DWR Whitie Quest 5-20-15

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]As posted last week, DWR is in need of female white bass to provide that link in the wiper hatching program. A few of us BFTers assembled and floated at Lincoln Beach this morning to lend our immoral support.

I was first on the scene about sixish...with BLK (Boatloadakids) showing up in his boat just as I was getting ready to launch. I "roared" out of the channel with BLK easily passing me...carefully dodging my impressive roostertail. He headed around to a fave spot off the orchards and I had a change of plans and angled over toward the mouth of Benjamin Slough. We were both looking first for white bass...females...to try to help the DWR netting team.

Air temp was just under 50 and water temp around 57 at launch...warming to about 60 by noon. Flat calm at launch with only occasional ripples on the water as the wind direction moved around all morning. Mostly flat until the afternoon weather started moving in. Raindrops as I was leaving about 12:30.

I brought my last six baby white bass I froze during the summer last year...to use as bait for possible catfish. My batch of smoked cat from last week was decimated by friends, relatives and other feckless freeloaders. Cheerfully downloaded my last few pieces to a worthy cause... BLK. Needed some more. Figured I could score the necessary five or six Utah Lake "cookies" on those six baits.

Dragged one of the white-ettes on the bait rod while pitching tandem tube jigs on the other rod. Missed a few taps on the plastics and caught one small male white bass on the way to the mouth of Benjamin Slough. Then the line popped from the clip on my bait rod. Waited an appropriate amount of time and went bendo on my first kitty...a nice two footer.

I covered a lot of watery real estate looking for white bass...and cats. Hooked a few whities but all were males...and some seemed to be already spawned out. Also hooked more cats. Looked like I would go one for one on the bait...one cat for each of the six baits. Then a pugnacious mudder beat the heck out of one of the little whities. I put a hole in his lip and cranked him in but could not salvage the bait. It was trashed. But the good news is the next bait was still in fairly good shape after delivering another nice cat. I put it back on and finished up with 6 channels on 5 baits. My smoker will be happy.

Put up the bait rod and started dragging a weightless tube jig rig with one rod and still pitching regular tube jigs on the other. Managed to catch a few more whities, another mudder on a weightless tube and a cantankerous carp that made my string zing. A total of 4 species. A Lincoln slam.

BLK tore up the white bass off the orchard, and kept a couple dozen for DWR. But when they checked his fish they did not find any mamas. Just like the girls to not show up...or to wait until later. He got a late start on the catfish but did catch at least one I know about. Oh yeah, as per my request he also arrowed a couple of hefty carpkind for my shrinking carp meat stash.

Met up with the DWR netting crew on the way back in. They said they had got a few female white bass yesterday...but later in the day. And they had not seen any females yet today. Girls like to play hard to get sometimes.

Met up with HNAF as I was finishing my packing up to leave. He had gone around the point...in hopes of meeting up with me. I had posted that was where I was going. Silly me. I went the other way. Oh well. At least he got a few white bass, a couple of crappies and a catfish. Better then smelling that awful smell.

There were some ominous clouds forming over the mountains and it looked like they were planning some "afternoon delight" for us. And there were even a few parting rain drops as I loaded my last bags in the car for the ride home.

Hope the netting crew was able to score some more pregnant mama whities. The wiper program is tough enough without having to fight the fickle female whitie syndrome.

Good to see all you guys and share the water with ya again.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Pat,
I have only caught small males also this year. Are the females a little late??? Just surprised because some days in the past the numbers were tipped way the other way with the majority being female. I cant imagine a natural imbalance so I am assuming the females havent moved in or they did and I missed them.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I was discussing this with one of the DWR guys today. We agreed that males are alike in most species. They get to the party early...hoping to score. The females take their time and don't show up until they are good and ready. "Readiness" may be skewed a bit this year with the weird weather we have had all "spring"...whatever that is.

But...ya wanna know sumpin' intermesting? 3 of the 4 "males" I kept to bring home had eggs...very underdeveloped. They did not have the swollen abdomen or reddish "opening" like females ready to spawn. Nor did they express eggs or milt. So I incorrectly assumed they were spawned out males.

As most of us whitiephiles recognize, the overall numbers and sizes of white bass have been down the past couple of years. Poor spawn and poor food resources in most of the lake. Other parts they seem to be doing better. Hopefully we get a full lake and wide open procreation soon.
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[albinotrout]

Interesting on the whities. I hope this year will be a good spawn but from the sounds of things it looks a little tight.
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[fish_fear_me2]

The rain and wind have certainly kept people off the water and many years the best of the spawn is still a week away so hoping. I hope they manage a good spawn. Lots of small guys from the past couple years.
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[Boatloadakids]

Tube Dude-- Good to fish with you today. You beat up on me pretty good --6 to 1-- on the cats but I sure drubbed ya on the whities. My success on the wb had something to do with that super-duper lure you were kind enough to share with me. As I told you today, I caught a wb on the first three casts I made with that lure. It's a good one and I appreciate it.

I had 25 wb in my live well when I caught up with the DWR crew. I assumed at least half of those critters had to be female and I was really doing my part to support the cause... wrong. As you said, every one of them were males and now they are future bait.

Not much carp activity today. I shot two times and got two carp.... brag, brag. It matters not that each shot was into a cluster of 10 to 15 carp... at five yards.

The smoked catfish was good stuff. I brought half of it home for wife to sample but grandkids were here had they had it all snarfed up before she got a bite. Gonna have to try some in my smoker.

Thanks again for the company, the lures, the book and the smoked catfish. The best I could do in return was provide a couple of pig carp. Seems like I came out way ahead today.

We will fish together again in the future. Lookin' forward to it.

BLK
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Always great to share the pond with you. I'm sure your kitty count would have been much higher if you had gone after them first.

Decent of you to try so hard for the DWR whitie cause. Too bad the ladies weren't showing. But after filleting the "males" I brought home and finding most of them with undeveloped eggs I wonder how many misdiagnoses there are. I just gave them a quick "milk test" on the water. The ones that did not show "maleness"...or eggs...I assumed were spawned out males. But it turned out that some of them were not. Although I wonder if their eggs were viable and if they will eventually spawn. Been a weird weather spring so it may have thrown off the cycles.

Glad you liked the smokitty. Sorry you didn't get to save any for the missus. Let me know if you can't find that recipe and I'll email you a new copy.

Also glad the "RC Killer" jig worked for you. It sure has decorated the kissers of a lot of fish I have caught over the past few years. Amazing how even the heavyweight mama walleyes will slurp up that little trinket too.

As we discussed, once the weather and water warm up a bit the bite will change for the kitties. It will be time to do some nighttime ninja stuff on them.

Let me know if you want some help tricking out that new pontoon you got.
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[wagdog]

I got into a few white bass yesterday myself. Not much in the way of spawning though. I did get into a grundle of bullhead that ended up in some hot grease last night. Every one of them that I kept but one was a female with eggs. This spring weather has really shifted the time table for species wanting to spawn. Could be like a few years ago when we had warmer temps, then rain, then rinse and repeat. If I remember correctly I caught white bass that were still in spawn mode until about mid-June. Oh well. The water is nice and my garden seems happy!
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[doggonefishin]

Same here. I fished Tuesday at a local harbor and had a good whitie bite, but all of the fish were males, as others have reported elsewhere. I can't complain too much about the weather though, as the crappie haven't seemed to have been slowed down one bit by it. I think the first really warm weather is really going to turn things on for the other species.


On Tuesday, I emailed my findings to the DWR and Mr. Crockett replied that they were able to get 8 spawning females Tuesday and I would assume a few more on Wednesday. It sounds like they are getting enough to not slow down the wiper project.
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[Therapist]

you know, it really sucks to listen to you guys have all the fun while the rest of us schmucks have to be at work. A day of reckoning is coming however !!!! Do we know if they are going to be looking to do this again or do they have all they need ???

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I just talked to Chris Crockett. He says they have been struggling to get spawning females but thinks that after yesterday they might have enough. He will let us know if more help is needed. If nothing else he would appreciate hearing if and where anglers are beginning to see the spawning females.
Chris also said to extend his appreciation to those of us who showed up to help. I guess our group was able to contribute at least a couple of good spawners.

His biologists have made the same observation I did yesterday. That is that some females are in a "delayed" mode...with the weird spring weather pattern. That could extend the spawn and help insure that there is a better overall spawn. Or it could result in some females not spawning at all. That has happened in the past...with females full of eggs being caught well past the spawning cycle.

He also mentioned that they are spawning and fertilizing the white bass eggs "on the spot". They have striper milt from Powell on site and do the mixing as they bring in the ripe female whities. I had been under the impression that they took white bass down to the hatchery near Powell. Wrong again. But I'm used to it. Married, ya know.
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[doggonefishin]

Thought that I would give an update. In some email communications with Chris, he reports that they have slowly collected a fair number of females and eggs and may have enough for the wiper project, yet still welcome any new "intel" on where to get additional female white bass. They are still sending crews out as well for more fish. Progress has been uneven. Tuesday, the crews caught 7 females, today they got skunked.

Chris wanted to thank all anglers that have helped them so far.
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