Kayak in the White

[Kyle R]

I was thinking about taking the kayak out on the white river arm tomorrow afternoon. Are there any striper in the area? What lures could you catch them on? Whites? Walleye? Bass? I saw YAKFM caught a few walleye on a crankbait. I might try that, but I'd like to know if any of you had any other ideas on how to catch a few to start the year. Thanks for any advice!

[hoglaw]

Yes, you can kayak on the river, but be careful as there's lots of boat traffic right now. It was packed yesterday. I doubt you'll find any striper in the river right now. You can catch white bass and maybe a few crappie. If you get lucky, a walleye or two. Lots of different lures will produce. There are plenty of fish in the river, but they are very scattered, or at least that's my take on it. Crankbaits, swimbaits, and in-line spinners should produce fish.

[YAKFM]

I was thinking about taking the kayak out on the white river arm tomorrow afternoon. Are there any striper in the area? What lures could you catch them on? Whites? Walleye? Bass? I saw YAKFM caught a few walleye on a crankbait. I might try that, but I'd like to know if any of you had any other ideas on how to catch a few to start the year. Thanks for any advice!

I agree with Hoglaw. The fish seem to be scattered right now. I covered many miles of water and finally found the 4 walleye in one relatively small area. No striper that I am aware of, but the whites are making their way up. Small hair jigs, grubs, swimbaits, flies, and of course live bait are all viable alternatives to cranks. I have done well in the past for whites and crappie in the river using 1/16 or 1/32 oz hair jigs under a float. You can pick up walleye with this setup too.

[JohnF52]

I was at Hwy 45 bridge from about noon until two or so today. Water temp was about 55 mid afternoon. Dingy but not muddy, Good current flow. Very little was being caught compared to the number of fishermen. The lot was nearly full. One livewell had several small to medium white bass and one walleye after about 4 or 5 hours. Many caught one or two or nothing. Most are in agreement that the water is still a little cool. I was told it was 53 degrees down at Walker's Bluff, which is less than a mile down river, but the lake backs up to just past there.

[Kyle R]

Thanks for all the replys. I'll be careful in the kayak. I was hoping a Wednesday afternoon wouldn't be to busy, but it sounds like everyone's got it on there minds. I'll post if I catch anything

[Chef of the Sea]

Kyle r. I kayaked downstream from 45 bridge to the second set of shoals and threw a fly. Quite a few fish stuck in the shallows, but between me am the four other fly fisherman I only saw one white bass caught. When returning to the first shoals, a man and his mother had a nice stringer of white bass with one walleye. I am far from an expert on kayaking, fishing, or kayak fishing but I will say that the upstream paddle is a mofo. If you could make it a one way I would

[jdelow77]

Yeah I put the canoe in at war eagle on Sunday and paddled back up to the truck against the current and wind ! It sucked and no fish ...

[JohnF52]

Kyle r. I kayaked downstream from 45 bridge to the second set of shoals and threw a fly. Quite a few fish stuck in the shallows, but between me am the four other fly fisherman I only saw one white bass caught. When returning to the first shoals, a man and his mother had a nice stringer of white bass with one walleye. I am far from an expert on kayaking, fishing, or kayak fishing but I will say that the upstream paddle is a mofo. If you could make it a one way I would

Did you paddle up the big shoal below the huge gravel bar downstream from Richland Creek mouth? That had a few small standing waves on it today.

[beaverbeater]

If you wanna make it one way, you should just put in at 45 and take out at blue springs. Would be a bit of a foot, but better than paddling upstream 2 miles.

[Kyle R]

I thought about paddling up and floating back down, but I'll probably postpone until Thursday of it storms. Sounds like the white run is going to be spotty this year.