Thread: Wipers in the winter

We eat a ton of Whites at our house. Kids prefer them over crappie. Wipers are good also, but always got to get all the red off the meat. I believe White Bass have one of the highest amounts of fish oil of any sport fish. In Kansas the white bass limit really allows you to put some meat in the freezer.

Will be out of town until late Friday night and was thinking of fishing La Cygne or Coffey on Saturday. I would like to fish with shad and will be taking my cast net but since I have not fished either lake can someone stear me in a general area to try to catch them?

Thanks for any help,
Gary

The warm water outlet should hold shad this time of year

Never had any luck netting shad at WC. La Cygne is easy to catch them, getting the right ones can be a challenge though. Tons of them on the flats north of the outlet right now, just look for the birds or them flipping on the surface. If you go to the outlet you can usually get a bunch towards the back of the washout hole along the bank, again just look for them flipping on the surface. Back in the river can be a great place to find the best sized ones, but you run into issues keeping them alive if you take them from the cold water in the river to the warmer water on the lake.

Gary, This screen shot is a little old but shows a pile with crappie hiding from a school of wipers. Yes,,, caught both. Wipers were just reaching the 18in mark. <*)}}}><

I got on the wipers good today, and not at either power plant lake Biggest was bigger than my 22" board and went 5lbs 10ozs on the digital. She was a fighter that had previously won a fight with a catfisherman I'd guess by the circle hook still buried in the roof of her mouth.

Bluebasser,
Great report and pictures, the only problem with your report is I cannot fish until Saturday due to being out of town and now you got me all fired up to go fishing. Great job and I love to catch those wipers. Where they very deep? The reason I asked it looks like your fishing close to the bank. I have only caught them for about 2 years now and I wish I knew more on their habits and where they go at certain times of year. Maybe we could start a wiper club and meet for a few cocktails and share information!

Gary

I was catching them between 15-27 feet of water, right on the bottom (some even had mud on their bellies). I know just enough about them to catch them pretty good on occasion. They seem pretty predictable this time of year, find some deeper water, find some shad, usually some close by. I pretty much live with a jigging spoon in my hand when I'm chasing them in cold water this time of year unless I can get live shad. Bucktails can be really good too but I like the treble hook so they don't have to get it as good for me to get them to the boat.