What a difference a year makes

[joatmon]

Kent, I've seen similar trends over the past couple of years. Last summer, Craig and I had to work hard to find any white bass for fresh catfish bait, often turning back to our freezer stocks.  This winter, my catch has been about 10:1 yellow perch to white bass and I've observed similar results with other folks at the docks.  However, I also see a few fisherpersons who seem to get more white bass than perch, so not sure what they are doing differently? Even when they show me and I try to copy what they are using/doing, I don't catch ay more white bass than otherwise.

Most white bass I've caught this winter have been in the 9-10.5 inch range.  Craig pulled out a larger one (11.5 inches) earlier in the winter.  Suspect we'll have a size gap due to die off this year and the poor spawn.  Maybe part of what we are seeing from a few years ago?  A couple of winters ago I stocked up on white basslets (5-6 inches) from Lincoln Beach harbor channel, but that was in 5 feet of water vs 1-2 feet now...