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White Bass Size limit


Will S.

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Yeah I always get a kick out of these articles and vids composed by local "pros" when they say "the key is finding the shad". 

Um dude, shad are EVERYWHERE.  No really....find me a bank where there are no shad !    24/7/365 there's never a problem finding a school of shad.

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I think the thing with that is the shad are whatever forage they are focused on is  running deeper I often catch Hybrids bouncing spoons off the bottom a foot or so. Both tHe bigger ones we caught this year were deeper and I caught 3stipers one evening about 18"  that must have ben at ten ft by jerking a spoon through the water. It seems to me Hybrid fishing is compared exactly like White bass fishing. Tell you  the truth they do not seem as fast to jump on anything younthrow out there that is shiny.. They can also suface  with little distrubance. Nor do they move in Large groups Seem to be more spead out and groups under a dozen. at least when theyget larger

Will be home to late to get at them this evening. Tomorrow I may be hauling a Plublicity photographer around the lake. I hope not during the evening..

 

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Thanks for all the replies.. I got it now, no min length limit on Whites. Only 4 or your daily limit of 15 can be over 18". Now all I have to do is find them more often. 

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I don't know the limits on White Bass anywhere because I have zero interest in keeping any of them. I love to catch them, but they are a recreational fish only. 

Every Saint has a past, every Sinner has a future. On Instagram @hamneedstofish

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To each their own, but they are a delicious eating fish and the healthiest of all freshwater fish to eat.  They only live 4-6 years and spend most of their time in open water, and they are plentiful.  The only special instruction is to trim out the dark red lateral line from the fillets and feed those to your dog/cat.  You don't have to trim out all of the red, just the dark center strip that extends down into the meat.    Fried in your favorite batter, or baked in lemon pepper and butter/served on a bed of rice, some steamed veggies on the side. :P   If you don't enjoy that meal then you simply do not like fish, that's all there is to it.

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2 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

To each their own, but they are a delicious eating fish and the healthiest of all freshwater fish to eat.  They only live 4-6 years and spend most of their time in open water, and they are plentiful.  The only special instruction is to trim out the dark red lateral line from the fillets and feed those to your dog/cat.  You don't have to trim out all of the red, just the dark center strip that extends down into the meat.    Fried in your favorite batter, or baked in lemon pepper and butter/served on a bed of rice, some steamed veggies on the side. :P   If you don't enjoy that meal then you simply do not like fish, that's all there is to it.

Exactly, we have enjoyed the whites firm white meat (shh, don't say it) ;) . Besides proper cleaning- I also soak all my fish in cold salt water for 5-10 minutes-rinse, pat dry, vacuum seal & freeze. 

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3 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

To each their own, but they are a delicious eating fish and the healthiest of all freshwater fish to eat.  They only live 4-6 years and spend most of their time in open water, and they are plentiful.  The only special instruction is to trim out the dark red lateral line from the fillets and feed those to your dog/cat.  You don't have to trim out all of the red, just the dark center strip that extends down into the meat.    Fried in your favorite batter, or baked in lemon pepper and butter/served on a bed of rice, some steamed veggies on the side. :P   If you don't enjoy that meal then you simply do not like fish, that's all there is to it.

I couldn’t agree more!  I learned the proper way to fillet them watching some fishing show that was taped on Truman about twenty years ago and haven’t thrown one back since. 

Except for the fact that there’s usually more meat per fillet I’ve yet to find anyone that can tell them from crappie. 

Another reason I’m disappointed that I haven’t caught any on Table Rock in recent memory. Used to catch the heck out of them there but not lately. 

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups."  George Carlin

"The only money ever wasted is money never spent."  Me.

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14 minutes ago, vernon said:

I couldn’t agree more!  I learned the proper way to fillet them watching some fishing show that was taped on Truman about twenty years ago and haven’t thrown one back since. 

Except for the fact that there’s usually more meat per fillet I’ve yet to find anyone that can tell them from crappie. 

Another reason I’m disappointed that I haven’t caught any on Table Rock in recent memory. Used to catch the heck out of them there but not lately. 

I have only caught them when I was close enough to a busting school. Only last a few minutes until they are gone... Both times near H.I. marina (summer & fall)

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Once I learned what an excellent fly rod target they were I went full bore trying to figure out their habits and trying to learn how to find and pattern them year round.  I think I've learned about as much as I possibly can without actually going down there and living with them for awhile.

In lakes/rivers with plentiful forage they are not opportunistic feeders like LM/SM/Crappie/Catfish.  Their feeding binges (when they happen) always last 2-4 hours and I've learned that if you throw at them a bunch when they aren't ready to feed then when they do begin to chow down they will largely ignore your lures/flys.  Even if I know exactly where they are I won't hammer them with casts if they are slow to bite.  I'll just briefly test them every 15-20 minutes or so and if one doesn't bite right away then I'll set down and wait awhile longer, or go do something else for awhile.   If you show them your stuff when they aren't ready to feed then a bunch of them will not eat as freely when they go on their next feeding spree.  I have watched that happen a bunch of times in clear water, and just changing baits isn't good enough so it must be the line or something that clues them.    So you can do one of two things, you can run all over the lake and pick up one here and one there.....or you can just sit it out on one spot where you know they frequent and catch just as many (or more) when they go on one of their binge's.  

There's almost always a binge feed that ends 30 minutes or so before dark, but even during times when the water/sky/wind/ect. conditions are identical for days that binge may start at 3pm or it might not start until 5:00 so I have no idea why some binges only last half as long as others, it is probably related to how many fish are in the school.

The coolest thing I ever saw on the big flats where I chase them in the Fall was 4-5 years ago, the water on the flat was high but very clear. About 3:30 I started noticing these separate 4-6 fish packs of whites swimming slowly around all over, I kept throwing at them but they wouldn't even chase my offerings. An hour or so later the tempo picked up substantially and instead of swimming around lazily the same little packs were zipping around alot faster and in more of a zig-zag path (frantic).  Right at 5:45 all hell broke loose at the mouth of a shallow slough and HUNDREDS of big fat whites turned that clear 2' deep area of clear water into a football field size zone of muddy froth.   I caught a limit in probably 20 casts and then continued to c&r for another 15-20 minutes afterwards.    Then just as suddenly as it started it just quit and everything went completely silent.    The very next day about the same time it happened again, then the 2 days after that the flats were just dead, nothing, couldn't buy a bite and no visible fish at all.  Then it rained for 2-3 days and muddied things up and it all started over again, the only difference was that then I couldn't see them anymore and instead of the blitz happening at the slough it happened at the mouth of the creek. 

It was like the school would break up into multiple smaller packs and they ran all over the mile wide flat herding the shad into that shallow slough, then when they had them all cornered they just gorged like crazy.  My boat was covered in poop and puke and my arms were sore from casting and stripping streamers as fast as I could.    That stuff is addicting !

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