# SS/Fishinganimal 1-10 report



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The white bass below the Livingston dam are still very mad at curly tails/crank baits/spec rigs, you name it they will hit it.
Fishinganimal (Mike) and his brother(Darrel) took me out in their fine ride today below the dam.








We caught white bass at every stop. The edge between the currents seems to be best. On our last stop we caught white bass fast and furious on crank baits/shad body/curly tails. It would slow for just a bit and then pick back up to a fish every cast for a while and then start the cycle over.
FA had a great double on to the boat of a white bass and a blue cat in his two jigs. I tried to get a snapshot and the blue cat broke off! 
When we came in I started looking around and in every boat someone was fighting a white bass, sometimes 3 in a boat would be hooked up, all over the river.
I think there were about 14 boats out there with many people to a boat, all catching white bass. That's a lot of white bass.
FA and his brother kept a respectable box of choice big white bass(33 he told me later, mostly females) to fillet. 
And I got to go with them and catch a lot of white bass and enjoy their company aboard their cool boat. My pic of Darrel did not come out, but Mike is going to take one for me. 
I had to step fast to keep up with Darrel and Mike catching fish, each would have a run and catch them one after the other then it would switch for a while. We all three caught fish pretty much the same over all, but each would go a streak and make it seem they were catching them all at that time. Then it would seem like the boat across from you was catching them all, then your boat, etc.
People having a real good time catching big white bass. It was a great day with sun and everything.
We worked the back of the guys boat in front of us on the pic below and caught a bunch of fish, don't let Mike in shirt sleves fool you. It was cool.
SS


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Good report! Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun with those whites. It was a lot warmer today than it has been.

Matt


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## Gator gar (Sep 21, 2007)

Make sure you count your fish good. Sometimes when you think you are under, you might just be a few fish over when you are catching them like they were biting today. I caught 2 more big slab crappie today along with my limit.

I've got a trick to cleaning these white bass, which make it almost enjoyable.


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## Slim-N-None (Sep 16, 2005)

i'm not gonna be able to for another month, and that will be up on the river, i hope ya'll leave a few for me. what ramp are ya'll launching from? i've fished below the dam (about 6-7 years ago was the last time), and i see google earth showing a bridge right below the dam, wasn't there last time i went. is the ramp right there on the east bank?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Slim that is the one to launch at, the East bank middle one, the other two are for,...display only. What is your trick to cleaning white bass GG? I start just above the rib cage and cut above it until I am past the ribs then slid it down, cut from the skin and you have a boneless fillet.


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## dbullard (Feb 13, 2008)

good job everyone,nice reports.


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## Boomhauer75 (Jan 3, 2010)

Great report & fish! I am going to try and get down there next weekend.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

B there tomarrow. In the kayak


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The canoe guy and his GF were fishing again today, I say we make her queen of the ball for fishing through this weather. 
The last time I asked they were just short of a limit, and a little later they left. I'm betting they had a limit.
We caught more than a 3 man limit I was putting fish in the box about 1 to 5 I caught for a while and soon with the fish they caught, they said that is plenty. So we fished catch and relesase for the rest of the time. I know Darrel caught and released another 25, as I was fishing beside him. I saw Mike at the front of the boat catching and releasing as fast as we were.
Any boat that pulled up was soon catching them too. An amazing site all of those white bass in one place.
You guys catch them tomorrow, I am waiting on the boat DR!


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Change of plans. Water leak. Will be there Tuesday. Got the water turned off tonight bathtub full to flush the toilet. Getting on that first thing in the morning. Good luck guys.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Wow

That has to be one of the best 4hrs of fishing I have had in a long time. The action is a blast. Any 2 coolers out there wanting to get in on the artificial technics and action you need to give Loy a ring and book a trip. This man will put you on em. The fish today were all good size fish. I don't think we caught many under 12". I wonder how the action will be when it is 60 out. I know one thing don't stay in bed if you think fish won't bite if it is tooo cold. 


Thanks again Loy for a great day.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Real good time fishing with you and Darrel today Mike. We have to go again when the stripers are hitting. Does anyone know much about a Tennessee Handle spinning rod? Where can you get an inexpensive one?


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## Gator gar (Sep 21, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> Slim that is the one to launch at, the East bank middle one, the other two are for,...display only. What is your trick to cleaning white bass GG? I start just above the rib cage and cut above it until I am past the ribs then slid it down, cut from the skin and you have a boneless fillet.


I use a regular fillet knife and cut all the bnls. flanks off and the get a grip with my catfish skinners and seperate the fillet from the skin. Doesn't take long at all. The heck with going thru all that rib cage and breaking out an electric knife. Peeling those flanks off is smooth sailing. 25 fish don't take long at all. After cleaning the blood off the fillet, I'm leaning real hard to say I like them better than catfish. I like the firmer texture of the fish, I know that. Them rascals are good eating. I've eaten some 3 times this week.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Mike and Darrel were talking today about cooking white bass, and we all agreed that the more red that you take off the better the taste is. When they get as big as we have been catching they have a of of red that can be cut off.
They bake really good, and broil, with a lot of red pepper.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

I agree about the bloodline on the skin side. It only takes a few seconds to take a sharp fillet knife and carve it off. If you have ever ate catfish at a restaurant and seen the black strip when you break the fillet apart that is the bloodline left. That is where the fishy taste is.


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> Slim that is the one to launch at, the East bank middle one, the other two are for,...display only. What is your trick to cleaning white bass GG? I start just above the rib cage and cut above it until I am past the ribs then slid it down, cut from the skin and you have a boneless fillet.


Your settin your self up talking about cleanin fish, LOL


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

Thanks for the great report, glad all had a good time.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

"Your settin your self up talking about cleanin fish, LOL "

I am my worst enemy!


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## superdave1704 (Dec 25, 2008)

Gator gar said:


> I use a regular fillet knife and cut all the bnls. flanks off and the get a grip with my catfish skinners and seperate the fillet from the skin. Doesn't take long at all. The heck with going thru all that rib cage and breaking out an electric knife. Peeling those flanks off is smooth sailing. 25 fish don't take long at all. After cleaning the blood off the fillet, I'm leaning real hard to say I like them better than catfish. I like the firmer texture of the fish, I know that. Them rascals are good eating. I've eaten some 3 times this week.


GG, I'm tryin to figure out what you mean by "bnls flanks". I've got a mess of wb to clean and want to try your method.


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## slimyhand (May 3, 2009)

SS and GG,
With white bass, I was taught to soak the fillets in salt water before cooking. Let them sit in there for about 3 hours or so and all the blood lines will be gone. This way, you don't have to cut off all that good meat. And it doesn't make the fish taste salty, from soaking in the salt I mean. Has anyone else tried this?

Great fishing by the way!!


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## HGX_Fisherman (Feb 26, 2009)

That's a nice report SS! Your friend FishingAnimal sure has a nice boat. I'm glad you all got on them good. I just feel for you now that you've got to clean them! :rotfl: It took me nearly three and a half hours to clean our catch.

About cooking the white bass and soaking them in saltwater...I tried an old venison trick my dad taught me on the white bass and soaked them in buttermilk for about an hour before I rolled them in egg and cornmeal to fry them. I couldnt taste any fishiness at all, and I had left the blood lines in when I cleaned them.

Don't know if that would work for you, but it turned out decent enough for me.


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## Gator gar (Sep 21, 2007)

HGX_Fisherman said:


> That's a nice report SS! Your friend FishingAnimal sure has a nice boat. I'm glad you all got on them good. I just feel for you now that you've got to clean them! :rotfl: It took me nearly three and a half hours to clean our catch.
> 
> About cooking the white bass and soaking them in saltwater...I tried an old venison trick my dad taught me on the white bass and soaked them in buttermilk for about an hour before I rolled them in egg and cornmeal to fry them. I couldnt taste any fishiness at all, and I had left the blood lines in when I cleaned them.
> 
> Don't know if that would work for you, but it turned out decent enough for me.


It's not so bad when they are fresh.......It's after you freeze them, when the blood takes on a different flavor. It just taste stronger and like someone said, these whites are big enough to remove that bloodline. I'm not taking any chances. I'm removing everything until I have a perfect piece of white bass flesh.


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## HGX_Fisherman (Feb 26, 2009)

Yeah, that's true too Gator, they didn't sit on ice for much more than an hour or two after being filleted before I was prepping them to eat. And on top of it, we weren't on the hogs like you all were!!

95% of our fish were of the 12-13 inch variety, but my wife had the big one of the trip that went just shy of 18. I figured she was a big 'ol sow until I went to check her stomach and saw the milt sacks.

I'll wait till I thaw out my first frozen batch and see if the buttermilk trick works on those.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Just shy of 18" is a very good white bass, congrats! I have noticed the over all size going down a little. The first day I went with gator gar I was amazed after measuring about 5 from a cooler and they were all 16". Another rise in the river will bring some more fat sows in.
Meadowlark and others have noted the fish appear to have come through the gates. I think so too, there are many bunged up with fresh scrapes on them. I think it's a bunch from the South end that followed the gate current and not the weaker river current.
Several times in the last 10 years I have caught spawning white bass on the Southwest corner of the island, and at the end of the state park jetty in March.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

I've cleaned a lot of sand bass and I cut through the rib cage to fillet them. I have one problem that maybe you guys can help me with, when I make the first cut behind the head to start the fillet sometime I break a green bile sack and this amber green mess goes all over the flesh. What you think?


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Not bragging but I average filleting 3-4 fish per minute. I got me some new blades that are real thin. Cuts through the ribcage like butter.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

fishinganimal said:


> Not bragging but I average filleting 3-4 fish per minute. I got me some new blades that are real thin. Cuts through the ribcage like butter.


I have no problem filleting, it's the part of busting that green sack while doing it. I prefer to use a standard fillet knife, old fastion I guess, but I guess everybody else breaks those things and don't think nothing about it.


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## slimyhand (May 3, 2009)

HGX,
Next time you fry up some fish, try this. When I do catfish, I soak them in 1/2 mustard and 1/2 water mixed in a bowl and it takes the fishy taste away and you can't taste the mustard. I've tried the egg and cornmeal thing too but it puts too thick of a crust on there for me. Try the mustard and water thing, then put them straight into a bowl of cormeal with tony chachery's (or however you spell it). Then staright into the grease. That works good for cats and whites. No fishy taste at all.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

JMJ, throw them away. They give an off taste to the fillet and the others it touches. You can do the above the rib cage cut after a few and not have to cut into the ribs, and there are usually a few, or more white bass to clean, lol!!
Besides there are crappie to eat!


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