Whitebass 5-23 through 5/31

Whitebass – Per once, one of the hardest fighting fish in a river system!
This report comes a little later than I would normally post, but fishing has been excellent and clients wanting to get in on some fast and furious action has kept me away from the computer.
I have been hitting a few different locations and bodies of water, so I’ll try to cover a variety of information.

For a day of just old fashion fun fishing, I took my brother-n-law Paul (who had never fished the river before) out to the Mississippi River for a day of just hammering some fish. We launched in P8 and locked up to Pool 7. My goal was to show Paul the abundance of fishing opportunities on the endless supply of different structure.

We started out on a seam below Dam 7 looking for an eye or two before locking up. It was only a matter of minutes before Paul hooked up on the first fish and a personal best. This flathead inhaled a 4” RipTide paddle tail and introduced Paul to river fishing!

As daylight broke, we ran to a number of major current breaks along the main channel. It doesn’t take long to identify a school of whitebass with the Hummingbird side-scan. The screen just lights up with what looks like a snow storm of suspended fish. Anchoring above or along side an active school has been my best boat positioning so far this year.

During a feeding frenzy, almost anything shiny or white will get hit. Our “search” baits to start includes: #4 chrome rattle traps, up to ½ oz white Rooster tail spinners, 2” twister tails, Flukes, and blade baits. For anyone that has never experienced a major whitebass frenzy, you’re in for a real adrenaline rush. At times, we had and area about 100’ wide by 100 YARDS long just erupting with W/B busting the surface chasing shiners everywhere.

Following these feeding frenzies can be what appears as a low in the aggressive feeding. By changing our presentations, the non-stop activity continues – with a significant upgrade in the quality of fish. We watched the fish return to the bottom of the water column in 12 to 20 fow on the electronics. They were usually passing by about 2 feet off of the bottom. Grabbing a rod with a ½ to ¾ oz white blade bait and vertically jigging with a steady raise/fall produced some of the largest whitebass I have caught in years. All of our whitebass were pre to spawn staging fish

Another bait that had proved itself worthy of more than an honorable mention is the RipTide mullets in 3” and 4”. For the last 6 years, I have fished these baits side-by –side with every brand of paddle tails that I have owned. Consistently, they have out produced other baits and get more aggressive bites. Not only from whitebass, but any species of fish that will eat a minnow.

Another location I have been guiding a lot on this year has been the Wolf River out of Fremont, WI. Here also, the action has been some of the best experienced in years. With no bag limit on whitebass, many clients have gone home to hours of cleaning fish.

The Wolf River has provided a more challenging outing as the preferences from day to day will change. Our search methods have been consistent with extensive use of electronics; scanning for schools of fish. Once located, we have been working a bit harder to find the meal ticket they desire the most for that day. For the pre-spawn through spawning fish, plastics (Paddle tails, grubs, and Flukes) in various colors of white, pearl, and gold and silver/blue and gold/orange 1/4oz blade baits in shallower water have been on fire. Another tactic that has produced well is 3-way (Wolf River Rigs) with White, Purple, or Pink flies.

The last two days on the water have produced mostly post-spawn fish showing up as “down-run” positioning. We have a huge increase of marking scattered fish in the main channel, and concentrations of fish in the main channel holes containing balls of shiners. The Holiday weekend naturally has more fishing and pleasure boat traffic and we witnessed the affects on this with the fish. The largest catches of fish were deeper in the holes and tightly concentrated on specific structure. We watched a large majority of people fishing shallow sand flats transitioning to deeper water and only catching an occasional fish. By seeking out locations more traditional to down-run or post spawn, we have been continuing with non stop action.

One last presentation to mention that has produced very well on post spawned fish is dragging or walking our baits just off the bottom. The Wolf River is a depository for jigs as it is filled with timber snags throughout. I accomplish this in two different methods. 1st, is a 3-way rig using long pencil type weights in ¾ to 1oz. I run 24” to 30” line back to a single hook for minnows or to a fly. I drop the line down vertically until I make contact with the bottom. Pause, and lift 6” to a foot. As the line sweeps down current I let out a couple feet of line and return to the bottom. This slow method of walking a bait slowly down river has been perfect for fish staged fish in timber or rocks and avoiding snags. Once we were below a desired spot, we reversed the presentation and walked it back up-river. 2nd Method has been tinsel jigs in 3/8 to 5/8oz. Tipped with a grub, minnow, or tail section of a paddle-tail, we present the same way as the 3 way rig. However, the jigs have been more prone to snags as we drag them back upriver. Developing a feel for where your bait is located in the water column has been key. Over the Holiday weekend, we found fish related to very isolated pockets within a structure and precise presentations like this produced a lot more fish.