# Its that time of year at LL if you aint catching them slabbing



## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

Ok so this is what I found out last year and a bunch of years before that.When its hot and the thermocline starts to kick in the fish are suspended in between about 15 feet of water all along the shore line.This is one of the many video alike,I like to share if you would,nt mind transitioning to trolling.Its will put fish in your boat big time in no time.The time is now as you can see the date I've dated on this video.The trick is to keep your divers really close to the surface.They are suspended not to far down from the surface so keep your divers just below the surface.A shallow diving crankbait will work too.FYI all the fish on the boat are within the three persons limit.Enjoy the video and please no negative comments or this video will be removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XQE3KuRJq9I#t=350


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Thanks Bruce, that is some whacking and stacking going on!


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

*Whites*

News to me..Never used such..THX will give it a try soon I hope..Looks like there not trolling far behind boat..


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## duhunter (Nov 17, 2009)

I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


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## droebuck (Oct 17, 2011)

*why?*



duhunter said:


> I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


I didn't see any that looked less than 10", but being your a junior internet game warden I'm assuming you could.Bruce is just trying to help other people with a new technique so I don't think your comment is appropriate.


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## muney pit (Mar 24, 2014)

duhunter said:


> I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


Im sure bruce isnt gonna keep any to small. On a personal note, i do wish the size limit was incressed to 12". I do see to many people catching 8's & 9's & keeping a boat load. I dont wanna see L.L. end up like Conroe. Good video Bruce. Hope to see ya out there soon


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Great post, Bruce

Hey, I like those 11" fish. They taste better!
Those look like some big whites on the floor. Looks like catching to me. Thanks for sharing. That is what this forum is all about.
Reading your post about shallow, those must be 10ft divers?


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## CrazyBass (May 1, 2013)

I have fished with Bruce before and I can tell you that he has great respect for the law. Great video Bruce. I am ready to go night fishing.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

duhunter said:


> I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


Dude you had to say it.Its people like you that spoil it all for everyone else.You think I'm gonna keep an undersize fish when there are plenty of fish to cull from that gigantic school.White bass looks very small in videos and and pictures.So if you are jeolous are what ever the reason I suggest you furk off.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

shadslinger said:


> Thanks Bruce, that is some whacking and stacking going on!


Hey shad slinger this video was taken on the same or on one of those day I saw you trolling near me.You were trolling and your clients were throwing crankbaits and killing them.On this day It was really HOT!!! and the thermocline had kicked in big time.Slabbing was tough that day for everyone on this forum but I was killing them all summer long.Gonna try to dig up some pictures of last year with dates on them and post it.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

muney pit said:


> Im sure bruce isnt gonna keep any to small. On a personal note, i do wish the size limit was incressed to 12". I do see to many people catching 8's & 9's & keeping a boat load. I dont wanna see L.L. end up like Conroe. Good video Bruce. Hope to see ya out there soon


The TP&WD tried the 12" limit for _many_ years on certain water bodies, including Lake Livingston, and determined it had no affect on the white bass population. Meat wise there is a great difference from 10" to 12", but that is a personal decision.



brucevannguyen said:


> Dude you had to say it.Its people like you that spoil it all for everyone else.You think I'm gonna keep an undersize fish when there are plenty of fish to cull from that gigantic school.White bass looks very small in videos and and pictures.So if you are jeolous are what ever the reason I suggest you furk off.


True Bruce, whites do seem to always look smaller in pics. Maybe due to perspective and only 2D.

I admit I would prefer to catch them casting over trolling. BUT, the thermocline absolutely can get to where jigging slabs is not the answer. Once the thermocline gets set in, it is change tactics or don't catch.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

cva34 said:


> News to me..Never used such..THX will give it a try soon I hope..Looks like there not trolling far behind boat..


This method is really best when its really HOT!!! outside and when the forum is hinting that slabbing is tough.Can only mean one thing them fish are all suspended.You can see I have a bell sinker on the hellbender to dive deep but it is for the stripers.I just simply let out just enough line 10-20 feet behind the boat and the spoons will wobble just a few feet underneath the surface.I had tried and experiment on the same day side by side a diver that goes almost to the bottom and one that are just a few feet below the surface and they would not hit the one that are diving deep.If you have doubt throw out one diving deep and one diving shallow.See which one they prefer that day.Early morning will not produce as the water are still cool and the fish are elsewhere.Wait till the sun comes up and the water starts heating up is the best time to do it.And last them whites are not afraid of your props even if your spoons are wobbling really close to it.Ive seen them come up right next to the prop and hit that spoons repeatedly.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

brucevannguyen said:


> Dude you had to say it.Its people like you that spoil it all for everyone else.You think I'm gonna keep an undersize fish when there are plenty of fish to cull from that gigantic school.White bass looks very small in videos and and pictures.So if you are jeolous are what ever the reason I suggest you f_ _k off.


.........


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Bruce is right about white bass being crazy about the heat, but staying suspended, so trolling is killer for putting a pile in the boat. 
It works best when you have a good partner like in Bruce's video, Lee used to do all of the unhooking/culling and stacking the cooler while I drove the boat. 
We could pack em in the cooler!
This year I will have get trapperjon working the cooler when I troll.


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## roadhammer (Jun 21, 2013)

thanks bruce


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## muney pit (Mar 24, 2014)

Whitebassfisher said:


> The TP&WD tried the 12" limit for _many_ years on certain water bodies, including Lake Livingston, and determined it had no affect on the white bass population. Meat wise there is a great difference from 10" to 12", but that is a personal decision.
> 
> True Bruce, whites do seem to always look smaller in pics. Maybe due to perspective and only 2D.
> 
> I admit I would prefer to catch them casting over trolling. BUT, the thermocline absolutely can get to where jigging slabs is not the answer. Once the thermocline gets set in, it is change tactics or don't catch.


I tend not to keep anything under 12 myself. But did theysay why it had no effect? Interested in knowing?


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Good report. Trolling is a good way to load the boat this time of year and yes they will hit the lures in the prop wash and you don't need all the divers that pull like a freight train.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

muney pit said:


> I tend not to keep anything under 12 myself. But did theysay why it had no effect? Interested in knowing?


Yes, a lot more meat on a 12" than a 10". Somewhere around 13" can make a really good personal minimum in my opinion.

To answer your question, no, I don't remember detailed report findings. I _think_ (dangerous keyword there) that since whites are very prolific with a relatively short life span that their numbers are influenced more by spawning conditions than legal fishing, so the 10" or 12" law just didn't result in any average size increase or greater population. I basically trust the TP&WD, and doubt they would have changed back to 10" if the 12" law had helped.

I admire Bruce's auto-pilot and multi-tasking in the video!

Late note muney pit: Found this:
http://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/article/White-bass-idea-doesn-t-measure-up-2124015.php


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Great report Bruce. I have never been one to troll but have seen it work big time just a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes you can back off and cast the 1/2 oz trap to these same fish. It's evident the Lake Livingston white bass population is healthy so they aren't being over harvested


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

whsalum said:


> Great report Bruce. I have never been one to troll but have seen it work big time just a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes you can back off and cast the 1/2 oz trap to these same fish. It's evident the Lake Livingston white bass population is healthy so they aren't being over harvested


The day if all the people on this forum feels that the whites are over harvest in any way,I promise everyone I will never go back to Lake Livingston for the purpose of catching any fish at all.I am a salt water fisherman by traits that goes all the way back to my ancesters.I can always go back to salt water fishing and let the whites population recoupe.I truley have seen acres and acres and acres of whites as far as the eyes can see surface at one time (just last year).I thinhk people here dont know the magnatude of the white bass population here on LL.If I had to worry it would be having enough shads to feed these massive population of white bass on a daily base.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I'm sure a lot of you 2coolers, like me, fished for white bass when there was no limit. 
The only limitation was how many did you want to clean.
I was very young then, but I did a lot of fishing and I don't remember there being any more white bass then, or less, than now. 
There are defiantly more in Lake Livingston than I have experienced in other east Texas lakes.
The only thing that seems to impact the white bass in theTtrinity system has been gill netting in the upper portions during the spawn.
I think TPWD has done a great job of taking care of that problem and patrols the river well. That may be one reason there are tons of white bass now.
Livingston is full to the brim with white bass, I have never seen a white bass fishery this strong anywhere.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> I'm sure a lot of you 2coolers, like me, fished for white bass when there was no limit.
> The only limitation was how many did you want to clean.
> I was very young then, but I did a lot of fishing and I don't remember there being any more white bass then, or less, than now.
> There are defiantly more in Lake Livingston than I have experienced in other east Texas lakes.
> ...


Illegal gill netting during the spawn!!! :hairout:

Yes, I think TP&WD have worked hard to keep it under control.
I personally saw poachers mending gill nets in their front yards roughly 25 years ago in the Wilson Shoals area. I was personally checked, way in the spawning boondocks, for a fishing license (I was legal) about 20 years ago by a GW you told me he had found gill nets so full of whites that it would not fit in his boat. I have personally seen GW's dragging creeks with a large hook (not a fishing hook, but more like you see used for body recovery) to find nets. I have heard stories that I think are believable of refrigerated truck loads of illegally gill netted whites. I remember a guide (not on this forum) telling me of a netter telling him "Under these conditions you need to be fishing in the river not the creeks. If I was to set a net right now it would be in the river." I also heard but can't prove it, that during low green river conditions that a full gill net on the river could be spotted from a Cessna. This sounds possible to me.
Yes SS. I honestly believe that following the laws is all that is needed to keep the fishery strong. :cheers:

Bruce, I didn't mean to hi-jack, but I think you follow all laws. Go for it! Your kids are benefiting from a good dad.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

I personally think LL is a perfectly design lake if not by mens then by mother natures.We have a major river (the trinity)that dumps water into the lake and keeps the flow going during the spawn,and never dried out like all the creeks.Then down stream of the lake we have the water dumping down into the dam keeping a slight flow on the lake at all times.We dont seee that at conroe,and we dont see that at somerville.That's why the population of whites bass is declining at one lake and the other has almost or already gone non exsisting for white bass.I trulely think LL is bless with such a lake,and will never ever change in any way.It has'nt twenty years ago and have'nt now.So that's how LL will stay.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

muney pit said:


> Im sure bruce isnt gonna keep any to small. On a personal note, i do wish the size limit was incressed to 12". I do see to many people catching 8's & 9's & keeping a boat load. I dont wanna see L.L. end up like Conroe. Good video Bruce. Hope to see ya out there soon


Mr pit.conroe whites is suffering is because they have no water flow from any major river like Livingston.The creeks dry out before they even get a chance to spawn.I've never heard of a good white bass population up there at all,correct me if I'm wrong.


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## muney pit (Mar 24, 2014)

brucevannguyen said:


> Mr pit.conroe whites is suffering is because they have no water flow from any major river like Livingston.The creeks dry out before they even get a chance to spawn.I've never heard of a good white bass population up there at all,correct me if I'm wrong.


Makes sence to me. I just dont hear alot of good white bass fishing in conroe lately. Thats the only info i got on how it is up there. I dont go to Conroe much because of the **** speed boats. Teenagers in daddy's 40' Baha almost running over me more than once kinda keeps me out of there.


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## slimyhand (May 3, 2009)

X2 on everything y'all have said. I believe that's why we did so well trolling when it got really hot on Friday. Like I posted, we did just ok that morning but when it got hot and started trolling that pet spoon, we started killing them!!! Cool video Bruce! Keep posting them, and don't let one negative comment hinder you from doing so. See ya on the water.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

No worries Bruce. Carry onâ€¦and keep posting. I'm a trolling freak and enjoy running over schools of fish, stopping, jigging, casting and repeating!


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## Lone Eagle (Aug 20, 2009)

Whitebassfisher said:


> The TP&WD tried the 12" limit for _many_ years on certain water bodies, including Lake Livingston, and determined it had no affect on the white bass population. Meat wise there is a great difference from 10" to 12", but that is a personal decision.
> 
> You are "Very Correct" about that. The 12" Limit was in effect for one or two years....can not recall.


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

*WB*

Bruce I just want to say Thanks /For all the good info and videos you post..Its all very informative and helpful..To us old saltwater fishermen trying to get into freshwater..Sometimes tell me more how the hellbender are rigged and used..PM if you like..As for size whatever you want as long as its legal is all that matters to me..Big ain't always better think about a can of sardines...Smaller is always the best and cost more too.. Don't let 1 negative comment deter you or even up set you..Think about OBAMA ain't ever slowed him down..

My rule of thumb is if these guys posted it its must a Read : bruce/shadslinger/pet spoon/whitebassfisher/whslam/meadowlark/smackdaddy/Yes I missed some but its time to go do something got a van to work on


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## mycolcason (Jan 7, 2013)

duhunter said:


> I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


What a richardhead!!! Great job Bruce


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

Yep, I fished it back then to. The one thing I will say is that I though the fish were smaller back when there was no quantity/size limits.



shadslinger said:


> I'm sure a lot of you 2coolers, like me, fished for white bass when there was no limit.
> The only limitation was how many did you want to clean.
> I was very young then, but I did a lot of fishing and I don't remember there being any more white bass then, or less, than now.
> There are defiantly more in Lake Livingston than I have experienced in other east Texas lakes.
> ...


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

Rodger, the 12" limit was in effect for more than 1 year. I am thinking 3 years. I had heard that the TP&W theory was that it would allow those 10" wb to spawn at least 1 time before they were taken out of the lake. I know that the 1st year, 11" fish were the norm everywhere you went. You really had to work at it to get a respectable amount on 12" plus fish. If I recall correctly there were something around 25 boats in the penwaugh tournament that year and only something like 8 of them brought in their 10 fish to be weighed. The following year, large wb were plentiful. I was disappointed when they changed it back. I did think it helped with the average size of the fish even if the overall numbers didn't increase. I felt like they changed it back because of all of the tickets they were writing to people keeping 11" fish because most lakes were 10" min. and they didn't read the fine print in the regs. Might not be true at all, but from a person fishing every week, I felt it did help.



Lone Eagle said:


> Whitebassfisher said:
> 
> 
> > The TP&WD tried the 12" limit for _many_ years on certain water bodies, including Lake Livingston, and determined it had no affect on the white bass population. Meat wise there is a great difference from 10" to 12", but that is a personal decision.
> ...


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## lookin4schools (May 29, 2014)

duhunter said:


> I wonder how many under size fish were on the floor of that boat?


I was thinking the same thing. My motto is If it looks like I have to measure, it goes back in the water,and in that case many of the others hooked as well.


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## Jimmy Blue (Nov 20, 2013)

Bruce:

I for one truly appreciate the fact that you and others help those of us that are newer at this get going in the right direction.

Just remember there's always going to be at least one in every crowd taking shots.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and I hope to do a night fishing trip with you sometime this summer.

Jimmy Blue


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

cva34 said:


> Bruce I just want to say Thanks /For all the good info and videos you post..Its all very informative and helpful..To us old saltwater fishermen trying to get into freshwater..Sometimes tell me more how the hellbender are rigged and used..PM if you like..As for size whatever you want as long as its legal is all that matters to me..Big ain't always better think about a can of sardines...Smaller is always the best and cost more too.. Don't let 1 negative comment deter you or even up set you..Think about OBAMA ain't ever slowed him down..
> 
> My rule of thumb is if these guys posted it its must a Read : bruce/shadslinger/pet spoon/whitebassfisher/whslam/meadowlark/smackdaddy/Yes I missed some but its time to go do something got a van to work on


Sorry Sunbeam forgot you on list..Now your on..You always Brighten up my day


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