White Bass Report

[Phil Lilley]

Vince and I fished yesterday pm. Put in at River Run. Vince fished most of the afternoon and I showed up at 5:30 and fished till dark.

This was Vince's trip and he found the whites after fishing most of the afternoon so I'm not going to get in the details but there are a good number of whites and very good size above Swan Creek. Lots of trollers out and they were doing real well. Shad Raps is what we heard. We caught most of our on a suspending medium stick bait- and late I caught mine on a 1/8th oz white jig. Vince caught his limit and I ended up taking 12 home. No walleye.

We didn't go down there but I'd say there should be whites down on the willow bank. I think it's marked on the BS maps here. I did see boats down there fishing which is usually a good sign.

Sows weren't even close to spawning by the look of their eggs. Good size - up to 2.5 pounds and some big males too. I'd say the whites are in good shape of Bull Shoals again. Still not the same numbers as the 80's but good still.

[zander]

Sounds like a nice afternoon, we didn't fish around the willows on Friday. We almost did but decided against it. I hope we get our boat running before the white bass stop running this year.

[lonkm]

Vince and I fished yesterday pm. Put in at River Run. Vince fished most of the afternoon and I showed up at 5:30 and fished till dark.

This was Vince's trip and he found the whites after fishing most of the afternoon so I'm not going to get in the details but there are a good number of whites and very good size above Swan Creek. Lots of trollers out and they were doing real well. Shad Raps is what we heard. We caught most of our on a suspending medium stick bait- and late I caught mine on a 1/8th oz white jig. Vince caught his limit and I ended up taking 12 home. No walleye.

We didn't go down there but I'd say there should be whites down on the willow bank. I think it's marked on the BS maps here. I did see boats down there fishing which is usually a good sign.

Sows weren't even close to spawning by the look of their eggs. Good size - up to 2.5 pounds and some big males too. I'd say the whites are in good shape of Bull Shoals again. Still not the same numbers as the 80's but good still.

Phil. Where is the map you talk about? I did a search and didn' find it. Thanks Lonnie

[Phil Lilley]

http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...9&Itemid=94

Fished again last night. Caught 4, lost another at the boat first 10 casts. White 1/8th oz jig. They were pretty close to the bank. Got there at 6 pm. Wind was alittle tough. Good current. Not as many boats. Bite shut off quick. Stayed after dark- still nothing which I was surprised. Thought I'd hook a walleye but didn't.

[ozarkgunner]

Phil. Where is the map you talk about? I did a search and didn' find it. Thanks Lonnie

I fished last night until 9 p. I got 3 walleyes. One on a minnow and two on a shad rap. They were right in the middle of the heavy current. Fished for whites from the bank in the mouth of swan... nothing!

[Phil Lilley]

Hum... I thought they liked eddies, not current (walleye). Any keepers?

If they keep running water, I'm going to catch me some chubs and head over and fish the eddies for walleye, if I have time.

[TroutRabbithunter]

I fished yesterday and today at the pot hole and at the mouth of Swan Creek and caught a few white bass. I got most of my fish close to shore. Got one close to three pounds on a blue fox vibrax. It was fairly tough with the wind, but a good day overall.

[Phil Lilley]

I think this bite will be good for quite a few days to come. These white bass aren't going anyplace till they spawn. Cold temps aren't going to move them... the water is going to stay the same temp esp as long as they run water.

As far as I can tell, this is one of the few places where a guy can catch some nice sized whites, not the little males everyone's been catching in James, Long and Beaver.

It will change though.

[Jeff Burkhart]

Phil the white have all but shut off in Beaver. I'm glad to see you catching some fish of size also. Got into them last week at K-Dock cove and had some good fish but even those have shut down. Hope this cold front doesn't turn them back to deep water. Remember about 4 or 5yrs ago when the sows come up then it got cold and the studs stayed but the majority of sows blew their eggs on the sand flats in the lake.... hope it aint one of those years. Did catch some nice slab crappie at K-Dock on Sunday morn kinda weird not around brush but on the sand flat. Keep me posted on how your doing and I will do the same since I live in Kissee Mills.

[Phil Lilley]

If you look back, gosh- Jan and Feb, we were catching slab crappie on the drop offs and flats way back then. Same with whites.

I think may be we're all gun shy, alittle fearful that the weather is going to screw up a good fishing spring season. We have a right to be... the last 2 springs have been nothing short of CRAZY bad. This spring, so far, has been real close to normal. But we're sitting on the edge of our chairs, analyzing every bite, every weather change.

Some of these whites will spawn in the lake. On other lakes they do. I think. Regardless it's out of our hands.

One thing is for sure... there ARE good whites and crappie out there this year. That stirs up our excitement (and anxiety) even more.