Point Number Two: The bite was on for the white bass

May 1st, 2024

For a long time, I've been curious about targeting white bass, the fish that appear to be the munchkin form of striped bass. Striped bass hold a special place in my heart, so naturally I can appreciate the striped appearance and feisty attitudes of the white bass reminiscent of the striper even if they're significantly smaller. I've never caught a white bass before, or had the opportunity to fish waters that even contained them so I was thrilled to cross this one off my list.

I did a fair amount of research, dedicating my time to catching this new species as all the surrounding rivers were too blown out to do any productive trout fishing. This lead me to investigate a small inlet at a local large lake where the white bass were running up to bed for their annual spawn which occurs April-May. I thought I was being clever to avoid crowds by going on a weekday and going to one of the smaller rivers flowing into the lake instead of a larger tributary. However, I underestimated things as once I arrived the banks to the river feeding into the lake were lined shoulder to shoulder with anglers all tuned into catching white bass through various means.

It was a sight I wasn't expecting, but one I wasn't surprised over either, knowing how hot the white bass bite was this time of the year. Luckily I was wearing my waders and could comfortably distance myself offshore from the majority of anglers fishing from the bank. I found a spot that felt appropriate, standing in about 2 and a half feet of water about 10 feet away from the main channel of the river which spanned approximately 20 feet across and still billowing out a steady current. The water was a cloudy brown, visibility appeared to be less than a couple feet so a white streamer tinged with a lime green hue across the top seemed like a promising fly for the bass who love pursuing smaller baitfish.

It was a slow start after I enthusiastically began fishing, maybe 30 minutes past without so much of a bite while I watched from a distance as anglers back on the shore had no trouble lifting up writhing white bodies from the water before stashing them in 5-gallon buckets. I was employing my usual streamer strategy which was casting just a little upstream to the opposite bank before stripping in quick jerks as the retrieve. With this approach apparently not working, I decided to mix it up a little bit in favor of letting the current take the fly downstream aways

before I began making slow and long strips, almost mimicking a jigging motion which seemed to be working for those fishing back on shore. Within a couple minutes, I had my first fish on, which hit my fly with a force that made me thinking the size of the fish was much bigger. The fish was squirrely and spry, making for a fun fight with my 4 weight rod. After the first fish I loosened up a bit and employed the same strategy, which was effective in helping me catch about another dozen over the course of the next hour. All fish were fairly uniform in size, about 8-10 inches but all packed a big punch which was a blast to contend with. It wasn't quite as satisfying as catching 20 inch stripers all day but definitely still satiated my desire for catching light colored bass.

With catching a good number of white bass all of decent size, it was enough to obtain another point in my fishing challenge. I left the spot with a big grin on my face and a feeling of satisfaction in catching a new beautiful species. Enjoying the

calm and mild weather before the sunset was also the perfect victory cigar.

98 points to go.