Thank Goodness For White Bass -- Sag. R.

[scottyhoover]

Chamookman and I found the smallmouth fishing to be very tough today. Morning surface temp 67 degrees. Thank goodess there was enough white bass to keep us busy for a few hours with nonstop action. Shore anglers were also enjoying hauling them in at 'the home of the Kernel'. The day was topped when we solved the mystery of the monsters of the deep. Chamookman, the JIGGIN machine, managed to jig up a 13.5lb Flathead Cat. Pictures to come soon! I also had a heavy-headed monster on the line for about 3-4 minutes before I straightened the hook. :bash: Moral of the story, take what you can get somedays, a tug on the line from a rough fish is better than no tug at all.

[RichP]

That's a nice size kitty. Looking forward to the photos.

[The Whale]

At least you guys got out and had some action. Any size at all to some of those whites ?, they can be some fighters ! Look forward to seeing those pics, have not been out at all for a few weeks and getting antsy about it :rant: hope some of this cooler weather gets here and stays to bring a few 'eyes into the river. Some jigging sounds great right now. :cool: :fish2:

[walleye express]

Scotty.

You and Bob catching smallies was all I was thinking about yesterday while waisting my time on the Bay. But I did get the hardest part of my wintering chores done on the boat. And of all the millions of cats I've caught in the Saginaw Bay system, I've never caught or even seen a flathead catfish in it. So I'm also anciously awaiting the picture. :)

[chamookman]

We had some White Bass that would go 1 1/2lb.-2lb. ! They were herding "blues" (help Me out here Dan) and busting all over the place, sometimes You'd have one on - lose it - and then another would hit. Or the other senerio, 10 hits coming back to the boat and NOT connect :rant: ! Jigs and cranks both worked - Scotty tried a surface lure, but that lasted about two minutes - the Sea Gulls would beat the Bass to the plug :lol: . Mr. Flathead was pretty cool - neat colors. My first one - had only caught Channels. But they sure do look like a frog with that BIG Head and beady little eyes :yikes: . Man if You could catch White Bass like that all the time, Who needs Smallmouth. Will have pic posted as soon as I figure out how to do it :help: ! Bob

[walleye express]

Bob.

They could be just about any type shiner, but usually the Spottail Chubs or Grays are what fills the river during the fall. We actually don't have many blues in our (Saginaw Bay) systems, they like the deeper/colder waters of the deeper great lakes and connecting rivers. We do get a few during late fall/early winter. And the ones we do get like to run the shorelines and rivers in late fall/early winter. I know because Me and the wife used to seign them at the mouth of the Kawkawlin during November/December for my bait shop.

[waterfoul]

What exactly is a white bass? Are the limited to that side of the state? I know I've never caught one in all my years of bass fishing.

[The Whale]

White Bass, Silver Bass same thing. Minnow eaters. Shaped like a football, very wide with some "shoulders" on the bigger ones. I've caught some upwards of three pounds when down in the detroit area on the river. Fight like all hell, great runs of them in early-mid June down there from what I remember. When I was younger we would go down there and fill our coolers with them then head to the Rouge complex at Ford's for 7am shift change. Sold them to the guys coming out for two for a buck, three if on the small side. Made a small fortune for us back then. Dang things we did as kids before we wised up. Used to throw a white jig/twister tail for them when fishing. Anchor off in one of the shipping canals on the river and have a blast. Never tried to eat one myself though.

[walleye express]

What exactly is a white bass? Are the limited to that side of the state? I know I've never caught one in all my years of bass fishing.

Waterfoul.

If the places you fish are not connected to the Great Lakes, you may never catch a white bass. And you have to be careful about what you call a white bass. As we have white perch in the system now that many confuse as white bass, but they run a lot smaller than the white bass and are often called yellow bass themselves. But only the white bass has the black lateral lines running down it's sides. Neither is native to our waters, and both have the same history as the transplants like the zebra mussels, ruffees and Gobies brought in by the sea going freighters traversing through the welland canal. The canal of course was the water passageway cut alongside of the Niagra River falls in the 30's, to allow seas going ships to get into the upper Great lakes.

The whites are much like what whale described, and have only been in our Saginaw Bay systems and in catchable numbers for a relatively short time. They came on strong in the late 70's/early 80's, just prior to the first walleye rearing pond plantings on the Saginaw Bay. They were in good numbers well before that in Lake Erie and still have a large following when they run the Maumee River in the spring. They are surprisingly great table fair, but are bony in nature. I personally love them and only cut off the shoulders down to the rib cage when cleaning them. I call these white tenderloins and they are delicious. Heres a decent picture of one we caught on the Tittabawassee River during their spring run.

http://www.walleye-express.com/albums/bass/IM000594.sized.jpg

[waterfoul]

Now that I think of it (and I see a picture) I caught one while walleye fishing Erie several years ago. Didn't catch any walleye that day though...:mad:


Thanks for the info!

[ESOX]

White bass are natives. White perch aren't.

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/textonly/whitebass.html


As a kid we always called them Silvers.

[robin]

I think white bass are as fun to catch as anything I've had on my line. After reading this original post I called a friend of mine and we're planning to hit the river next week. Of course by that time they will have moved and we'll get skunked, but the anticipation is always the best part of the trip.

[RichP]

Yeah, white bass can either be a nice distraction when all other action is dead or a total nuisance. For me it's usually more of the latter considering they eat up all my crawlers while I'm trying for eyes...

On another note, someone needs to help out Chamookman upload that photo so we can have a gander at Mr. Flathead Whiskers! :cool:

[waterfoul]

Chamookman, email the photo to me at michael.j.ozinga@jci.com and I'll upload it for you!!!

[walleye express]

White bass are natives. White perch aren't.

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/textonly/whitebass.html


As a kid we always called them Silvers.


Silvers is the name we use most of the time for whites. Their being a native specie came as a real revelation to me. As like the flathead, I've never seen of caught a white bass anywhere on the Bay and it's connecting waterways until the late 70's. And that was exclusively in the Hot Ponds for a few years until their population seemed to skyrocket into every nook and cranny holding water. I did make a trip to Put-In-Bay Ohio just for the whites in the mid 70's. But prior to that either their numbers were awful low or nobody I knew fished for or caught any even by accident.

[fishineddie]

White Bass, Silver Bass same thing. Minnow eaters. Shaped like a football, very wide with some "shoulders" on the bigger ones. I've caught some upwards of three pounds when down in the detroit area on the river. Fight like all hell, great runs of them in early-mid June down there from what I remember. When I was younger we would go down there and fill our coolers with them then head to the Rouge complex at Ford's for 7am shift change. Sold them to the guys coming out for two for a buck, three if on the small side. Made a small fortune for us back then. Dang things we did as kids before we wised up. Used to throw a white jig/twister tail for them when fishing. Anchor off in one of the shipping canals on the river and have a blast. Never tried to eat one myself though. Whale, the silver/white bass havent been running that strong in the detroit river where im at, i fish the hell out of it from spring thru fall until it ices up,the white perch on the other hand have taken over.. during may and early june where i fish from shore you'll catch 50 white perch to every walleye, i caught 11 walleye from shore this year so that tells you about how many white perch i caught in the area.. i caught a really chunky one in lake erie earlier this summer so i kept it and sliced it up and it is a good fish to eat,i dont like silver/white bass though its a little to fishy for me, white perch are worth keeping on the no walleye days