White's Everywhere

[SilverMallard]

When I was a boy, I used to fish a 110 acre spring-fed impounded swamp called Lake Brenda in East Texas that was chock full of 1-2 lb. sand bass. I caught most of them on shallow running shad pattern crankbaits like Rapalas. The 2-3" ones worked best....floating crankbaits that ran no more than 3' deep on full retrieve. We also caught them on TX rigged rubber worms...mostly purple Creme Scoundrels. I fished that small private lake in a pontoon paddle boat like the kids rent on tourist ponds. It was HEAVEN! At dawn and dusk, I could catch at least one fish/cast every day like clockwork from March through October. Many times, I would catch 2 fish one the same retrieve...one on the front hook and one on the back. Thus began my love affair with white bass. But I sure enough can tell the difference between a white bass fillet and a crappie or catfish fillet! An old cajun taught me to prepare panfish. We marinated the whites in mustard or a cajun spice rub before battering. Crappies got buttermilk. Catfish got the cajun rub. And we blended white and yellow cornmeal 50/50 with some salt and pepper to taste...and cracked red pepper flakes for whites or cats.

Oh, the memories!

[Ham]

I'll be one of those guys driving a Chevy to catch a Smallie I guess.

I really enjoy the White bass as well, but it is PURELY catch and release for me.

So I basically don't need to ever fish TR except in May. OK I can do that.

I imagine I'll be fishing TR next May. I'll have my 6WT and 8WT along if the Whites decide they want to bust the surface within 60 foot of the boat.

[techo]

Now I am hungry for some strange reason.

[Sam]

I was out of Mill Creek a couple days ago, catching mostly white bass.

For the big whites, I was just trolling a 1/4 oz. Roostertail over shad in deep water, about 174 feet deep. That rig only runs 7 or 8 feet deep, but ever so often a 2-to-4 lb. white bass would come up and hit it. They're fun to get in on medium/light spinning tackle.

I got ahold of one, killed the motor, and was working him in. A big strong fish, you've just got to tire them out. Finally, he was straight under the boat but I couldn't bring him up so I just kept the tension on for a while. All at once, he started coming straight up like he was going to jump - and white bass don't do that! I couldn't reel in fast enough to keep the line from going slack, and the fish jumped right beside the boat and threw the roostertail.

It was a black bass, about 5 lbs. Now, who would have thought about that when fishing shallow in such deep water? From the location it should have been a Kentucky, not a largemouth, but if it was a Kentucky it was awfully BIG. It wasn't a smallmouth, for sure - I saw the stripe down the side (as well as a big, bucket mouth).

That fish surprised me.

[trout fanatic]

Here's my fix for a tasty white bass supper. Fillet and skin fish, cut out the red meat as alluded to by previous posters and dip in creamy style italian dressing. Dredge in flour and saute in a mixture of butter and olive oil (the olive oil keeps the butter from burning) until browned on both sides. Truly fit for a king