Fishing for White Bass

White bass are a member of the true bass family - the black bass, largemouth and smallmouth, are actually in the sunfish family - white bass are an underappreciated resource. White bass are a popular sport fish that can be caught in large number when they make their spring spawning migrations up tributaries of larger water bodies.
When white bass make their spawning runs into the shallow headwaters of lakes, the fishing is fast and furious. Their aggressive nature and schooling tendency make them one of the easiest fish to catch. The best fishing is in spring when schools of white bass move inshore. Casting or trolling streamer flies, jigs, spinners, and spoons or still fishing with minnows will produce good catches. Since white bass often feed near the surface, be sure to keep lures and bait off bottom.

White bass's main diet is threadfin shad. Hungry white bass will often pursue schools of shad, causing the shad to jump and "boil" the surface of the water in their frantic efforts to escape. White bass will also feed on insects, invertebrates and other small fish.

Gathering in huge schools, white bass often herd schools of baitfish toward the surface as they go into a feeding frenzy. As such times, they can often be located by watching for feeding birds diving into the surface that's being churned up by feeding whites. At such times, virtually anything thrown into the commotion - spinners, jigs, topwater plugs, you name it - will be rewarded with a strike. During peak activity, it isn't uncommon for anglers to catch and release hundreds of white bass over the course of the day. Fly fishermen can have similar results throwing bass-size popping bugs or large streamers.

Fishing Approaches

Spring: Fish with small jigs tipped with plastic tails or minnows. Small flashy spoons or spinners are also effective. Some anglers fish minnows under bobbers as well. Fish around the mouths of tributary steams. Try locating fish in deep water associated with structure such as humps, drop offs, points or submerged road beds.

Late Spring: Fish around the mouths of tributary steams. Try locating fish in deep water associated with structure such as humps, drop offs, points or submerged road beds. White bass can be caught in tributary streams as they migrate up the streams to spawn. This may be the best time of the year to catch white bass.

Summer: Night fishing can be effective this time of the year with floating or submerged lights. Fish on calm days and watch for schools of white bass feeding on shad near the surface. Sea Gulls flying over head may point to white bass feeding near the surface. Use small flashy spoons or spinners. You may also try trolling with small, medium running, crank baits. Most fish are back in the reservoirs at this time of the year. They are generally found in the open water feeding on schools of shad.

Fall: Try night fishing with floating or submerged lights. The lights attract bait fish and the white bass will feed on the bait fish. Use live minnows fished below the schooling bait fish. White bass are in the open waters of the reservoirs feeding on schools of shad or minnows.

Winter: Vertical jigging with small spoons or minnows. White bass are generally in the open water areas.

Jay Bryce is a community manger at iFished.com. iFished.com has fishing and local information for over 40,000 lakes and fishing areas in the United States. Information includes current weather and forecasts, best times fishing charts, maps, local businesses, Fishing Store and more. iFished.com also has a large library of fishing videos, current fishing reports and fishing articles to help you catch more fish.