White bass are running

[rivereddy]

This is one of my favorite pursuits.  Grab a light/ultralight or fly rod and go find a dam or the headwaters of a stream above a reservoir. The stripes
are thick right now.  Small jigs with a little flash in the moving water tend to get et in short order. Same for beadhead clousers on a 5-7 wt.  14" is
a big fish, but they hit like a truck and will put on a good show.  No need to wade up to your eyeballs to reach the far shore - they're piled up on
your side as well.....

fish on,

rivereddy

[Boomer]

Really use to enjoy fishing for these fish. Good fighters on light tackle as you say. Love throwing a silver colored Blue Fox or maybe a Panther Martin. Curly-tailed jigs can be used as well as live bait.  Don't forget the summer when they are in the "jumps." 

Not the best eater for me. Do like to put a few packages in the freezer this time of year for some hot and sour bass soup in the cold of winter.

Have fun.

[rivereddy]

I learned a trick from a serious chef about how to deal with stripers. It takes a bit of work and prior prep, but if done this way the flavor is excellent.
Kill the fish as soon as you bring it on board, cut the gills to bleed it, then get it on ice right away.  Fillet them like any other fish. The fillet will have a wide band of reddish meat running down the middle of the fillet.  Then take your knife and remove this red meat by cutting a very shallow "V" to separate this red tissue  from the white meat. (This red meat is rich in a protein pigment called myoglobin that also makes it taste stronger.  Some day I will pontificate on blood pigments and light and dark meat, but for now I'll just shut up!)

How good is it?  My chef mentor treated some striper and bluefish fillets this way.  He took the fillets and cut them into 3/4 inch chunks, sprinkled a tiny bit
of salt and pepper on them and tossed them into a searing hot iron skillet with a tiny amount of canola oil for a few seconds then stuck a tooth pick in them and served them as hor d' oeurves. (had to look up the spelling here) and they disappeared before the shrimp cocktail did.  I have done the same with early
season white bass with the same results...

fish on

rivereddy

[Spooled85]

I also never cared for the taste . I startd cutting the red meat off the back and searing them in butter with some lemon pepper and garlic powder and then a fresh lemon on top afterwords and they are amazing !!

[icecleate]

My buddy that I fish with loves white bass. We have been fishing together 20+ years and he has never kept a walleye. He goes to Wisconsin in the fall for the run and brings back a couple hundred for his family to eat. That is good for me because my family loves the eyes!

[HoosierFlies]

Anyone know if they are running in the Morse tailwaters? Visiting Noblesville tomorrow.

[Jig_Head]

My favorite species to fish! Rooster Tails baby! Rarely eat em tho

[tater140]

White Bass have never been my favorite to eat, but maybe I should re-visit them again.  I know sometimes I have helped the flavor a bit by cutting up from the skin just a touch when filleting the meat off of the skin.  That way leaves some of the red meat on the skin.    I bet even zippering the fillet would also help.  I know on eyes that center zipper contains a quite a bit of the red meat.  Good idea on bleeding them out, I know bigger fish that taste a bit stronger really benefit from bleeding out. 

[fishinjohn]

I learned a trick from a serious chef about how to deal with stripers. It takes a bit of work and prior prep, but if done this way the flavor is excellent.
Kill the fish as soon as you bring it on board, cut the gills to bleed it, then get it on ice right away.  Fillet them like any other fish. The fillet will have a wide band of reddish meat running down the middle of the fillet.  Then take your knife and remove this red meat by cutting a very shallow "V" to separate this red tissue  from the white meat. (This red meat is rich in a protein pigment called myoglobin that also makes it taste stronger.  Some day I will pontificate on blood pigments and light and dark meat, but for now I'll just shut up!)

How good is it?  My chef mentor treated some striper and bluefish fillets this way.  He took the fillets and cut them into 3/4 inch chunks, sprinkled a tiny bit
of salt and pepper on them and tossed them into a searing hot iron skillet with a tiny amount of canola oil for a few seconds then stuck a tooth pick in them and served them as hor d' oeurves. (had to look up the spelling here) and they disappeared before the shrimp cocktail did.  I have done the same with early
season white bass with the same results...

fish on

rivereddy

The is for sharing this post.. on Monday while walleye fishing I tossed back 10 white bass... always heard mixes reports on this table fare... next time out i will be keeping some of these and trying them along with these filetting tips...
Thanks a ton

[Jig_Head]

Are the whites and wipers hitting down at Oakdale and/or Norway?