Tapping the summer White Bass bonanza with Humminbird Side Imaging and Trigger X soft plastics
Navigation:
Peak summer water temperatures often turn fishing for many gamefish species into a slow, painful grind. However, effective multispecies anglers will adapt to these conditions and turn their attention to those fish that are willing, even aggressive biters. One of my favorite mid-summer fish to pursue is the white bass. As water temperatures pass through the 70s into the 80s, massive schools of white bass gather to forage on young-of-the-year shad, often at or near the surface. Schools of these fish can be readily identified by Humminbird Side Imaging, and caugt very effectively with Trigger X soft baits.
Dr. Jason Halfen
Professional Walleye Angler
Navigation:
Roaming schools of white bass will not necessarily be structure-oriented. Rather, they will follow schools of shad as the shad feed on zooplankton near the surface. I use two locators to help me find these actively feeding schools of fish. My eyes are the first locator that I use; surface feeding white bass will aggressively break the surface, and are visible from long distances if the water is realtively calm. Groups of seagulls will often orient to these feeding white bass, with the birds picking off the shad that are chased to the surface by the fish. Look for the birds, or the surface feeding activity, to help locate the white bass.
Once you find an actively feeding school, DON'T GO CHARGING INTO THEM! This will scatter the shad, and thereby scatter the school of white bass. Try to find the periphery of the school and target those (still quite active) fish. The periphery of the school may extend for 100s of feet from the circle of surface feeders. This is where the second locator, a Humminbird Side Imaging fishing system, comes into play. Individual suspended fish can be idenfitied readily my Side Imaging, both by their bright white sonar return and their prominent dark sonar shadow. I use my Hummibird 1198c to identify areas off the main area of activity that still have large numbers of suspended fish, and keep myself in that area with the quiet power of my MinnKota Terrova 101 bowmount trolling motor. Below are some screen captures from my 1198c that illustrate the types of areas that I like to target.
Once I've found an active school of fish, I will target them with realtively simple techniques. I prefer to use spinning gear to cast light jigs rigged with small profile Trigger X walleye plastics, including paddletails and grubs. I will often trim the plastics to better match the sizes of the bait being targeted by the white bass; a 2-3" bait works very well under these circumstances. In addition to being fortified with fish attracting pheromones and additives that make the baits perticularly tasty to ythe fish, the plastic that makes up the baits is very robust. You will be able to catch large number of fish using a single bait, rather than having a traditional soft plastic be completely shredded after only a few fish. Use bright colors on your jigs and Trigger X plastics, and mix up your retrieves until you find a productive method for catching these aggressive summer white bass.
Here is a short video that illustrates these techniques for finding and catching summer white bass:
