A good indication of what lies in store

I recently grew envious when Kenny Talbert sent a text explaining that the white bass were moving upstream to embark upon their annual spawn. I don’t suppose the news would have affected me so adversely had he not included a photo of several sows he had just coaxed from the water.

I’m pretty sure he sent the photo out of meanness as he was aware that I was working on that particular day. But that was OK as it was all in fun. In fact, I would have resorted to the same tactic had the shoe been on the other foot.

Well, it just so happened that I had a few hours of free time when he called and invited me to go just a couple of days later. Of course I accepted the offer. While I could only fish for half of the day, if they were biting, that would prove more than enough time to boat a mess of fish.

However, we were both aware that white bass are inconsistent during the early stage of the spawn. They might be at the shoals by the droves on one day and retreat back to deeper water where they would stage just hours later.

Sure enough, it seemed as if we were entering desolate waters upon our arrival. In fact, we only managed to catch four stragglers during the first couple hours of the excursion.

But this wasn’t our first rodeo. We had been fishing this stretch of water every spring for several years, and we were acutely aware that success was still possible. It was just a matter of finding the exact location where they were gathered and waiting to make their run.

We fished several spots for the next hour to no avail. However, persistence was on the verge of paying off.

Casting along the edge of a steep bank, Kenny managed to hang a nice fish within a couple cranks of the reel handle. And I, too, found myself in a battle within a matter of seconds.

Casting in the same vicinity, Kenny managed to coax yet another white bass into biting, And within a couple more casts, he tied into yet another of these fierce fighters. And before long, I found myself lifting another fish into the boat.

Easing downstream for about

100 yards, we continued catching fish, But the bite seemed to stop as quickly as it began when we reached a spot where the substrate obviously changed.

We both had a hunch that all of the fish were piled up along this one little stretch of bank. That in mind, we simply turned the boat

180 degrees and began slowly easing back upstream.

It didn’t take long to figure out that our hunch was right. In fact, we began catching fish from the exact locations where we had experienced success just seconds earlier.

Traveling upstream for a short distance to where there was yet another obvious change in the substrate, we once again, immediately quit catching fish. But that was expected. So we simply turned the boat another 180 degrees and began fishing the same steep stretch of bank as we traveled downstream.

Although still catching fish, on occasion, the bite was growing noticeably slower, even along the particular stretch that had proven so productive. In fact, we only managed to catch one during our last run.

But that was perfectly fine, as it was time for me to head back home. And in spite of a slow start, the live well was growing full.

As we loaded the boat onto the trailer, I couldn’t help but ponder how crucial it had proven to stop and cast at one location in particular. If we had ignored or chosen not to try that one section of water, our numbers would have been dismal.

But instead, we were leaving the lake with 25 chunky fish. And as of equal importance, we were leaving with a sense of confidence, as we were convinced that we had just gotten a taste of the caliber of fishing trips that lie in store during the next couple of weeks to come.