Let's catch some (true) bass
Many of my Trout Unlimited friends fish for all types of fish besides trout, ranging from mackerel and mahi mahi in the ocean to crappie and carp in fresh water.
Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, redeye bass and many other fish that share the name “bass” are members of the sunfish family that includes bream and crappie — but none of these sunfish are true bass. The true basses of North America are the temperate basses, with the scientific name Moronidae.
The temperate bass family includes the striped bass, white bass, yellow bass, hybrid bass and the white perch. The white perch is not part of the walleye, sauger and yellow perch family but is a temperate bass. All the temperate bass family spawn in the spring, normally in flowing water, and if you are lucky, you can catch up to four members of the family over the next month or so.
Dogwood trees are blooming. Why should you care? The dogwoods’ life cycle is dependent on ground temperature and day length — and it’s about the same ratio of temperature and daylight hours that the feisty white bass need before finding their way to their spawning sites.
White bass are usually the first of the temperate bass to spawn in Northwest Georgia. The white bass world record is 6 pounds, 13 ounces, but most of the fish you will catch will average a half pound to two pounds.
At 10:30 a.m. on April 2, the Coosa River temperature at the Lock & Dam was 63.3 degrees, about perfect for white bass spawning. With the dogwoods blooming and the water temps just right, find your way to a large creek mouth and you should find some whites. If you don’t find the white bass there, work your way upstream.
White bass will hit almost anything from crickets and minnows to jigs and spinners, Shad Raps and other swimming lures. Various sinking flies and streamers work well for white bass, too. If the fish are averaging a pound or better, use larger flies and lures.
Up until the 1990s you never saw the yellow bass in Georgia. These smaller cousins of the white and stripe bass are native to the Mississippi River basin but someone transplanted some into Carters Lake. Yellow bass look similar to white bass but the lines on their sides are more distinct; the dorsal fins are joined and they have a silvery yellow body color. The white bass dorsal fins are not joined.
The first time I caught yellow bass was in the reregulation lake at Carters Lake about 1996. Now the yellow bass are common in the Coosa River basin. These fish will spawn about the same time as the white bass and hit the same lures and flies. These fish are prolific spawners and there currently is no limit, so keep all you want. Although small, the fish are tasty. The world record yellow bass is 2 pounds, 15 ounces.
The largest member of the temperate bass family, the striped bass, begins their spawning run about the time the white bass run begins to slow to a halt.
It is possible to find stripers and hybrids in the same creeks and rivers
one inning of relief for the Crawdads with Ramirez pitching a scoreless frame with no hits and one strikeout. Chi gave up a run on one hit with one strikeout and one walk, and Morel gave up two runs on two hits with one walk.
Tucker Mitchell, Anthony Gutierrez and Ben Blackwell had the only hits for Hickory.
NOTES: Attendance for Friday’s game was 2,669 and time of game was 2 hours, 17 minutes . ... Rome continued its home opener winning streak that is now at eight straight with the last loss at home in the opening game coming in 2015.