The panfish forum has been quiet latley so I thought I’d ask for opinions. We are close to prime white bass time on Lake Pepin, what is your favorite bait?
Mine are Rattle Traps, any blue color combo. Small white twisters and white in-line spinners. Number one spinner being the white Shyster,which I thought was no longer availiable but found on the shelf this weekend. 
What are your some of your best baits?
Most fun is a small popper when they are working the surface. 3,4,5 blasts sometimes before they get it.
Probably the best for catching them though is a 3 inch white grub.
The smallest size Zara spook / puppy. Zips also are fun. If you get into them in the early morning or right before dark they are hard to beat for exciting fishing.
This past Sunday 8-10am, and 3-5pm had some of the best top water white bass fishing I have ever had. Used skitter-pops, the silver color and caught and released approx. 100 of the white bass during that time. All top water, during bright sun, in 40-50 ft. of water, 150 to 200 foot off the face of the dam right in the middle of the channel, at La Crosse. Key to all of this was the bright sun, and watching the birds, gulls, and other fish eating birds taking minnows and shad from the surface, while the white bass attacked from below. During cloudy periods left the area and fished nearby wingdams, for whatever could be had. Lazy day of fishing, not much to the method or search technique, but a whole lot of action. The larger fish in the schools seem to take the surface lures readily.
I fished pool 2 Monday night with Jon Jordan. What a guy, he supplied the boat, rods & rells, cranks, gas, beer, and even sandwiches; I got off work and showed up. Thanks a ton bud, I had a great time.
Anyways, this is here because we were throwing cranks to wingdams in search of walleys and ended up just pounding the whites. We ‘practiced’ on big whites until my arms were tired and then went run-n-gunnin’ for walleyes. These were big whites, too – most of them probably breaking 16 inches I’d guess, with a few that might have gone 20. All came on mid-depth cranks fished over the tops of wingdams.
You are welcome, Gianni. I had a good time too.
Those “Ioweegian Crappies” are pretty fun to catch when they are stacked up like that. The cranks we were tossing were Bomber-A’s and Wiggle Warts.
Hope to do it again soon,
Jon J.
Yeah, I’m thinking at the get together, I might just fish until around 10 or noon, then spend the rest of the day having fun. Maybe do some running around, take pictures, shoot the bull, slammin the whities, whatever.
If I’m not on the fish by 10, my chances of doing well are pretty much nil anyway.
even though i don’t specifically “target” whites I do tend to catch quite a few with my number one crappie lure, the zip lure. I’ve noticed i have caught the most on the silver colored ones….i’ve also noticed that i get snagged and lose the silver ones the most 
p.s. do you guys keep em and filet em or just throw em back?
p.p.s jeez i hope mavzer doesn’t get on my case about “selling” zip lures…lol
Vex
I toss ’em back. I filleted one once, the red meat in the lateral line takes up about 70% of the fillet. Even after cutting that out it had a pretty strong taste to it.
What!?!?!? 70% c’mon. I’ve cleaned a lot of those minnow eaters and found that the lateral line only covers maybe 30%. That’s if you keep the real big ones. The ones I like to eat and eat a lot of are the 12-14 range. The red line isn’t as heavy and they aren’t as fishy. We keep the big ones for pickling. They are fantastic pickled. 
Lastly when you clean the fish, and you are ready to peel the skin off the fillet, lift the knife edge up off the skin around an 1/8 and pull the knife through. It takes some practice, but once you get used to it, it works pretty slick.
I like White Bass. I need to ’cause I’m not too good with the legal walleyes.
You guys are gettin’ off the subject. Big B wanted baits and tips, not how to eat them. Remember to keep it simple as he has a learning disability. I think he has a metal disc in his head. When he is at my house and my wife turns on the microwave, he spins and points north. If you think I am making this up, just have him over for dinner and try it.
Gee, I have not tried white bass in the microwave. . .
Quote:
You guys are gettin’ off the subject. Big B wanted baits and tips, not how to eat them. Remember to keep it simple as he has a learning disability. I think he has a metal disc in his head. When he is at my house and my wife turns on the microwave, he spins and points north. If you think I am making this up, just have him over for dinner and try it.
Blue Fleck! Any chance you’d be willing to share that pickling knowledge in a pm? I’ve been thinking about trying it.
Bait – Rooster Tail, any color.
Tip – Cast often!
Sorry BFD 
…………..just feelin’ “sassy”. 
Hey Kid, pay no attention to Big Fish Fude, I certianly don’t 
I used to leave a white rooster tail rigged on a rod all the time but I have less twist trouble with the shyster. I always use a barrel swivel 24-30 inches above the spinner.
As for eating,follow the 1/8 inch of meat left on the skin advice and fry em hot. They are fine.
1/8 inch is quite a bit. So the lateral line must be ‘funnel shaped’ like a catfish? The one I ate was a hybrid, wonder if they’re different.
Even so, these guys are just too much fun to end up in the livewell.
That’s one of the neat things about harvesting white bass… They are prolific and only live 4 or 5 yrs (right?).
One of my favorite baits for whities is a baby blue bucktail. Never seems to fail when the whities turn their noses up at the shiny stuff. Sure, I’d rather catch them on top water but when that doesn’f fly, a 1/8 bucktail jig is hard to beat.
My top White Bass Baits
Baby Chug-Bug—Chrome/Blue
Rat-L-Trap—Same as above
Grubs/Plastic Minnows—White/Silver
Small Rapalas—Blue/Silver & Black/Silver
White Streamers on a fly rod
To everyone wanting the recipe for pickling those tasty white bass, I’ll try to have it posted this weekend or early next week.
I have had good luck with white Roostertails and also chartruse Roostertail. Chartruse crankbaits work very well too. They are lots of fun to catch especially if you have kids along. Thanks, Bill
Just to clear this up, I do not have a metal disc in my head!!! 
I only jump when the microwave starts because the noise scares me SO THERE 
LMAO
do so! do so!
LIL CLEOs ~~~ Guaranteed blast. Fast retrieve then… WHAM!! They will fight over it.
I like the small size rattlin Raps in perch,shad or chrome. Keep the rod tip high and run them right under the surface when the whites are breaking on top. When the feeding frenzy stops, fan cast the area letting the bait run deeper and I can usually locate the school. On many ocassions catching a few will get the school feeding on top again.
The metal disc theory would definitely explain some of big b’s strange behavior over the years, will have to ask mom to get the whole story. Sorry Pop, S
Welcome to the site Little B……………you’re gonna fit in right nicely around here!
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