A white bass frenzy

LAKE CITY, Minn. — Last week, I was dabbling in the backwaters around submerged wood in search of crappies on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River.

All of a sudden, the surface erupted 100 yards away as a school of white bass the size of a two-car garage went on a feeding frenzy. I put on an old-school silver spinner and moved within casting distance of the commotion.

It didn't take long before the first of a half-dozen 15-inch "stripers" slammed the spinner so hard it nearly knocked the rod out of my hand.

It's a scene that takes place from the upper pools of the Mississippi all the way to Davenport. They hit like Mike Tyson and fight like Larry Csonka dragging tacklers for extra yards.

Feeding white bass forage primarily on gizzard shad and will hit everything from spinners, small crankbaits and spoons to poppers, topwater lures and jigs. Put on a three-way swivel with two small jigs and you will likely hook two at once. Sometimes, circling seagulls tip you off to a school of stripers as they feast on leftovers from the carnage.

One of the best areas of the Mississippi River for white bass is Lake Pepin on Pool 4. When I was growing up, I remember massive schools of stripers pinning shad against the rockpile at Pepin, Wis. Sometimes, the fish would feed for 15 or 20 minutes, take a break, then blow up again. It wasn't uncommon to fill a stringer or the bottom of a boat.

One time, my dad brought home so many he used raincoats to line the floor as a makeshift cooler in the back seat of our old car and filled the floor with ice and white bass. It took him an entire afternoon to clean them. Remove the pronounced lateral line from the fillets and they make excellent tablefare.

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Today's anglers still catch plenty of big white bass, although probably not in the numbers experienced in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has fall gill-netting survey results dating back to 1965. Before the 1990s and not without peaks and valleys, the overall numbers were considerably higher than they've been since.

"While this may appear to reflect a significant population decline, several factors could have contributed to the change," Fisheries Biologist and Large Lake Specialist Nick Heredia said. "For instance, white bass are highly mobile, and we have documented cases of individuals tagged in Lake Pepin migrating throughout the upper Mississippi River system.

"Additionally, improving water quality and clarity have led to changing population dynamics throughout Lake Pepin. Clearer water and more vegetation in recent decades have resulted in increasing numbers of other species like yellow perch and largemouth bass that likely compete with white bass for both space and food resources."

On the other hand, sampling has shown consistent numbers of stripers in the 14-inch-plus range. They grow fast, typically reaching 13 inches by age 3 before their growth rate slows. Gill-netting produces fish that are mostly in the 8- to 10-year age group with some in the mid-teens. Because they live so long, that's more time to move through the river system, and Heredia said that could contribute to potential shifts in the population structure. It's also possible that there have been changes in the survival rates of younger fish.

Finally, just because you don't see those massive schools busting the surface doesn't mean they aren't present.

"While this has been more prevalent in the last year or so, the last decade has seen less surface feeding than in the past," Heredia said. "Again, water clarity and species interactions may be driving this, but it is less clear. Clearer water may affect how high in the water column gizzard shad stage to filter feed. This may make them less inclined to be pushed to the surface by the white bass or targeted by the gulls.

"We also have seen an increase in open-water feeding by other species like smallmouth and largemouth, so additional competition with other species may be playing a role in changes."

Going forward, Heredia expects excellent fishing for white bass.

"Six of the past eight years show evidence of fair to strong year classes for white bass," he said, adding movement patterns and dynamic species interactions may obscure those trends.

"Even so," he said, "we expect continued good fishing for white bass in the years ahead."