If you have not seen it, there is an interesting article in the March In-Fisherman magazine titled “When the Whites Run”. If you are looking for tactics and techniques for catching silvers the In-Fisherman article provides some good pointers.
I was just looking through my journal from last year and there was a good white bass run going on about 22 April. If you are looking for early season fishing action chasing white bass just after ice out may be the best bet.
April 22nd you say steve. Have you ever paid attention to what water temps to look for? I never had. What Ive looked for in the past is the first good bug hatch or a few good days of tee shirt weather. Havent paid much attention to it other than that. The bite can be incredible around Osceola and Taylor falls if you hit it right. Great size to those fish also.
Mike – This is an excerpt from the In-Fisherman article when it was discussing the Farther North range of the White Bass (Minneapolis area): “As soon as the water starts to warm into the high 40 degree range, ‘silvers’ respond pretty well, but become most active after the water broaches 50 degrees, which generally happens in May. White bass spawn in late May up here, most years.”
Good info Steve. I will need to pay closer attention to water temps this year.
Another thing I find with the white bass around Osceola is that when they first start biting it can be a any time of the day bite. As it get later in the season it is a early morning and late evening bite. The bite at this time can be described as a feeding frenzy and I dont find it worth the time to look for them during mid day. Have often wondered what happened to them during the day. Any info in the article about this pattern.
For FAST action theres nothing better than whitebass/striper fishing no matter what body of water you fish them on. Great time to get the kids out on the water. And inside of us all theres a little kid just waiting to hammer the whitebass. In-Fisherman has a video on catching these fish called ”The peoples Fish” I believe. LOTS of fun. 
Thanks, Bill
Heres a couple of photos from last springs fishing.
even i can catch a white bass. when there running anyway.
one more. We have a blast with these.
Warm weather fishing at its finest.
Mike – The article is pretty focused on the spring run. My experience with Silvers when I am fishing upstream later in the season is to watch for their feeding frenzies like you said. When they start busting the surface chasing bait fish you can hone in on them pretty easily.
Later in the season I find them by chasing the gulls south of Stillwater where the river is more lake than river. Once the shad explosion starts in the summer the white bass seem to follow the bait. I’ll watch for flocks of gulls diving on the shad schools and then locate the bigger shad schools on the sonar and then troll through the area with a shad rap or something closely imitating the shad. There are always lots of silvers around the shad schools.
I fished P3 pretty hard for a few years for the whities in the spring when I lived in Hastings. Down there 52-55 degrees was the prime time but there were fish to be found earlier. Typacally them water temps were hit by the 3rd week in april. We would get into them earlier but the #’s were not there nor the size. Once we hit 52-53 degrees they seemed to really stack up together and its about every other cast once you found them. Man is that fun. Also once the water climbed over 55-58 degrees we would start seeing the eyes and a couple pike in the same area and within a few days to a week the bass would move on and spread back out in the areas we fished. I am still amazed every year watching those whites inhale a 5″ k grub in the snap of a finger and theres usually no need to set the hook 
Last year I olny made it down there twice (easter weekend) and the water temps were at 48-49 degrees. we still managed quite a few but they were right up in the flooded timber. I will be back this year and will post what we find and when they get going!!
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