white bass

[eyedo]

T hanks for the heads up on petenwell .I fish 4 or 5 dams upstream from there. The only advisory here so far is for northerns  . the size limit is 32 inches plus .they say at that age northerns are likely to be unsafe .We had white bass once more and they were good. The water temp. then was 56 .I wont keep anymore till fall

[ctom]

The only advisory here so far is for northerns  . the size limit is 32 inches plus .they say at that age northerns are likely to be unsafe .We had white bass once more and they were good.

Research has found now that the yellow fluke worm casings commonly found in. Northern pike will withstand the salt and acid of vinegar when cold pickling pike. When consumed, these things can literallyhatchinside your gut and grow. Thorough cooking kills them though. Idassume that's your advisories are similar tours due to heavy metal concentrations in the fat and meat. Minnesota has in certain watershed the advisories for white bass because they tend to be fatty. Again, the advisories on white bass are for the chemicals and heavy metals....arsenic and mercury most often.

[eyedo]

I checked with fish and game and it looks like the advisory has been relaxed some in the the river system from Nekoosa to at least 50 miles upstream. for males 15 and over and gals 50 and over its unrestricted on panfish. One meal of pike,walleye,bass,catfish per week and one meal of carp, musky, and redhorse per month. not an issue with the last 3. Never heard of anyone eating a musky anyway.white bass were not mentioned specifically. The concern was for mecury and pcbs. In 20 years of fishing this area I haven't seen any cysts or worms in fish. But I do know what they look like. I used to fish for smallies in a small river in another state.the bass had little round things in them about the size and color of a copper bb. Fish and game folks said its ok to eat them if thoroughly cooked.Thats when I became a catch and release fisherman.

[2XL]

Whitebass is listed as one meal per month. Dioxin, PCB, Mercury etc. I imagine it's from all the paper mills dumping stuff into the system from years ago.

[eyedo]

you are right about petenwell ' And you probably right about paper mills. One more question about white bass then im done with it. Are they considered rough fish? I assume they are as there is no size or bag limit.Thanks everyone.

[ctom]

In Minnesota and neighboring states the white bass, or strikers as they are referred to by many, are game fish. I've never heard them referred to as roughies but I know a lot of people would prefer not having them in with the more glamorous fish,perhaps walleyes. These fish are strong fighters and I don't mind having one bang a bait when I am crappie or walleye fishing.

[jl3140]

I was fixing up a fence yesterday that ran across a creek that carp swim up in the spring and I saw some movement in there. Turns out the white bass are swimming up to spawn. I caught around 20 in an hour yesterday. The lake that the water runs into has a huge problem with white bass. The people that live around the lake tell you to keep any that you catch because there are so many of them.

To answer the last question, in South Dakota, they are also considered game fish but there is no size limit or limit on how many a fisherman can catch and keep in a day.

[eyedo]

Interesting stuff. And fencing and fishing' that all good.

[2XL]

As far as I know WBs are not considered a rough fish per the WI regulations. They are fun to catch but I don't know many folks around here that looks at them like they do the gamefish species or something akin to gills, crappies or perch. The WBs used to be thick here in the mid 80s and it was nothing to catch 300+ in an afternoon if you wanted to. Then the winter of 85-56 rolled around and winter kill pretty much wiped them all out. Wiped out most of the walleyes and huge crappies too. The system has kind of recovered from that but the numbers and size of all those species isn't near to what it once was.  It's been 30 years now and I doubt the system will ever fully recover to what it once was. 

[Mike J]

Just wanted to point out that South Dakota does have a daily limit of white bass at 25 and possession limit of 50 at least for the state wide regs.  There may be specific lakes that have no limit but none in the area I fish.

[jl3140]

Just wanted to point out that South Dakota does have a daily limit of white bass at 25 and possession limit of 50 at least for the state wide regs.  There may be specific lakes that have no limit but none in the area I fish.

That is true, I should have specified for MN/SD border lakes. There's a lake about a mile away that has tons of them in it that I go to if I want to catch them. That's also the only spot I have caught them yet.

[ctom]

During the summer months of July and August, maybe early September, the white go on sprees chasing young of the year fry from other fish. On the Mississippi River we follow the gulls that benefit from these forays to locate active whites, thencast topwaterand stick baits to them. It's something else to have two 3 pound strikers get hooked up on a number 13 Rapala stck at the same time.

I personally prefer not to eat them butI have no problem with catching them.

[efishnc]

Going back to the original question, my favorite way to cook white bass (or any of the fattier fish) is on the barby... the fat drips down and creates that wonderful grilled flavor while minimizing its presence in the flesh... very tasty, and something you really can't do with the leaner fish.