono or floro.

For the plug I have used 3/4 oz Mudbugs, DD22's, and 3/4 oz Hellbenders. All of these will troll well without turning over in the water. Take the front hook off the plug, you will be less apt to hang up in trees. One guy I know swears it helps to have a red/white plug so you may want to repaint one.

Try to determine the depth of the shad and fish. Look for real loose, dispersed bunches of shad which have been scattered by feeding fish. You may or may not see the larger fish but if the shad are acattered that is an excellent sign. (Real tight balls of shad on or near the bottom with no big fish around.... not as promising).

Once you determine the depth of the baitfish, you want to put your plug at that depth or slightly shallower (above the fish). If you determine 30' is where you want to be, go find a clean gravel flat and troll in 30' of water, letting line out slowly from a baitcaster, until you start to bump bottom. Reel in and count the number of layers or level winds of line you recover on your reel. When you troll all you need to do is let the line out while counting layers of line and your plug should end up at the right depth.

99% of WB will be caught on the spinner or grub, but expect to hook some black bass and the occasional walleye on the plug. Basically you are using the plug like a downrigger to get the spinner/grub to the right depth.

This works well any time of the day, and it seems to work well, possibly even best when there is a lot of boat traffic on a hot summer day. When it is real calm and you are the only boat, I think they might spook from underneath, but on busy days they have no place to hide from the traffic and your noise is camoflaged by other boat traffic. Sometimes is helps to troll in a lazy s pattern as opposed to driving in a straight line. That gets your rig through some fish you have not just driven over and adds some different speeds to the presentation.

SKMO

[Martin]

Another option on the trolling rig is to take a magnum hellbender and tie right to your main line. Now, take about a 2 1/2 foot to 3 ft piece of mono and tie the roostertail to one end. (1/4 oz roostertails work real well). Now tie a large ball bearing snap swivel to the other end of the short line. Now open the snap and put it around the shank of the FRONT hook on the hellbender. The weight and resistance from the roostertail helps pull the bill of the hellbender down.

Some guys remove the entire rear treble hook to avoid getting your leader caught on it when you are letting out. I don't remove the whole hook but I sometimes clip the one hook on the treble that points down.

SKMO's rigging works great too. I'm just throwing in another possibility.

If you keep a magic marker handy, you can mark your line in front of the reel when you catch a fish. Then you can let out to the mark on the line and know you're in the ballpark.

120 feet of line out is a good starting point. Have fun !!