The white bass spawning run can make a fishing fan out of nearly anybody, and the annual event is under way on area rivers.

Early spring rains and warming temperatures trigger the white bass upstream migration, and during the spawning run, whites are relatively easy to catch — and in good numbers.

The run is one of the few times of year that bank fishermen can have just as much success as those fishing from boats. It’s a great opportunity to introduce kids to fishing, as it’s relatively simple to catch fish and the odds are good that you’ll get good results.

Being a schooling fish by nature, white bass become much easier targets when in the rivers, often concentrating in large schools in channels and deep holes. If you catch one, you’re likely to catch more, especially at the height of the run.

Bait and tackle for white bass fishing is pretty much standard equipment. Inexpensive, lightweight spin-cast rod and reel combos armed with small jigs, small suspending or medium-running crankbaits, or live minnows will do the trick.

Sometimes, the type of bait used makes a huge difference. Store-bought minnows will, at times, outperform minnows netted from the river. Even lure color can be the factor that determines whether you catch a limit of fish or watch somebody else have all the fun. If you’re not sure what to buy, just ask for assistance at any sporting goods store or department.

Depth is also a key factor in success. A lot of anglers make the mistake of retrieving their lures too close to the surface. During summer months, when whites are surface-feeding on the main lake, literally acres of fish can be seen churning the water. But when they’re not involved in topwater feeding frenzies, they can usually be found near the bottom.

The same holds true during the spawning runs. They’re almost always caught close to the bottom in channels, deep holes, or on sand or gravel flats. Bank fishermen can, depending on water clarity, usually see these flats and channels that hold fish.

A lot of veteran white bass anglers opt to fish at night during the run, either using floating battery-powered lights or fishing by moonlight. If you go at night, be mindful that you’ll be sharing the riverbank with skunks, raccoons, and other nocturnal creatures — many of which don’t handle human encounters very well.

Fishing from a boat or kayak does offer some obvious advantages — the most important one being mobility. Some boaters drag their baits behind them until they get a strike, then tie off or anchor to stay in the action.

Rocky’s training day

Duck hunter Tim Kohn took advantage of last weekend’s cold, drizzly duck-hunting type weather to work with his 2-year-old lab Rocky on retrieving. If you’ve never seen a trained hunting dog in action, you should make a point of attending a hunt test or demonstration.

Kohn said duck season around Lake Waco was excellent, with more pintails than he’s seen in years — he counted 500 on his decoys during one hunt.

Photos of Kohn and Rocky can be found at the Centex Outdoors Web site.

Ramps slowly opening

Lake Waco’s Koehne Park and Twin Bridges Park remain closed from last month’s flooding, but other parks and boat ramps are at least partially open.

Many of these areas are closed because of public safety concerns. Driftwood and other debris litters the lake’s shoreline, and until high-traffic areas are cleared, they will likely remain off limits.

Groups or individuals interested in volunteering to help clean up the lake can take part in a lake shore cleanup, co-sponsored by the Corps and Keep Waco Beautiful on March 27. Call 750-5728 for more information.

Quality catches

Lake Whitney striper guide Clay Yadon, (817) 219-3707, says the last couple weeks have been marked more by quality than quantity.

“We’re catching some awfully big fish,” he said. “They’re setting up in their pre-spawn pattern. They’re really fat and healthy, full of eggs and they’re already up in the creeks.”

Wildeye Swim Shad is his preferred bait, and while he’s not getting limits of fish on every trip, he’s finding the big ones.

Yadon did report a limit of stripers in the box on Saturday, all but one of which weighed in excess of 10 pounds — including a set of quadruplets that weighed 16 pounds each.

In the past two weeks, he’s boated a number of other fish weighing in the mid to upper teens. The big fish of the week weighed 21 pounds.

www.centexoutdoors.com

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