White Bass Everywhere !

[Jason Essary]

I have a report i have to share. But in Friday night at Cape Fair, just messing around. Caught 3 quality fish, and one 4.15lb bigmouth on a tappered point, outside of cool water cove. 16 foot deep with a swimbait. All four fish were STILL full of eggs, really suprised me.

Next went to Piney to try and find some white bass. Mission was a success. caught my limit in the rain, most average size, with a few big sows.

Toke a friend this morning, we pulled into piney at the break of daylight. toke almost 20 minutes to find the feeders, and the trip was on. we limited out in 45 minutes, culling for just the size we wanted. overall, we lost count at 100 fish caught, and that was by 9:30 mind u. Caught a dozen blacks mixed in, most shorts but two keepers. It was had at times to not catch a fish on every cast. Most whites were average males, maybe even a little smaller, but not the dinks that were roaming the james. MAN, what a blast. we figure we caught over 150 by 11 when we decided to call it quits.

Most all whites were caught on shad raps or quarter ounce jigging spoons, but anything really that looked like a 3-4 inch shad and moving somewhat fast would catch them. At daylight, the biggest school of fish were near the back of the cove, near the cut line, and as the morning went on, they slowly moved toward the mouth. Found fish anywhere from 8 foot to as deep as 30. most were suspended at 12 foot and would run the the surface to catch a bait.

Anyone wanting to take a kid fishing, this would be an awesome trip. No telling how long they will be there, I am going back in the morning before daylight, taking my father........Good Luck.....

[motoman]

Cool report Jessary! Be sure and let us know how you and your father do with them whites. Those times certainly are a blast!

[bjovan]

Sweet I hope they are to be found in two weeks, love to get into a mess of whites with my wife.

Bill

[steveearle]

Hopefully you were "culling" by just keeping the bigger ones and throwing the little ones back immediatlely and not replacing the ones already in the livewell with bigger ones....that is illegal!

Sounds fun though

[Jason Essary]

Guess im up for punishment. Talked to a friend, ended up taking her and her 8 year old boy tonite for a couple hours. We caught fish until we hit fifty. Amazing how many are in there. We released all as i am tired of cleaning. And Yes, we were just keeping the size we wanted, didnt mean to say we were actually culling fish out of the livewell. Never do that except for tourneys with blacks.

Just a thought, Steveearie, why would it be illegal anyways. Guys do it every day with Blacks!

[Sam]

Generally, "culling" white bass means throwing back the ones that are bigger or smaller than you want to eat - and I'm sure that's what he meant. That's what I do when it's obvious I'm going to get a limit - not by getting in the live well, but just throwing back the ones I don't want as I catch them.

Under 10", white bass don't have much meat on them. Over 15", they're awful strong tasting. The ideal size for me is about 12"-14", so if it looks like I'm gonna catch 100 fish I figure I might as well keep count of the ones I put in the live well and only put the ones I want to keep in there. There's nothing illegal about that.

There's a new limit on the real big ones, too - only two fish over 18", or something like that. I don't remember exactly because I always throw those big brooder sows back anyway. They're lots of fun to catch, but 'way too fishy tasting for me.

[Jason Essary]

Sam, im with ya. perfect sizing too. and ya, sows over 18" always go back, but are a blast to catch.

[Phil Lilley]

Use to be 4 over 18 inches. Not sure if they changed it. I mentioned that to a guy in Swan one evening cause he was bragging on the huge whites he had.

The rule is meant for hybrids but most people can't tell the difference between whites and hybrids.

[Sam]

We lived for a while where I fished the Pacific Ocean about as often as I fished in fresh water. A friend and I rigged up a smoker, and we got to smoking fish (yeah I know, it's hard to keep 'em lit ).

We were surprised to find that good freshwater fish like crappie weren't too good smoked, and neither were the mild ocean fish we normally enjoyed eating, like halibut, rock cod, and calico bass. The best smoked fish came from oily ocean fish that were so strong-tasting we didn't like them any other way - mackeral, yellowtail, barracuda, and bonito. I bet filets from big white bass would be real good smoked, because they're the same way.

[LEBHUNTFISH]

How do you get to Piney access after you get to cape fair from Springfield, mo. And where do you fish at at Cape fair, can you fish from the docks by the bridge. I have never been there. Please help I would like to catch some of those Whites.