By Bob Gwizdz
There is no doubt the Great Lakes and connecting waters of southeast Michigan offer outstanding angling opportunities for a variety of species, both game fish and panfish. From where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River to Lake Erie, there is world-class fishing. The entire waterway teems with walleye, muskellunge and black bass (both species, though smallmouths get most of the accolades). In fact, bass fishing is so good that Bassmaster magazine deemed Lake St. Clair the best bass fishery in America not long ago.
But there is another relatively unheralded bass species that is world-class as well: white bass.
Also known as silver bass and other colloquialisms elsewhere, white bass do not get the respect they deserve. They are outstanding in many regards. White bass hit a bait like an unblocked linebacker blitzing a quarterback and, once hooked, do not give up until they are brought to hand (or net) and school in such prodigious numbers that, when you get on them, it’s almost impossible to cast without a hook-up.
Related to the bigger, more-heralded striped bass, white bass are open-water denizens that typically run upstream to spawn. When they are in the Detroit River, they are often so thick that some anglers, especially walleye fishermen, consider them a nuisance. And although they can get caught nearly year-round, the white bass action generally heats up in late April or early May. It’s not unusual for walleye guides working the river to take their sports in pursuit of whites after they’ve collected their limit of walleyes to give them more time fishing.
When the run is in full swing, usually by the first week of May, it is not unusual to see long lines of anglers gathered on the seawalls at parks or other public-access areas—Elizabeth Park at Trenton or all along the river walk from the Belle Isle Bridge upstream—fishing for white bass. This belies the reputation they have as table fare. Many consider them less palatable than other species, but that’s a regional prejudice. In some parts of the country, they are highly prized. Not only in looks but also in taste, they are similar to striped bass, which are considered gourmet fare. The last time I checked, frozen white bass fillets fetched $15 a pound, skin-on. They may not be as prized as walleye or yellow perch, but I know some who prefer them. They have a wide lateral swatch of red flesh, which gives them a strong taste, but it is easily removed when the fillets are skinned. White bass are easily filleted but are not easily handled. The spines on their dorsal fins and their gill plates are razor sharp.
That feature determines my preferred way to fish for them, which is with a jig with a pinched-down barb. When you catch one, you can grab the head of the jig and shake it off into the ice chest if you’re keeping them or back into the water if you’re not. But that’s just one way of catching them; they are so aggressive you can catch them with just about any technique you can imagine. Many fish for them as they would yellow perch—vertically, with minnows for bait, near the bottom. But when actively spawning in relatively shallow water, you can catch them on anything from bottom-bouncing jigs to top-water baits. I’ve caught them on all manner of lures, from spinners to crankbaits to buzz baits, and they are a hoot on a fly rod, where they eagerly take poppers or streamers.
Early in their run, before they are actively spawning, white bass can be located on the bottom near structure elements and are often caught by walleye anglers on jigs or jigging spoons. If you are inclined, you can fish them with several jigs on your line and catch them two or three at a time. I remember a day I spent on the river with veteran guide Jon Bondy when he fished with jigs, and I fished with spoons. About two and a half hours into it, Bondy called it quits when he caught No. 100 (at which time I had 88).
But 100-fish days are even easier when the whites are in shallow water. A couple of years back, I took a non-fishing buddy with me and told him we’d catch 100 fish. He was skeptical. Although I had a starting point in mind, as we ran upriver, the outboard’s hot horn went off, so I shut down the outboard, lowered the trolling motor and started fishing. It took us about three hours to catch our 100, fishing with jig heads tipped with four-inch plastic worms. Color did not seem to matter at all.
Locating schools of white bass is often as easy as just keeping your eyes open. When roaming in schools, white bass will herd minnows that head to the surface to escape. Rampaging white bass will churn the surface into a froth, attracting gulls, which will flock to the area to take advantage of the surfacing baitfish. So, look for birds. Just cast whatever you’re throwing into the commotion and hang on. Personally, I like to stay a long cast away from the action. When you connect, if a fish gets off, it is pretty standard for another to take it within a crank or two of the reel handle. Typically, as you bring a fish to the boat, you’ll see several others following it.
If you do not see any birds working, the next best place to look for anything that interferes with the current – is a rock pile, a pier, or even an uneven surface on a seawall. This will serve as a rendezvous point for the fish, and they’ll stack up there. It’s possible to anchor the boat at a spot and enjoy non-stop action for an hour (or more) if you have a good current break. Case in point: I was bass fishing with Bondy once on Lake St. Clair in the shallows of the Grosse Point area when I hit a white bass on a crankbait off the edge of a marina pier. I asked Bondy to spot-lock his boat for a few minutes to let me play with the whites. I wanted to see how long it would take me to catch 50. I switched to a jig and worm and proceeded to catch my 50 in 50 minutes. But I have no doubt we could have stayed put for another hour and caught another 50.
Exactly how long the white bass run on the Detroit River will last is anyone’s guess. Typically, it’ll last through June and into early July, but Bondy tells me he’s seen years when it lasted well into August. When the run peters out, the fish disperse, but where they go is anyone’s guess. I know that we regularly catch a white bass or two while trolling for walleyes on Lake Erie in summer, and over the years I’ve caught a bunch of them bass fishing on Lake St. Clair. So, my guess is they head out to big water. I know that when I lived in the South and in Texas, we fished them year-round in the reservoirs. In the winter, when the gulls were around, they often schooled up on the surface, but if they didn’t, we caught them on jigging spoons near structure elements, often finding them with a depth finder that lit up like a Christmas tree because of the massive numbers of them. So, I’d be willing to bet that if anyone were interested and was willing to invest the time, they could find them on Lake Erie, though they might migrate out of the western basin into deeper water. But I don’t know anyone who has bothered.
White bass reach about 10 inches in two years, and because their reproductive success is uneven, you often run into schools dominated by a— year class. In the last couple of years, there have been plenty of 15- to 17-inch fish in the run, weighing two to three pounds, producing excellent sport on light tackle. The state record, 6.44 pounds and measuring just short of 22 inches—it’s just a few ounces short of the world record—was caught trolling in Saginaw Bay. The Saginaw River system is the only other place I know of in Michigan with a big enough run of whites to be notable, and walleye anglers, around the opening day of walleye season in the upper reaches of the Saginaw River and its tributaries, often hook into them. State health officials recommend that if you are going to eat them, you should choose smaller specimens, which is the same advice for most species of fish as chemical contaminants bio-accumulate, meaning older fish tend to carry more contaminants.
Michigan has no closed season nor minimum size limit on white bass. The daily creel limit in southeast Michigan’s Great Lakes and connecting waters is 25 (it’s 10 on inland waters) but there is no limit on them in Ontario waters. Some guys I know fish the Canadian side of the Detroit River during the spring run and literally load the boat.
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