“Fall Fishing with Shane Anderson and Brad Whitehead and the Mister Mino at Pickwick, Bear Creek and Wilson Lakes”

Part 5: The Fish That Gets No Respect – The White Bass

Editor’s Note: Shane Anderson of Corinth, Mississippi, guides and fishes on Pickwick Lake on the Mississippi/Tennessee/Alabama border.

Question: What about fishing the Mister Mino to catch white bass?

Anderson: Below most dams in the Southeast, Midwest and other sections of the nation, you’ll find white bass schooling. The white bass usually feed in the current of hydroelectric plants. You’ll often see white bass busting the water’s surface chasing minnows. Since the Mister Mino is a perfect minnow imitation, you can put it on a jighead or a Mepps #0 spinner and cast it out to schooling white bass to catch them until your arm becomes sore.

To successfully catch white bass, you have to understand how white bass stratify in a school. The younger, smaller white bass will be at the top of the school chasing, killing and eating the bait. Young white bass are similar to children turned loose in a candy store. They’re so excited about eating all the candy they want for free that they’ll knock over candy boxes and jars as they run through the store, spilling candy all over the floor.

The smaller, younger white bass will kill and eat as much as they can. But they’re also expending a great amount of energy and wasting as much bait as they’re eating. The older, bigger white bass will be holding at the bottom of the school. As the juvenile fish on the surface kill and cripple the bait, the older white bass at the bottom of the school will wait on the crippled bait to drift down. So, the bigger white bass don’t have to expend as much energy to get their bait as the young white bass do. If you’re catching numbers of small white bass on a Mister Mino, use either a larger jighead to get the Mister Mino to the bottom quicker, or fish a little behind the school of white bass breaking on the surface. Using these tactics, you’ll generally locate bigger white bass.

Earlier, we discussed using the Mepps #0 spinner/Mister Twister Mister Mino combo for children. If you want excited, squealing children on a fishing trip, tie on Mister Minos, and let them cast into a school of white bass. Set their drags very light, so the children get to wind, and the white bass get to fight. There’s nothing better than watching kids reel-in fish. When you locate an active school of white bass, and you have a Mister Mino and a child with you, you’re in for an exciting day of fishing. I like the Mister Mino because it catches a wide variety of fish, and anyone can use this lure successfully. Whether you’re an experienced or an inexperienced angler, Mister Mino will put fish in the boat.

For more information on fishing with Shane Anderson, call (662) 416-1874.