# White Bass - OTF



## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Since the white bass fishing is heating up all over our state right now, I thought we should have a forum to discuss fly patterns and techniques for these fun, schooling fish, as well as share some pics and reports. I remember reading a thread on here not too long ago where someone was looking for advice for catching ****** during the run on the fly, but can't seem to find it. So I'm generating this thread, and I will start us out...

I got this one, among others, as he tried to run away from Berlin Lake on Wednesday...


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Cool topic, I have run into a few in the Hocking in Athens on the fly rod in the last few weeks, but nothing consistent. I catch token whites here and there. They wage a good battle even when the fish aren't huge. I've had 8" fish put decent flex into my 7wt! Patterns that have claimed them have been a #10 white Bassmaster and a #6 Coyote Clouser.



















These are the flies. This is a black Bassmaster, white has been my best color:










And the Coyote Clouser:


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Makin' his way up the LMR. Traditional bucktail clouser in blue & white with flash on nickel plated, wide gap hook...size 6 I believe. Just small enough to be hard to tie>


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Here's a batch of flies I usually carry with me when chasing whites during the run. The fish in my other post was caught on the white clouser in the lower left of the picture. The other flies include a gray over white clouser, craft fur clouser, krystal bugger, deep schminnow, and a gotcha variant.


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

View image in gallery​


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Isn't it amazing what a little white material & some weight will produce? 

I know one of the biggest revelations to me concerning fishing over the years was the Mr. Twister white grub on a jig head. 

Sometimes simple is where it's at.


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## Flyfish Dog (Nov 6, 2007)

I havent fished for WB in a long time. Really dont have any around here. But I do know they can be a lot of fun catching them.


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

fallen513 said:


> Isn't it amazing what a little white material & some weight will produce?
> 
> *I know one of the biggest revelations to me concerning fishing over the years was the Mr. Twister white grub on a jig head.
> 
> Sometimes simple is where it's at*.


It's the same with sauger fishing on the Ohio, for me. I fish with a buddy that rigs up a 3-way swivel rig with a pencil weight and a dropper with a hook for a minnow, takes him 10 minutes to re-rig. I fish beside him with an 1/8oz jighead and a 2" white or yellow grub and catch just as many (if not more) fish. 

You can tell if you look at my fly boxes I tie flies the same way. Part of it is inability to tie some intricate patterns, I admit...but more of it is that simple patterns seem to catch as many fish for me as more complex patterns.


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

I agree, fish seem to like eating simple things. Cream, don't be so modest; we've all seen your intricate patterns--they look great. 

I ended getting out to chase old ****** again this morning. With the water level rising from yesterday's storms, they had surely moved in and concentrated just outside the the current seam. I ended up with 7 whites, and a surprise 12" largemouth. It was my last fish of my 1.5hrs and felt like a weaker version of a white bass  Then I saw that green back come out of the water... 

The BH Krystal Bugger was hot for me today, and when I finally lost it, I picked a few more up on a craft fur clouser (shrimp pink, gold beadchain).


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

They've moved into my area.


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## gd9704 (Apr 17, 2010)

I had a blast fishing white bass in my youth. Looking forward to re-introducing myself to them soon!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

They are some hard fighting fish, that's for sure. None of mine today were over 1 lb but they were all bending my Winston 5 wt in half!


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Nice job fallen. It looks like you've got a great spot there--beautiful, lots of casting room, etc. Any hints on your most successful fly pattern?


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

The usual.  

Clousers and more clousers. I vary the eyes & occasionally the color but generally, as you said... the whiter..and smaller, the better. Seems like the more they get chewed up & lose hair, the more fish I catch until there's nothing but eyes & a hook left!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

In the past, I have caught whites hand over fist. I've actually had to work pretty hard for these few in the pictures. Maybe 20 fish in 3 days? I was standing in about 3' of water & they were holding about 30' away, on the inside slack water of an eddie, taking flies near the bottom in about 6' depth. That's why I caught the sauger & the drum as well, lots of species feed on the bottom.  



I don't know what was cooler, standing in the water having the white bass bust the surface all around me or watching 2 fairly large striped bass (shaped like a missile) porpoising through the water going upstream!


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Fallen, thanks for the info on your favorite flies for ******. It sounds like you have a pretty cool fishing situation for them there. Sounds fun. The water in the river where I've been catching mine is only about a foot or two deep. While we've been catching a few on clousers (including today on #8 craft fur clousers), they've been liking the estaz patterns with marabou or zonker tails. See the photos below...krystal buggger, schminnow, and clouser in action.


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Fallen, how close are you now to your goal of 100 whites on the fly? I went out 4 mornings this week between Sunday and Thursday and averaged 15-20 fish in 2hrs. That puts me on my way to your goal! I stopped taking pics 'cause they were biting well and...honestly, they were cookie cutters--nothing special looking. Though I did appreciate each and every strike and every hard pull during the fight. A very entertaining fish indeed.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Need about 70 more. It's gonna be a long weekend, no worries. 


Still have July on Brookville Reservoir too. I've had 200 fish days there.


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

It seems like it's winding down in my neck of the woods. Went today thinking the rain from the last two days would bring in fish or at least concentrate them, but I had to really work to get 10 from 6:30am-8:45am. Visibility was bad, but I expected that with the higher water.


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