Lots of folks chase white bass when they run up rivers during the spring or cast to white bass schools when they feed on the surface. However, some of the fastest and most dependable white bass action occurs during the hottest days of summer, when the fish congregate just off the bottom over specific structural features, making themselves ideal targets for vertical jigging with a Cotton Cordell C.C. Spoon.
Likely structures for holding white bass schools include main-lake humps, points that extend all the way to a river channel and deep bends in ditches that intersect the main channel. If a reservoir has current pushing through it, the best structures usually will break the current and the fish may pile up on the upstream or downstream of the structure. Identify likely summer structures on a lake map, and then use your electronics to find baitfish and big groups of fish close to the bottom.
When you find something interesting, drop a marker buoy to give yourself a reference point and then use your trolling motor to work the area. If you find fish and they are holding well in a single spot, you can drop an anchor to maintain boat positioning.
The basic techniques for jigging a C.C. Spoon for white bass is very simple. With the boat positioned directly over the fish, drop the spoon all the way to the bottom and then work it by snapping the rod sharply upward a foot or so and letting it fall back down on a semi-tight line. Assuming the fish are tight to the bottom – which is the norm for white bass relating to structure during the summer – let the spoon hit the bottom again each times it drops.
If fish won’t hit, try shortening each snap, raising the rod tip a couple of times with each lift or stopping the drop shy of the bottom. Also experiment with the size of C.C. Soon you drop. At times the slower fall rate and small profile of a Little Mickey, which is the smallest C. C. Spoon, will out-produce the larger sizes.
Once you find the fish and the right presentation cadence, the action tends to be steady (if not furious) and the fishing is a bundle of fun because white bass absolutely hammer spoons and fight amazingly hard.
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