Pool 14 where have all the white bass gone?

This is just a observation of someone who frequents pool 14 regularly. The white bass population has dramatically crashed over the past couple years. This past Fall I caught 1 white bass. We usually catch several through out the course of a day pitching on pool 14. We have a few places late fall that the real big fish hang out , they have been in these same areas for years. We fished these areas this fall and the bait was there , no whites. A typical year we could catch 20 to 30 in a hour , and I have never cleaned a single one of these fish. In a normal year you see these fish all over the pool working bait in current breaks and on points, none of that this year. Just wondering if other pool 14 anglers have noticed this also. I believe the white bass is a real important member of the food chain, without them and there voracious appetite there will be a surplus of bait going into the winter. I think that could impact the walleye bite for all of us. I am interested to hear any of your thoughts on this observation.

We’ve seen a big drop on whitebass here in the Cedar river for the last 5 years or more. Years befor that they were everywhere and you could specificly target whitbass. Also the smallmouth have dropped in numbers and they aren’t as plentiful as in years past. Catfish have gone though my mind as the culprits around here but not forsure. We’ve had plenty of high water the last few years to bring them upriver during thier spawn and hardly anyones been catching any. In the Coralville reservior just south of me thier getting a few and they have a ton of catfish too, so I don’t know the reason myself eigther. There is a definate drop in thier population for some reason or more guys whould be catching more on jigs around here…

Damn few on pool 16 also.

Can they be kept by commercial fisherman? Not trying to stirrup some [censored] but, it would be very easy to net fish that school up like white bass do. I’m new to the Mississippi River but, I’ve only noticed a significant size difference in the white bass I’ve caught from the nice slabs of pool 14 and the little guys of pool 16.

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Damn few on pool 16 also.

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I’m calling BS there.. I caught well over 1,000 this spring out of 15 and 16. Gotta fish at the right time and find them. When the river was 10′ high you couldnt keep them off the hook, most everybody was taking home their 25 whites in the 13-16″ range. Caught 2 over 17″ and 3lbs this spring also.

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Damn few on pool 16 also.

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I’m calling BS there.. I caught well over 1,000 this spring out of 15 and 16. Gotta fish at the right time and find them. When the river was 10′ high you couldnt keep them off the hook, most everybody was taking home their 25 whites in the 13-16″ range. Caught 2 over 17″ and 3lbs this spring also.

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BBK- Everyone can catch them in slyvan slough. Are you able catch any on the main river or bottom end of pool???

I have never fished the slough in my life. They were all on the main river.

Thats funny you asked that we caught a big sauger on saturday and it had a tail sticking in his throat so i pulled it out about a 6 inch whitebass.

Jigfan you are correct I have notice the same thing this Past year..Have spots that ALWAYS holds whites and some times drives you out of there can’t get past em to get to the walleye…This year Nothing. So far this year just caught a couple hybrids and they also where spread out..I thought Com Ed did alot of White stocking in the river????

I’m glad to see someone else notice this also…I will say that I have caught more dog fish this year than any prior..Welp I’ll keep pluggin Friday looks good..

Last year we didn’t catch many white bass at all. Lots of stripers and hybrids though. It does seem like the population of Whities have declined steadily in the past few years or so. It wasn’t that long ago on a windy day you could find them piled up on any given point busting bait. The only numbers we encountered were in the pits and that wasn’t often. Who knows, maybe they’ll show themselves more this coming year. They are a blast to catch.

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Last year we didn’t catch many white bass at all. Lots of stripers and hybrids though. It does seem like the population of Whities have declined steadily in the past few years or so. It wasn’t that long ago on a windy day you could find them piled up on any given point busting bait. The only numbers we encountered were in the pits and that wasn’t often. Who knows, maybe they’ll show themselves more this coming year. They are a blast to catch.

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Where did you catch “lots of stripers” on the miss river? I didnt think they were in the miss river.

I caught a few hybrids last year, but cant say I have ever seen a striper

I’m not talking about pool 15 and 16 they seem to still have plenty. Pool 14 seems to have a significant drop in numbers. I have fish every pool from Red wing to Gladstone each pool is a unique fishery. You can’t judge from one pool to the next. As we all know you can sit in Potters lake in the spring and catch white bass on almost every cast , I just don’t think you can do that in Pool 14 any more.

Not sure, I do not fish pool 14 very much. I was referring to the other fellas post about being none in 16.

We used to catch a ton of them in the leclaire canal trolling 1/4 oz johnson silver minnows.

I’ve noticed a decline as well jigfan. I was hoping it was due to relocation after two years straight of high flow and muddy water. I did encounter them quite often in the backwaters, but nothing much on the main river. I guess time will tell.

Keeper size white bass were strong in 2008, low and lower in 2009 & 2010, and not great this year either. But this year we found a lot of young-of-year fish, similar to 2007. Flow conditions during ’09 & ’10 may have had some effects on the population. I would expect to see catchable whites to increase next summer or in 2013 as those young-of-year reach keeper sizes.

As a side note, we’ve been stocking about 5000 hybrid striped bass annually for twenty plus years. We never stock more than 10K. If anyone ever gets one over 8 or 9lbs, please send me a pic. I have a couple in that range and a 12 lb fish collected by IA DNR up at Guttenburg, but that is about it. I can always use new pictures for fish presentations.

Thanks

Jeremiah

I have a picture of a 7lb hybrid from 2008 caught at lock 14, but not sure where it is.

Any info on if there really are “stripers” in the miss here? I’ve never seen one but its one of my dreams to tangle with a big one some day.

If you catch a “real striper” in the Quad Cities area, it’ll be the first one that I know of. There may be a few remnants in the IL river somewhere, but its been a lot of years since I’ve heard of one there. They are notorious dam jumpers, so it is possible one would show up.

I’m personally hoping to catch a bull shark up here some day. St. Louis is as far north as I’m aware them ever getting.

Its kind of like a muskie in Pool 14, there could be one, but I’ve only seen 1 in the last dozen years. They are more likely than stipers though. There was a tiger muskie caught a couple summers ago up in the pocket. Who would have thought that. Lake Delavan, WI blew out and 2 weeks later, would you looky there!

JH