White Bass

[WillSchinkel]

Just thought I'd see if there are any helpful pros out there that can help me get into some white bass. I got a kayak this winter and I'm about 1.5 hrs away from Erie (Port Dover). I've been down for one afternoon and had action non-stop on small creek minnows bounced off bottom, but had a really hard time hooking anything. I ended up with two VERY big jumbos. I'm originally from Northern Ontario and we do like perch up there, but they could never compare with walleye since they're so much smaller. So my first look at an Erie jumbo was a bit surreal. They're just so strangely huge!

Obviously Port Dover has a very sandy bottom for quite a distance out. Would the constant nipping possibly be gobies? Or more likely some other small panfish? I was in 10-15 FOW at roughly 58° F for the majority of the time and just outside the beach marker buoys. The small creek minnows definitely seemed to attract enough interest, but I'd love to get some emerald shiners. And I'd love to find some white bass, since I've heard they're at least somewhat worthwhile eating and sound like a lot of fun to catch. Any recommendations? I'm planning to go again ASAP, but with very good quality fly fishing for brownies available so close by (Fergus/Elora) I really need an open weekend to be able to convince the wife to head down to the big lake

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I'm not sure about fishing with kayak to catch silver's but

Last year I couldn't keep the silver bass & white perch off my lines while trolling for Walleye and rainbows...with rippling redfins and mixed spoons (silver streak, moonshines, NK)
40-60 fow which is 5+ miles off shore (Don't take Kayak out that far)

 

[WillSchinkel]

Thanks @Puddle Jumper . 5 miles does sound ambitious considering what I hear about Erie being unpredictable. They day I was out it was like 5 km/hr wind from the North, so it was beautiful. I'll see if I can find that depth closer to shore at Port Ryerse or Normandale since they're also not too far from Kitchener.

 

[stomp]

Hey @WillSchinkel , if I were in your kayak, I would target perch and smallmouth bass, maybe out of Pt. Ryerse or Normandale. I think you could launch your 'yak easily at these spots and you have much more structure to fish. Silver (or white) bass aren't that fantastic, IMHO. With Nanticoke Generating now shut, I don't know if you can catch Silver Bass like you once could.

 

[WillSchinkel]

Thanks @stomp ! Sounds great! I was sceptical I'd be able to get into much smallie action with my limited travel distance. But I'll certainly give that a try. I'd way rather catch smallies than white bass just for the size and fight (and challenge). The one little bonus of white bass, though, is I'd have no conscience keeping a bunch of them. Smallies are too precious to me to keep