Chased white bass yesterday (15th) with three new family members in the boat. Mid morning did ok anchored in 10-14′ of water using a wolf river rig with a floating jig, but the bite didn’t last long before completely dropping off.
After a decent lunch on the river, I put the new guys casting skills to test as I swapped them all to either small cranks or spinners, and we went shallow. Fishing turned into catching again as we started to find them real shallow, along edges with rock on the spinners. Guys were far more entertained with the casting vs sitting and waiting for a bite, and we were catching some more fish. Spinners taking the most fish.
We did catch a few more large females in a hole at dusk with the wolf river rig… but it was not fast and furious.
Talked with a lot of guys that were seeing far less fish than in previous days, like us. We were in the far southern part of the river below Fremont all day.
Put in at Chico’s… and enjoyed the fun group there. They all have a unique sense of humor, and I have to say sitting back and spending part of the day with them would have been fun if we were in the area for a longer time than just the one day.
Long and short… the guys went home with a good sunburn… a cooler and a half of fish I have to clean this morning. They had a great time. I have three less spinners that are off in the trees or marsh areas, well out of reach of getting back. A lot less line on a couple of my spools, and less cash in my pocket after buying all the bait and such, but some great memories with family, and a new appreciation of the challenges a guide must face.
Last amusing note… while fishing shallow, my nephew caught a decent sized female on a spinner. The water being dark, and using only a mid sized rubber pan fish net, his father went to scoop up the fish for him and came out of the water with four in the net…. three smaller males and the hooked female. Never seen this before, and it gave us all a serious laugh, and a couple great photos that I’m sure they will have on facebook well before I am done typing this. It was great for them to share that odd experience, and part of the fish stories we’ll all have to tell for years to come. Breaking from the serious fish time to have fun like this is what it is all about (now and then….).
