White Bass Fishing

A White of Spring

White bass fishing is a Spring ritual. Every Spring,
white bass in incredible numbers, swim up rivers on
their spawning runs. For many anglers, these white-bass
runs are a rite of spring, and provide the first
dependable fishing action of the season.

Old wives and fishermen have one thing in common: they let their lives be ruled by sets of aphorisms that may or may not make sense.

“When the dogwood leaves are the size of a fox kit’s ear,” one such guideline goes, “it’s time for the white bass to run.”

While this is as good a rule of thumb as any, it presumes you know (a) what a dogwood leaf looks like, and (b) the size of a fox kit’s ear. A better guideline is water temperature: when stream temps reach the mid- to high-40s (48 degrees is about ideal), white bass leave the deep water of the lakes and make their spawning runs.

Anglers of all persuasions hit the water for white bass fishing then, using everything from live bait, to twisty-tail grubs, to mini jigs. Less well known: The white bass of spring are an ideal fly fishing target.

The white bass were originally found only in waters of the Mississippi drainage. But widespread stocking programs have extended its range, and it’s now found in all the Great Lakes states, and virtually every southeastern and southwestern state.

Several streams have attained international white bass fishing fame for the size and consistency of their white bass runs; the Wolf in Wisconsin, the Maumee in Ohio, and the Dix in Kentucky are among the best known. For thousands of anglers, meeting these runs is a rite of spring.

Of them all, Kentucky’s Dix seems tailor-made for fly fishers. It twists and turns its way through the farm country of central Kentucky, eventually emptying into Herrington Lake---from whence the white bass come.

I’d been hearing about the Dix and white bass fishing long before moving to Kentucky. In fact, the first person to tell me about it was a fellow fisherman I’d met while fishing the Wolf River run. “This is great fishing,” he admitted. “But it pales compared to the runs down south on the Dix.”

Once I’d moved to the Bluegrass State I had to check it out. But that was no easy task. Everybody talked about the white bass fishing run, but nobody would give any specifics. It was one of those broadly held secrets: hundreds of fishermen knew about the white bass run, and many of them fished it every year. But they were reluctant to discuss the wheres and hows.

Not that getting the inside scoop from some of these locals would have been all that much help. Few of those anglers used fly rods for white bass fishing. So I’ve spent the intervening seasons not only learning where to fish the white bass run, but also figuring out patterns and techniques that work.

These methods work equally well on the Maumee, by the way, or any relatively shallow river that supports a white bass run.

As most rivers are wont to do in the spring, the Dix runs pretty high. The first year Friend Wife and I were white bass fishing it we found ourselves in some flooded bottom land. These flat meadows line the shore on one side, dropping off as much as 15 feet to the actual river channel.

That year the bottom land we were white bass fishing was covered by about three feet of water, and the fish were running right along the edge of the big drop off.

We cast white, size 8 Ballou Specials up and across stream, letting them dead-drift with an occasional twitch. White is always a good color choice for white bass, and the peacock topping gives the Ballou a distinctively shad-like appearance. This is good because shad are the primary forage for white bass.

We were catching some bass. But not as many, nor as big, as those being caught by the spin fishermen who surrounded us. Obviously, we needed to refine our techniques.

Spin fishermen fish the run with a pair of mini-jigs suspended under a bobber. This rig is cast up and across stream and dead-drifted down. The real trick is figuring out how deep the fish are, which is done by trial and error.

Taking the hint, we rigged two streamers---a size 8 on the point and a size 10 as a dropper---and added foam strike indicators at the junctions of our leaders and fly lines. Nine feet of leader was about right. Our success rate immediately went up. But we still weren’t doing as well as the hardware crowd.

When we got home I sat down at the tying bench, determined to create a fly that would work as well as for white bass fishing as the jigs the spin fishermen used. Eventually I worked out a fly pattern that replicates the look and action of the tiny jigs, but which isn’t difficult to cast.

The fly is nothing more than a marabou streamer, modified with a dollop of epoxy to form a comparatively large, round head. Once cured, the head is painted, and eyes added.

Since developing these “Pop-eye flies,” we’ve done as well as conventional fishermen. And sometimes we’ve actually out fished them.

Fly color can be very important. Although white is generally a good choice, you should tie and carry Pop-eye Flies in a variety of colors. For instance, on the Dix, green was the color of choice for a number of years---out fishing white by as much as three or four to one. The color selection in our fly boxes reflects this. Although we tie them in white, black, yellow, and green, green outnumbers all he others combined.

Of course, some years the fish decide they want an off-the-wall kind of color. I ran into this a couple of seasons back while white bass fishing with my friend George Mead. On our first outing of the year we found the spin casters again out fishing us. They were hauling in fish while we were getting only occasional hits. Finally I walked over to a group of them to see what they were doing differently. It turns out that the white bass were in love with hot pink. Don’t ask me where the fish developed that color preference.

Still, the fact that the fish wanted pink was indisputable. And I spent several hours that night tying bubble-gum colored flies to take advantage of the run while it lasted.

White bass tend to spend most of their time on or very near the bottom, and the high water of spring can make getting a fly to the fish difficult.

When the river is high but fishable, it sometimes pays to use a mini sinking head to carry the fly down to the fish. If the water is deep, or the current strong, a sinking line might even be called for.

Of course, you can always add split shot and use weighted flies to help get your offering down to the fish. But the fact is, sometimes it’s just better to go home, and wait for lower, slower water.

But the fact remains, the spring white bass runs are a great way to start your angling season. Wade carefully, cast accurately, and have a ball!