I was out at Mud Creek this afternoon catching crawdads and seen a dead white bass on the shore 
anyone heard about white bass being in there?
Oh…my…God.
I sure hope not…
I can only hope it was a non-assuming fishermen who brought dead whitebass to use as crawdad bait from Utah Lake. I have seen dead white bass and catfish on the soldier creek side by the dam before. And the crawdads picked them clean, but they were still identifiable. I hope that is the reason…
That was what I was hoping too. It was pretty much picked clean, about 10" long.
Thats crazy cause last time I was up at the berry crawdading I saw a 5 inch fish that I swore was a Whitey. I denied the possibility as I was sure they were not there. I’ve fished long enough to know something was fishy. It looked as if it was used as live bait to be honest. It was flopping in the shallows. Sure hope there isn’t someone up there using live Whites illegally as bait introducing them. Not many people are that plain ignorant but there could always be someone…
I could be wrong, but I think that the Berry gets enough pressure annually that people would have caught some by now if they were in there.
It’s not like white bass are picky. If they were in there, even in small numbers, I have to think someone would have caught a few by now.
My guess is with Jmaze, the Berry is known for being a great place to get craws…hopefully people are just using cleaned fish from UL or something for craw bait.
I was up at the Berry three weeks ago near the East Portal catching crawdads and saw a husband and wife catching crawdads with dead white bass. Anyway, these folks appeared to be with the same crew that typically catches hundreds of white bass from utah lake and takes them out by the bucketsl. I inquired of them about whether using white bass like that at the Berry was legal. I still don’t know if it is. They didn’t speak great english though. That same night my crawdad trap was taken.
Unless I am waaay off, it is against Utah fishing regs to take bait fish from any body of water and use in another – alive or dead.
The only exception is for commercially prepared baits.
From the Guidebook.
You may take crayfish by hand or with a trap, dipnet, liftnet, handline, pole or seine. You must also obey all of the following rules:
• You may not use game fish or their parts for bait, or use any substance that is illegal for fishing.
• Dead white bass may be used as bait only in Utah Lake and the Jordan River.
• Dead mountain sucker, white sucker, Utah sucker, redside shiner, speckled dace, mottled sculpin, fathead minow, Utah chub and common carp may be used as bait in any water where bait is permitted.
If the Utah Wildlife Board has declared that a water is infested with an aquatic invasive species or the water is subject to
a closure order or control plan you may not transport any species of baitfish (live or dead) from that water to use in any other water. To determine whether a water is infested, visit wildlife.utah.gov/mussels/waters.php.
White bass are a game fish, and therefore can’t be used as bait for crayfish, except at Utah Lake or the Jordan River.
It wouldn’t surprise me that they were using white bass as bait and it sucks you lost your trap. Bass turds!