# White Bass Observations !!



## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

After a couple of months of getting to white bass fish daily I have a few observations. The creatures will feed on the surface for hours if unmolested. When they sound and lock on structure they are VERY catchable. When they suspend you have to change tactics. If you don't have a good depth finder you need one. Lake Livingston is blessed with some of the best guides I have ever saw. If you don't have a knowledge of the fish instead of just winging it call these guys. One trip will save you many hours of frustration and also keep you from making mistakes that affect everyone else that is working the fish you are running in to. Tight lines !!


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Thanks, Bill. Good ones. Given all of the WB you have hauled in lately, you should know.

A few more WB observations to add based on my experience:
- Don't start fishing for WB until you find a school on the bottom.
- WB fishing is a WHOLE lot more fun on ultralight tackle. Especially when you latch on to a small striper.
- I have been using bigger and bigger lures. It seems to cull out the small ones a bit and encourage the occasional striper or hybrid bite.
- Fishing has been a lot more enjoyable, more effective, less frustrating, and cheaper for me since I stopped trolling.
- Switching to barbless hooks has been effective for me.
- The ipilot is a must have.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

All very good points GrayI. I desperately need an Ipilot. I will have one as soon as the budget will permit. I started the thread to get everyones input because after watching people for months it became apparent most folks that make the mistakes that affect fishing for everyone just don't know any better. I have had the luxury of doing a lot of experimenting, last Friday I spooled my ultra light with 8lb carbon and tied on 2 1/8th oz grubs and had a BLAST. If people that don't know the specifics would hire one of the local guides it would unlock a world they have never seen before.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

A little known fact. white bass are not native to Texas except in the Red River drainage. Could they be an invasive species?


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## Outklassed (Jan 13, 2007)

Thanks for the tips!


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Sunbeam said:


> A little known fact. white bass are not native to Texas except in the Red River drainage. Could they be an invasive species?


Our motto here is "Come and take it" Sunbeam. We are trying to fight them off


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## Dirt Daddy (Sep 11, 2004)

Great tips thanks !!

The ultra light setups are much fun...


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

interesting info...the kinda WB fishing going on now ,,, how long and what months


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## ccketchum (Oct 18, 2010)

great info , guys ! this , what yall are doing , is how you TEACH people to fish . 
so , gas up the boat , get on the lake , hunt 'em down , and stack 'em in the cooler .


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

cva34 said:


> interesting info...the kinda WB fishing going on now ,,, how long and what months


This has been a strange 2 year cycle with the floods but normally I start to catch them really good on the jigging slab in April and stay on them until the thermocline suspends them. I can usually jig them thru June and sometimes on in to July. Most people don't keep doing it in the winter but it is very good in the fall and winter until they go up the river and creeks to spawn.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

"I desperately need an Ipilot."

I can't believe my eyes! If you bought anything before buying an i pilot, like a water heater for you house, a set of tires for your truck, then you need to fix that fast!
How can you fish for white bass on LL without one???
Barbaric I say!


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

Lol^ so true. Fished without one for a year after getting my boat it's well worth the $$.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Thinking about starting a GoFundMe account for whsalum . . .


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

GaryI said:


> Thinking about starting a GoFundMe account for whsalum . . .


At the rate he has been catching fish without one, I am not sure the species would survive if he had one.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I can feel the love :rotfl: If I had a nickel for every time I have drifted off the fish taking multiple hook ups off our lines and then got back on the trolling motor to get back to my marker I could not only buy an IPilot but probably a boat to put it on . "Go Fund Me" ?? I like the way you think GaryI


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

With an ipilot, you wont even need a marker any more.


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Fishin_envy,

That is what I thought too, but I still find that my marker comes in handy with an ipilot. When you are cruising around looking for a school with your trolling motor up, it is handy to throw out a marker when you initially see the school on your screen, so that you have a visual spot to come back to. I find that using the marker is more efficient than either just guessing based on your wake, or marking it on the GPS map and trying to come back to it.

Gary


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

When I first got my hds I was still throwing a plastic water bottle with label off and a decoy weight with 28' of mono.
My son one day said "really dad, 3k for a high tech unit and you still throw a water bottle?"
The Go To function is were its at.
After a while the map on GPS with a few waypoints is a perfect marker.


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## cwhitney (Sep 9, 2014)

shadslinger said:


> The Go To function is were its at.


This is one reason I have my Xi5 trolling motor networked with my HDS7. If I see something I like, I can mark a waypoint on the HDS7 and command the Xi5 to take me there. Once I get to the the waypoint, the anchor function kicks in and holds me there.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

GaryI said:


> Thinking about starting a GoFundMe account for whsalum . . .


Look what I found between the couch cushions :rotfl::rotfl:


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## housewolf (Nov 24, 2014)

whsalum is no rookie with that trolling motor. Now if he was doing it with a paddle, I might show some sympathy


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Thanks Loy, I will give the "Goto" function a try at replacing my handy marker.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

GaryI said:


> Thanks Loy, I will give the "Goto" function a try at replacing my handy marker.


LOL! It took me a while to break the habit, as the old water bottle served me well!
I keep my unit with three screens up, the left half is downscan at 800 the right upper quarter is sonar at 200, the bottom is map.
I keep the downscan half the active one and that is where I make my go to.
I then make the map quarter active and when close enough I zoom it up to a 20' scale.
If I marked the fish well in the begining I will get right back on top of them with this method.
The real beauty of the unit is being able to go back in time to mark fish already off of the screen.
:walkingsm


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

*Laugh*



whsalum said:


> Look what I found between the couch cushions :rotfl::rotfl:


LOL


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## TXShooter (Aug 13, 2007)

I fished for WB many years quite a bit. Since I lost my job and started a business I haven't been for over a year and a half.
You guys are really making me want to go.


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Shadslinger,

Just a followup thanks on your push to use the GPS map function instead of a marker when fishing for WB. I practiced a bit and streamlined my technique, and now I have stowed my markers for good. You are correct - it is a much better process, but it takes a bit of time to become adept at it.

I have a "Goto" function on my unit but that wasn't an efficient method for me. Here is the process I use with my Lowrance Elite 7 unit:
- Keep the sonar screen active and the map screen at 50 ft scale
- When you see a school, wait until it reaches the center of the scrolling sonar screen, hit "Enter", and then hit save. It then puts a waypoint at the school location. I have the fish symbol as the default, and then the waypoints are simply numbered starting at 001 and up throughout the day.
- I quickly hit Menu and Return to Boat Location, so that the sonar screen starts scrolling again.
- Use the map screen to move to the numbered waypoint. I don't need to switch to the map screen - the sonar screen is always active so that I can always mark a new school whenever I want. 

I found that I needed a compass mount to help me be more exact on moving the boat precisely to the waypoint.

Another advantage of this method is that, if I am successful at a location, I already have a waypoint marked and I just change the name of the waypoint to something more permanent. At the end of the day, I delete all of the unnamed numbered waypoints (which were not successful locations).

But the biggest advantage is that I no longer waste time retrieving and re-winding my markers.

Thanks again, Loy!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

It is a marvel of modern units!
I do it different, I keep three screens up, the left half is downscan as it is best for indicating size of the fish and location as it is a quick shot if what is happening below. I keep it active.
The right upper 1/4 is sonar set on 200, and the bottom 1/4 is gps.
When I see a school j want to mark I travel the cursor over it and hit " go to".

Then I start my turn to go back and reset the active screen to be gps and as j get close I slow down and zoom in to the 20' scale.
I still wait until I get over fish and can see them in down scan before hitting anchor.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

Gary, I wouldn't stow that buoy permanently. It is still very useful. When I see the school, I mark it, then continue for another 100 yds or so then throw out the buoy. All the other boats then make a beeline for the buoy and I circle back to my marked spot to catch the fish!!!


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

Thanks for the laugh, Gary! Hadn't thought of that.

I feel very fortunate so far. As long as I am not out on the water from Friday evening to Sunday noon, all of the boaters I have encountered so far have been very courteous.


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

It really hasn't been bad out there....where you and I have been fishing recently people are pretty good. I actually wave people in when I see they aren't catching fish. The old 190 bridge is always a different story though.


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

I had someone actually pick up one of my markers yesterday with me within 50 yards of it and the troll circles around me and my other marker  I just had to grin and bear it, they just don't know any better.


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

Sounds like the right thing to do...Gentleman you are!!!


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

We had one wiggle its way right through a maze of 6 boats last weekend not once but twice as we were all sitting on the edges of a school working them from the middle out. As tempted as I was to bounce a 1 oz slab of his pontoon I somehow kept it in check. Twenty years ago I'd have launched the magnum Rat L Trap I keep tied on for when the hybrids show up at him and see if 65 lb braid would have drug him off the boat. I don't get quite as upset about it now as I did then though as I realize you just can't fix stupid.

Mike


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## sea hunt 202 (Nov 24, 2011)

you guys are very forgiving


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## Dirt Daddy (Sep 11, 2004)

My family and I were on Memorial point a couple weeks ago fishing when some young fella on a jet ski pulls up and does a donut around my boat and hauls butt laughing...Now that chapped my Butt bad...I was a good boy that day because I know for a fact that 1 ounce Rooster Tackle Super Freak with a Horsefly Teaser could have connected with his juggler.......


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## Trophytrout_1 (Jan 7, 2016)

*Super Spook*



Dirt Daddy said:


> My family and I were on Memorial point a couple weeks ago fishing when some young fella on a jet ski pulls up and does a donut around my boat and hauls butt laughing...Now that chapped my Butt bad...I was a good boy that day because I know for a fact that 1 ounce Rooster Tackle Super Freak with a Horsefly Teaser could have connected with his juggler.......


He would have had a Super Spook with 3 VMC hooks slung at his head :rotfl:


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