WHITE BASS

The white bass, also known as the silver or sand bass or barfish, is often mistaken as a young striped

bass. The white bass, although similar to a shortened version of the larger striped bass, is silvery-white overall with five to eight horizontal dusky black stripes along the sides. Stripes below the lateral line are faint and often broken in an irregular pattern. Another and most noticeable difference between the white and striped bass is that the white is shorter and stockier with a smaller head. The white bass has a deep body which is strongly arched behind head and deepest between the dorsal fins, which are set closer together than that of the striped.

The White Bass world record was caught in Lake Orange, in Orange, Virginia, USA, in 1989. This record bass weighted in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

White bass are excellent sport fish due to how hard they hit baits and the fierce fight they put up once hooked. Their tendencies to school combined with their aggressive nature make them one of the easiest fish to catch. Recommended lures for white bass include flies, spinners, and small plugs. Live baits include small shad or minnows. Use light tackle to really enhance the experience of catching this little fighter.

White bass are generally found in large lakes and streams connected to major river systems with moderate current. They prefer clear water with a temperature range of 65 to 75 degrees. The White bass has really thrived in man-made impoundments, but in some of these impoundments they have become overabundant and their growth has become stunted. Their natural boundaries are from the St. Lawrence River in the east to the Rio Grande in the west. North-south natural boundaries range from Lake Winnipeg in the north to northwest Florida and Louisiana in the south. It has also been stocked at various places within and outside this range.

White bass are primarily fish eaters. Fry feed on zooplankton at first then within a few weeks are large enough to feed on larger crustaceans and insects. Larger white bass prefer to feed on minnows and thrive on open water baitfish like gizzard and threadfin shad. White bass tend to move in schools and feed most heavily around dawn or dusk.

During early spring spawning occurs. The male white bass will migrate upstream in large schools to a dam or other barrier first followed shortly by schools of females. The spawn then occurs in moving water over gravel shoals or a hard bottom. Large females can lay as many as half a million eggs that will stick to rocks and gravel due to their adhesive coating. White bass located in areas where no current is present have been known to spawn on wind-swept sandy beaches as a natural alternative. Once spawning is complete the white bass abandon their eggs and provide no parental care. The fry will hatch in two to three days after the eggs have been deposited.

White bass can live up to 10 years but most do not live more than three to four years. Female white bass grow slightly faster and usually live longer than males. The average size is one pound with fish over two pounds considered large.

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