# The White Bass Spawn was Epic !!



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Hit the mid lake honey holes this morning with my lovely wife and found the white bass at every stop. The biggest problem I found was tons and tons of little whites 5-8 inch fish were everywhere. We did manage to jig up some really nice ones and even brought a dozen in to fry up tonight. I am set up at Kickapoo Creek now and don't have a freezer yet to keep many. Great morning to be on the lake. The only schoolers I found this morning should have been called pre schoolers  . They were young


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Even had to give the Gou some air time :walkingsm


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

Great report glad you got on them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Northern fisherman (Sep 16, 2014)

Nice report and yes the topwater was fine this morning!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Those small WB's are more than likely last years spawn. The spawn this year must surely have been poor to the extremely high muddy water during the spawn.
The stripers stocked in late July were only two inches long. No reason to believe this years WB would be any bigger.
The good news is there was a great spawn last year so we will see good WB fishing for another two years.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Folks....it takes about 10 pounds of forage to add one pound of weight to a striper. 

In my feeble mind, the great flood of 2015 pushed at least 1 million stripers out of the lake. A striper will roughly double in size every year until it reaches 4 or 5 years.

Lets say out of that 1 million stripers removed, they would have consumed at least 10 million pounds of forage...I'm assuming an average weight of 1 pound going to 2 pounds in a season. 

While it is true that a lot of that consumed forage is shad...it is also true that white bass spawn makes up a whole bunch of it. So, out of that 10 million pounds, a substantial poundage of white bass has been "saved" from striper consumption. 

I have personally never seen, after fishing this lake ever since it was built, the number of small white bass that are in evidence right now in the lake. I attribute that largely to the removal of stripers.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Judging from the number of white bass cleaned that were landed on The Mighty Red-Fin for the last three years, this last spring was the first major spawn in three years. I think those little white bass we are catching now are this years spawn, as the size would be about right.

If they were born in March and grow 9" in their first year( http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/wtb/) then March born fish would be 4" long about the size of most of those little ones being caught now. They were probably born in late February or early March.

Up until this year, for the last two years, we would clean white bass with eggs being absorbed back into the fish( they did not spawn) until mid July, this year all of the white bass were devoid of eggs after the spawn was over.

I think the fishing last winter demonstrated the fact that last year _Most_ of the white bass went north to spawn and very few stayed in the lake past December.
Whereas the two previous years huge numbers stayed in the lake all winter. And come spring they all had still had their eggs after spawning time was well over.

I believe that for the previous two years the population of white bass was such that they did not need to spawn, as there were white bass from the dam to way up the river in good numbers. And most ecosystems self regulate according to habitat limitations for a given species. I think they had maxed Livingston out!

Those white bass were old timers however, and they needed to spawn before dying off as the TPWD article states three years of age is max for most of them.

I find that an early good rise in the river in January( like the Trinity had last January) will prompt the white bass to go upriver and follow the rise to the very end of the feeder creeks where they can not go any further, a shoal or riffle stops them and the first females there are the biggest and hardiest of the lot. Thus hatching the best fit fish for the next generation.
JMHO.


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## texcajun (Feb 22, 2009)

My personal opinion (for what it's worth) is the high water this year did more to keep the white bass FISHERMAN at bay than it did to keep the fish from spawning. I have no doubt that they spawned, it's just that most of us either didn't find them or didn't even venture out into the high water. I fell into the latter category. My trip to the Sabine was a perfect example. 3 hard days of fishing and for the first 2 days we caught a total of four whites. The last day, God and Jane Gallenbach took pity on us. Jane gave us her secret weapon and a spot to go to and we nearly limited out. BUT, Jane was the only person we saw the whole time we were there that caught anything.


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

I have not fished the lake so I can't say anything there. But I can say that the last few times I fished below the dam there were 4-5" whites galore. They would follow my 3/4oz rattle trap back to boat in schools. Every now and then one would manage to hook itself trying to eat it.

I believe the fish are just fine with the high water during spawn. I would think like has been said they Wil just go even farther up the creeks.

And I believe most fisherman won't follow them that far up or don't even think to do so. It seem to me most people go to the usual locations and if no action they quit. And then after a few trips of no action they give up and call it a bad year. When all along the fish were way further up the creek were boats either can't or people won't go.


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

All I can say is there sure is a lot of 4-6" WB in the lake right now. Caught about 8 - 6" Stripers too last Saturday.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I haven't caught a striper midlake in the 2 or 3 months, not catching any yellow bass now either but lord the little whites are everywhere


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

I am surprised at the data from some of the growth rate studies. There is tons of data on the net about most species of fish. Especially the white bass. Those fish do grow faster that just about any game fish in our state.
Most studies do indicate that a female WB can reach the 5" length in the first six months after spawning.
Most studies do state that the females spawn on their second spring. Also in the southern lakes those same females usually die after their second spawning run at age four. In northern lakes they live about five years but grow much slower.

Below is a few cut and paste selected items that covers the growth rate in a few words. 



A study of the food and growth rate of the young white bass (Morone chrysops) was made from specimens collected between June and October, 1950 and 1951, in Lake Texoma, Texas. The major food organisms eaten by 125 young white bass in 1950 and 168 in 1951 were crustaceans (chiefly Cladocera and Copepoda), insects (chiefly Chironomidae), and gizzard shad. White bass ranging from 23 to 125 millimeters, standard length, ate all three organisms during the 5-month periods. Shad made up the largest percentage of volume of food eaten. Measurements from 349 young white bass in 1950 and 380 young fish in 1951 showed the 1951 fish grew much faster than those in 1950. The average standard length at the end of October 1950 was 74 millimeters (3"), whereas on the same date in 1951, it was 126 (5") millimeters. The accelerated growth of the 1951 white bass was due to the prolonged high-water level in the spring of that year and their continued heavy diet of fish.


(Study from Oklahoma)
â€¢	Sexual Maturity
â€¢	The males become sexually mature at the end of their first year and the females reaching sexual maturity after year two. The average length of sexually mature males at the end of year one is nine inches, with the average length of females reaching 13 inches.
â€¢	The small size of these bass often has them overlooked by many anglers. However, they are great fighters and offer up a great fight making them fun to catch for both experienced and novice anglers of all ages. This is also a great bass for young children as their size helps them prepare for large fish species and gives them a taste of great fighting fish.


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

whsalum,

Echo your comment on the lack of stripers mid-lake so far this late summer/early fall. I have had enough mid-lake success on white bass lately so I have been deliberately targeting stripers in 15-20 ft of water adjacent to the main river channel, but have come up empty many times. Is anyone out there having success on stripers mid-lake yet?

Gary


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## berger1b (May 6, 2012)

I know of a 23" striper caught Sunday morning and I lost two with one breaking me off. I landed 2 under sized stripers. We also caught quite a few yellow bass in the 8"-10" range. All were on jigs in less than 12' of water. Plenty of small whites but we're able to boat 18 nice keepers.


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## sea hunt 202 (Nov 24, 2011)

yes we have a few friends who get the limit so the pickens should be slim


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Yesterday evening I fished for a while after getting back from seeing my folks and caught the first yellow bass in a minuet. 
They were thick early this year when we we fished the lake, then they vanished until yesterday. I caught a lot of them looking for white bass.

90% of the striped bass over 18" went through the gates. Which is why the fishing was killer for them there in the tail race.
Having fished the south end since 2000, and having fished the river before.
I have seen this happen a few times.
A high discharge, not even close to as high as the lake had this year, and most of the stripers over 18" leave through the gates.
After that when you catch a keeper in the lake it's like catching a gold bar, and to find a little school of big ones, hot dang!
It takes about two years for the good striper fishing to rebound for fish over 18" if it does not have a high discharge during that time. If it does then it could take longer.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I guess my dock bite for the stripers this winter may be in trouble from what I'm seeing. Usually mid November I kill them on a trap.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

A few observations from this year, all of this was midlake:

1)	We had a great spawn this year. I have caught more 3â€ â€“ 5â€ fish than the last 5 years combined.
2)	I havenâ€™t caught a single striper and very few yellow bass midlake. I usually catch 4 â€“ 5 stripers per trip and more yellow bass than you care to mention.
3)	I have seen massive schools of shad close to the surface in Kickapoo and these are quickly followed by a top water bite.
4)	A large percentage of the females I caught this year had eggs they were absorbing. I guess a lot didnâ€™t spawn but many had to spawn due to #1.
5)	Muddy water kept lots of fishermen at bay. I think the overall catch was down significantly.
6)	I had great success through the week before Christmas because the water was clear. That changed on Christmas and fishing went south until July.
7)	Kickapoo creek was on fire this year, but after the spawn. We never had a great spawn bite but I think it was due to the weather rather than muddy water. The fish were on and off and we never had that week of crazy spawn fishing. Since Kickapoo was more clear than the rest of the lake, we had a crazy bite up the creek into July. I have never seen this happen before.
8)	I think crazy weather and high water hampered many fishermen during the spawn the last two years. I think fewer spawning fish were caught so even if the spawn was off, a lot of fish still spawned.
9)	The rains this month muddied the west side of midlake and the bite turned off again. Some days you have to hunt hard to find fish. When I have found them, it got crazy fast.

To put that in perspective, I clock about 150 - 200 hours on the water fishing LL each year. Not as much as Loy and the other guides but probably above average compared to most guys out there.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I can vouch for everyone of these observations with the exception of the red hot white bass bite up Kickapoo. I fish midlake exclusively and never thought about going up there looking for whites until the bite was over  I won't make that mistake again  .


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Thanks to all of you for your valuable observations and opinions below, especially to Shadslinger and GT11. That is the best aspect of this forum for me - being able to learn things from you which help me understand the lake better and hopefully catch more fish.


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## SetDaHook (Oct 21, 2010)

whsalum said:


> I can vouch for everyone of these observations with the exception of the red hot white bass bite up Kickapoo. I fish midlake exclusively and never thought about going up there looking for whites until the bite was over  I won't make that mistake again  .


Ditto that!!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

"red hot white bass bite up Kickapoo"

Yeah, where did that come from? Usually that Kickapoo white bass spawn bite window lasts about a day,once or twice during the spring.

I think it's like Gt 11 said the about the clear water. I think the best spawners seek out the best conditions, and the Kickapoo basin has usually held cleaner water than anywhere else when it gets bad muddy.
This year has the best white bass bite there since the 80s on Kickapoo. 
I have often crossed the bridge to see the birds screaming and the white bass smashing the top when I drove over on the 190 bridge this year.


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