# White Bass Fishing Advice



## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Many of you may have already seen this article on white bass fishing by Dennis Christian on the Mepps web site - 
http://www.mepps.com/fishing-article/the-fishing-discovery-of-my-lifetime/408

It is excellent. I enjoyed and appreciated the article, especially because it involved Lake Livingston. His mom had a place across from Penwa campgrounds, so he usually fished the mid-lake area.

He also put together a good Youtube video on his Mepps technique:





I have found his information to be very helpful, so I started looking for more of Mr. Christian's advice on white bass fishing as posted on the internet since knowledgeable information on the subject in other forms (books, videos) is limited. So I asked him this week if it would be OK to share my edited version of this information with you, and he agreed. I think that many of you will find it useful, even if you are not as passionate about the Mepps spinner as he is. Big recognition, thanks and admiration to Mr. Christian for all of his work to document his lifetime of experience. And for sharing it with us.

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*White Bass Fishing Advice by Dennis Christian*

*How to Locate White Bass*

The easiest way to catch white bass is to find them feeding on the surface. You can catch them with almost anything - spoons, slabs, spinners, soft plastics, crank-baits, etc. Cast it out and reel it in at or near the surface. It's fast, exciting and effective. You can cruise the lake looking for birds circling/diving over the same area, or look for a group of boats. If neither are to be found, look for the actual surfacing fish. Calm weather works best because you could see the fish hitting from a long ways off. You need to have good binoculars to see this activity from afar. In spite of all these efforts, many days you will not find surfacing fish. If you only know how to catch them this way, you look and look then give up and go home.

The best way to make sure you come home with a mess of fish is to learn how to find and catch fish on water bottom structure - points, humps, drop-offs, old roadbeds and old submerged bridges. How do you find white bass on structure? You need good electronics and you need to know how to use it. A good resolution sonar device is sufficient - downscan and sideview will also help if you can afford it, but to me the cost is still too high. Good electronics are important so you can distinguish baitfish from the fish you want to catch. Also, so you can zoom in on the water bottom and distinguish between trash and fish lying right on the bottom. You want it to show you what it sees rather than interpret it for you and put ID pictures of fish on the screen. After you see what a good bunch of fish look like (as when you are over them and catching them readily) you will remember what this looks like and that's what you will be looking for when you go searching other structures.

Also, get a good topo map of the lake and study it for points, humps, drop-offs, roadbeds, etc. A good structure is one where the depth is significantly shallower than water next to it. For instance, humps have deeper water all around them, points have deeper water on 3 sides of them, roadbeds have deeper water on both sides and drop-offs have deeper water on one side. There may be fish anywhere on these structures, but I find that the most likely place for them is at the edges just before it drops off into deeper water. This is particularly true if the point or hump is broad. Most of the productive structures I know of in the Texas lakes I fish are 10 to 18 ft deep with deeper (25+ feet) water next to it. Structures with 25 to 30 ft tops (with 40+ ft next to them) can also be productive if the water is clear enough. In stained water it gets dark fast as depth increases. With map in hand get on the water and locate the structures you see on the map. Use landmarks and GPS points if you have a GPS and the map has some listed. If you do use one, mark the structure as waypoint and label it so you can get back to it.

Submerged bridges, if at the right depth, are ideal structures for attracting white bass. The ones in Lake Livingston on Old 190 are 10 to 12 ft deep on the road surface with rails on each side 3 ft shallower. Depth under the bridges varies from 22 to 30 ft. Shad feed on the algae on the hard road surface and on the rails. This in turn attracts the white bass. Fish can hang out in the shade of the bridge, and then when they want a meal, they swim up to the roadbed or rail and catch a shad. We park our boat at either end of bridge or in the middle of it (of course after we find it using our electronics). We catch fish casting on top of bridge road surface, casting down the roadbed and to shoulders at ends of bridge and casting over and pulling bait across bridge rails (which you can do with an inline spinner but not a slab or spoon without getting hung up).

*White Bass Fishing Technique*

Before taking on structure fishing for whites, you need to develop confidence in a bottom catching bait and technique. Why? Because if you think you have found fish on a structure, if you can't catch any and don't have confidence in your technique, you will question whether you actually found fish. You will question your depth finder and become frustrated and confused. But, if you know you can catch them if they are down there, then you don't lose confidence if you don't catch any in that spot - you just move on and look for them on another structure. So, how do you develop confidence in a bottom catching bait and technique? You develop it while you are fishing surfacing fish. Instead of retrieving the bait at or near the surface, you let it go to the bottom and work it there. Actually, you are more apt to catch better fish down at the bottom anyway. Slabs, spoons, lead-head with soft plastics and inline spinners are the most popular baits for fishing the bottom. Try them and find one you can have confidence in. Once you have a technique you know you can catch them with, then you can take on structure fishing.

What are my preferred baits and how do I work them? To cover this I thought I would start at the beginning of my white bass fishing and work my way forward. Before I start, let me say that my preferred way to catch whites started with a spoon, then changed to a slab and then to a Mepps spinner, which I have used now since 1976. The Mepps has worked so well I've not needed to try anything else, such as soft plastics or crank baits.

When I started in 1967 my teachers - father-in-law and wife's Uncle Charlie - used various silver spoons. I think slabs were not around yet or just getting started and these guys not quick to change from what they knew. The spoons commonly used were Sidewinders, Mr. Champs, Tony Acetta, and their favorite - Dixie Sirens and Dixie Jets. For smaller spoons I recall they had some Little Cleos in their tackle box - they didn't have any larger Little Cleos, which came to be my favorite spoon much later.

Here are the exact instructions Uncle Charlie gave me for working a spoon on the bottom: "Make a cast and let it fall to the bottom, jerk it up about a foot and let fall back to bottom, then crank 3 or 4 turns of the reel and let it fall back to bottom. Repeat all the way back to the boat." It seemed kind of mechanical, but when I was having trouble catching 'em I'd remember this and it was effective. However, I experimented and came up with my own favorite way to work a spoon - after a cast and letting it fall to bottom I would point rod toward line, take up the slack and make a long sweep up with the rod tip. I would most often get a bite when the spoon slowed or stopped at the top of my sweep. Of course, there were times it took a different action to get them to bite. I remember to catch them one time straight down in 30 ft water we had to raise the spoon up from the bottom a few turns of the reel and then bounce the spoon up and down rather violently (caught 180 that outing!).

We liked the Dixie Siren best because it had a beautiful smooth chrome-like finish and you could jig it or swim it like you can a Little Cleo. When slabs became popular (and cheaper to make) it put Dixie out of business (in the early '70s I think). I still have 3 of them and am afraid to use them lest I get one hung and lose it. Like everyone else, though, we began using slabs in the early '70's. We worked them just like the big spoons mentioned above. We caught tons of fish and thought we were doing as well as you could do.

If you have read my article on Mepps web site, you know what happened next. We discovered we weren't doing as well as we could. For those who haven't read it, I was having a rather mediocre day on Livingston working slabs on the Old 190 roadbed. But to my dismay there was a troller picking up a fish every time he trolled by me - right where I was slabbing. To make a long story short I tried to emulate what the troller was doing by swimming a lure - a Mepps spinner - along the bottom and started catching them.

*Mepps Spinner Technique*

This brings me to the present. I now use Mepps plain Aglia silver spinners almost exclusively. The one I used on that day in 1976 was a #2. Through experience I have found that different sizes work better in different lakes or circumstances. In Livingston #2 and #3 seem to work the best. Both of these are lightweight and we have to add a 1/4 oz mash-on weight about a foot up the line from the spinner to cast them and get them down to the bottom faster. Here in Cedar Creek the #4 seems to work best most of the time. The good thing about it is that it is heavy enough to cast and get to the bottom without adding weight.

The circumstance requiring a #2 instead of a #4 is when the new hatch of shad are the primary forage of the white bass. The fish are looking for a smaller shad and the #2 works well. Here this usually happens in mid July and lasts a couple of months.

So, how do you work a Mepps? It is NOT like a slab, and I think it is different from a soft plastic in that for these baits most of the strikes are on the fall. With a Mepps the strike is definitely on the retrieve - as you start it up from the bottom. I like this because it is easier to feel the strike on the retrieve and in my opinion more fun. Sometimes they almost knock the reel out of my hands. At other times it is a light bite - but always on the retrieve up from the bottom. Of course, occasionally I'll get one where the fish hit it on the fall. Most of the time when this happens it's a catfish.

One more thing about Mepps, it works just as good on surfacing fish. So, I never have to change from Mepps even when I run across some working under the birds.

To fish with the Mepps spinner, after casting let the spinner free-fall to the bottom. Then point the rod toward the line and take up the slack. Then raise rod slightly and hold steady while cranking the reel at the same time. Crank from 3 to 6 turns for 5 to 1 gear ratio. Keeping rod as still as you can helps you feel the bite. Making sure all the slack is out of the line and raising the rod as you start cranking gets the blade spinning immediately. Most bites occur immediately after you start reeling. If you don't get a bite after cranking the reel 6 turns, stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 3 to 6 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat. They strike it coming up from the bottom, so don't guess - make sure it gets back to bottom. The bite can be sharp but is usually soft or you feel something pecking at the bait or a gentle tug. When you feel this raise the rod to set the hook. Try different speeds until you find what they want. The slowest speed to try is cranking barely fast enough to make the blade turn. (If the blade is spinning, you can feel the tension in the line. You definitely notice the lack of tension if the blade does not spin. The larger the spinner the greater the tension.) If that speed is a 1 and burning it up is a 10, I usually crank it about a 3. Use that as starting point and vary up/down if needed. Try both holding the rod in front of you and reeling more vertically, and try holding the rod to the side down toward the water and dragging spinner more horizontally. When bite is so lite it's hard to feel it, it helps to keep rod pointed directly at line. When doing this, to help blade start immediately I'll extend my arms full jength toward line before starting to reel. Then ensure all slack is taken up and pull the butt of rod back to my stomach as I start reeling - keeping rod pointed toward line. Novices sometimes don't reel fast enough to make blade spin. I have to tell them to point rod at line and when bait is on bottom and slack out of line, reel it up fast about 10 turns. They'll catch some and after a while they develop a feel for how fast to crank.

I usually have to experiment with speed of retrieval at each place I stop. Sometimes they want it slow, sometimes fast and sometimes medium. I also test to see if they want a more vertical movement or more of a lateral, drag along the bottom movement. On deep humps with fish down on the bottom, I can park right over them and crank vertically and catch fish. But mostly I fish shallow (10 to 18 ft) structures and I'll park off to the side and make a medium to long cast and work Mepps across the structure. I find that a 5 or 6 to 1 ratio reel with 10 lb flurocarbon line works best. I keep the tension on the reel spool very loose so the weight of the bait readily pulls line out as it is falling to the bottom.

I usually use a #4 unless I know the pattern is smaller (#2) like it is in August and September. #4 is easier to fish because you don't need a weight added to the line, and you can feel the blade spinning easier. But in those months they won't touch a #4 but eat up a #2. When using a 2 or 3 I use a mash-on 3/16 oz lead weight up the line about 15 to 16 inches. This makes it heavy enough to cast with a casting reel and gets the bait to the bottom faster. Putting the weight that far away from lure helps prevent lure flipping back and catching the line - fouling up the retrieve. I use fluorocarbon 10 lb line, a 5:1 or 6:1 reel and medium action 5'6" to 6 ft rod. I've tried longer and stiffer rods, but for me I get the best feel with this one.

The Mepps to get is the plain silver Aglia. Retail stores like Walmart or Academy usually have only "dressed" Mepps if they have them at all. They will work just as well as plain if you cut off the the bucktail. I order mine online.

*Common Mistakes*

The key to catching quantities of white bass by structure fishing (as opposed to looking for schooling fish on the surface) are first to be able to locate fish using your graph and second knowing how to catch them once you have found them. Those who report trying to catch fish with Mepps seem to have problems in both categories.

Let's address locating fish. The pattern is typically finding a concentration of fish just off the bottom in water anywhere from 10 ft to 18 ft deep. I have identified a lot of structures at these ideal depths where the bottom drops off into 25+ ft right next to the 10 to 18 ft water. Fish like to hang out right on the edges where water depth starts to plunge deeper. So, what I do is criss cross my boat back and forth over the edge moving over a little from where I just crossed each time. I work my way like that along a drop-off, or hump, or ridge of a point. When I find fish, I mark them with a marker tossed over board. Then I search around the marker to see where the most fish are relative to the marker. Finally, I prefer anchoring so I go up wind of where I want to cast and drop anchor. Mepps work best most of the time pulling up at an angle rather than straight up. I also believe that in really clear water at 10 to 13 ft depths you can spook fish if you park right over them - so another reason to park off to the side and cast to fish.

If you have a good, detailed topo map of the lake you are fishing, you can see the humps, points and drop-offs on the map. Go to these places and start looking. Stay focused. Don't let suspended fish sidetrack you. The fish you are looking for are just off the bottom. In my experience, it is very difficult to catch suspended fish, AND they are not relating to structure necessarily like I want. The structure pinpoints the fish for you - just go there and search for them. The more structures you know the better.

The most common mistakes I find people making: not locating a concentration of fish on the bottom before starting to fish, using too heavy line, using #2 or #3 without adding weight, not expecting a very subtle bite a lot of times, not keeping the bait on the bottom when beginning retrieve, not checking the Mepps regularly to make sure wire is not bent or line is not twisted around blade. One more tip: I have found that I can feel the soft bite a lot better if I have the rod pointing almost directly at the line during retrieve - say at a 10 degree angle to the line direction. I can't explain why but it makes a difference.

I recently fished with a fellow who did not have a marker to toss over board when we found fish. I was quite surprised that he felt it was not needed. The folly of not using one was quickly evident. We had located a good bunch of fish down on the bottom on a narrow point in 14 ft water that fell off abruptly into 30 ft water on both sides. I would have tossed a marker over close to but not necessarily right over the fish. That would give me a quick and easy reference point as to where the fish were - no matter where I was standing or sitting in the boat. Without the marker I was guessing as to where to cast rather than knowing where to cast. Even if you have GPS and fish finder right in front of you, it is easier to just take one quick glance at the floating marker and know where to cast. This works because the fish are relating to the structure (i.e. staying put) - not swimming around where you have to keep your trolling motor going to keep on them. Until I had this experience, I thought it was just obvious to throw out a marker, but I guess to some it isn't. So, I hope this helps you to work the fish more easily when you do find them on structure.

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## goodable (Feb 27, 2015)

thanks Gary, awesome write up.


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## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

These days my go to is rattle traps or pet spoons under a cork. It used to be in line spinners or the pet spoon. The In line spinner is an awesome lure that will catch just about every thing. I have even ordered and used the large one intended for musky and pike. We used them to catch big stripers below the dam.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

If I could only have two bait to catch my food one would be a mepps with the natural buck tail. The other would be a #6 Kirby hook and a gob of earth worms. Mepps were catching fish before we ever learned about slab, spoons or crank baits.


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

I just found this post. I am a 2cool user now but can't seem to get it to accept my posts other than on Test board. Hope this post is accepted. Dennis


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

GaryI: Thanks for sharing my info. I hope to fish the White Bass tournament there on June 15. Dennis


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Years ago when I fished a lot and was fairly good at actually catching, a boat with 2 guys near me put a whooping on me using Mepps spinners while I used a slab. This was at one of the few spots on the lake that I tend to not publicize, and usually don't have a problem with too many boats there.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Great read Gary and great info Dennis. I have seen you out there working that Mepps and killing em. I grew up fishing mid-lake and still do some 40 years later. Old habits are hard to break!!


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I actually read this article many years ago and was fascinated with the info on the retrieve, especially the detail instruction on fishing it over the bridge railings. I still copy the retrieve when hopping the Ductracker slabs back to the boat when casting it. Great article !!


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

Great read thanks for sharing. Wish the water would clear up.


Good fishing to all!


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

Keep us north Texans posted on water clarity. I will not fish the tournament if the lake is too muddy in the Old 190 Hwy area of the lake.


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## McSpoon (May 18, 2016)

Thanks Garyl , I definitely enjoyed that article and video. 


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Dennis Christian said:


> Keep us north Texans posted on water clarity. I will not fish the tournament if the lake is too muddy in the Old 190 Hwy area of the lake.


It's a mess right now


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

If water doesnâ€™t clear up we will postpone tournament until it does.


Good fishing to all!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Super effective method, and it takes some discipline to learn, after breaking slab fishing habits, lol! 

I have tried to make myself fish this method several times and two things keep me from getting going with it.
I buy the Mepps and then find white bass easy to catch and never use them because slabs are fast and i am very used to them. 

Then the white bass get hard to catch and I am ready to try it. Of course I can't find the Mepps after that much time has gone by, lol!
Then I got serious and I had the Mepps and some split shots and gave it a dedicated try and found I was seriously patience deficit. 

I could catch them with the Mepps, but it was a very different pace from slabbing and it was difficult for me to maintain focus on the right actions.
It was hard for me to slow down and fish it right, and when I did I found you need a little different action rod than what I usually fish with to feel that bite.
I have shared Dennis' system/technique with a lot of people by passing the articles he has written with them. All of them get excited about it, some actually by the Mepps and try it and some get it right, and others are too much like me, lol!
Like WhiteBassFisher stated I have also been seriously out fished by someone nearby who could get it right using Mepps when I was slabbing.

I don't fish mid lake as much either and often I am fishing 25' or more deep and it's really trying in the deeper water on an impatient person like myself.


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

shadslinger: Thanks for your candid appraisal of the Mepps technique. I agree it takes a Mepps longer to reach the bottom. For shallower water (10 to 15 fow), that's not much extra time for a #4 with thin (10 to 12 lb) line. But for #2 and #3 it is too slow and too hard to cast also, so I add a 3/8 or 1/4 oz weight up the line about 14 inches. That helps both problems. It also gets it to the bottom fast enough for me in deeper water, but, if you want it to get down faster, just add a little more weight. You could even add weight to a #4 to get it down faster in deeper water. I'm hoping to fish Texoma soon and the fish can be very deep there, so I plan to add significant weight to my #4 to make it get down to them faster. In my experience the weight does not negatively affect the presentation or fishing it over bridge rails.


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## thedudeabides (May 6, 2018)

Great read and thanks for sharing. I coincidentally was going through some extra tackle this weekend. Found two mepps and would like to try this. Dumb question but assume treble hooks? I see they offer single hooks on their website. Also, is this only doable for bait casters? I use spinning rods and wondering if I could make it work. Ever add a jig teaser?

More than anything I need some practice readying my garmin depthfinder and sonar which is new to me!









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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

I always use treble hooks. You can catch them with spinning reels, but the folks who use them with me don't do as well. I believe it's because you can feel the bite better with a smooth bait casting reel. If you are on top of them and using the rod to lift up the Mepps to make it spin, then there should be no difference.


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## Mike S. 11 (Nov 10, 2009)

This is truly a great article. I read the entire thing after talking with Mr. Dennis before we made a trip up to Cedar Creek for a weekend. He gave me some great information on the lake and I even ran into him on a spot he was fishing. Had a good chat for a few minutes until I realized I had forgotten to drop the trolling motor and I had drifted almost on top of his marker. He sure does know his white bass methods, but I find I am like Shadslinger and I just donâ€™t have the patience. Iâ€™ll try adding the split shot next time and see if I can just force myself to slow down.


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

I was able to get my friends and relatives to switch from slabs to Mepps, but I find the more experienced the person is the harder to get them to consider it. Take Cedar Creek guide Billy Seaman for example. After reading the article about me and the Mepps method in the Dallas Morning News in July 2009, he contacted me and arranged to go out with me to "learn the Mepps technique." So, I took him out for half a day and demo'd it to him. I tried and tried to get him to throw a Mepps, but he never even tried. He fished his slab - I guess to see how he could compete with my method. Ended up I caught 10 to his one. At the end of the trip he just commented, "I guess there's always another way to catch a fish." Billy and I remain friends, but I sure wish he would have at least given it a try.


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## habanerojooz (Dec 4, 2006)

Nice article. Growing up in the late 60â€™s/early 70â€™s, we used an in-line spinner from Abu Garcia. I think they were called â€˜shystersâ€™. The blade had ridges, the weighted body was a solid color with small black polka dots. The treble hook was feathered in the same color as the body. We had good outings at Gorman Falls during the white bass runs. White was the best color and yellow was a close second. 

In the lake, we used white Bomber slabs for deep jigging and clear Heddon Baby Torpedos for topwater action. Iâ€™ve never tried going deep with an in-line spinner. 


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## Dennis_Christian (Oct 9, 2015)

I used Shysters, Blue Fox, Rooster Tail and Walmart specials when I couldn't get Mepps locally way back then. They all work like the Mepps to some degree but not as good.


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