[Whitebassfisher]

I have a question. In the creeks upstream of of Lake Livingston, there seems to be an abundance of small fish. It takes awhile to find good keeper size, 12 inch or better. Have others had similar spawn experience like the above for the Trinity River water shed? For me it has been a 4 to 1 ratio.

 

[shade]

If its only 4 to 1 you are doing good. Last week were 10-15 to 1. Never really found the bigger ones.

 

[cajunasian]

JJ Park is the same way now. Lots of small ones and yellows this year.

 

[RBFISHERMAN]

Yeah I was there at JJ last weekend and could only manage 1 yellow in 4 hours with live minnows.

 

[SD Hawkins]

I hung up the white bass gear after seeing 70 degree water last week. I think the weeks we missed with the rain and muddy water is when they did their thing and went back to main lake. Our spot in Spring Creek was totally changed during the rains recently and we caught nothing there this year. E Fork had a bunch of small ones last few weeks then they disappeared last week. Oh well, on to crappie!

 

[shadslinger]

They have been spawning in the lake, bbjim and I caught some big sows yesterday that would leak egg’s while being unhooked.
We caught one 15” wide body and a dozen of them just over 14”.
We caught a lot of large males that would milt when unhooked.
We also caught some big females that had already spawned.
25’ fow.

 

[Whitebassfisher]

I haven't tried in a week, since I hit a deer coming home from a trip. The truck is driveable, and because it is, the body shop won't take it until mid-April!! Spring sprung on me so hard I have stayed busy though.

 

[Mattsfishin]

Yeh with all this warm weather the gardens have been going crazy. The whites have about done their thing on the north end of Conroe. This year had some really big ones and good numbers. With my busted up knee I was not able to go to the creeks up north lately so I stayed local. I need to find someone to drive me to Lake Livingston but don't want to ask incase my knee flips out on me. The Kenner is begging me to go to Livingston
.

 

[Gofish2day]

I have been hung up with Covid and flu since last wed. Yep - had covid and flu at the same time.
Last weekend was terrible. Feel good now but think it will take a month for my lungs to get over this.
Took the Covid pills but think the flu did me in.
My trailer is also on its last leg. built some brackets to bolt under there. Maybe next weekend I will get to it. Matt I remember your knees are very bad. Sorry your having trouble.
WB - you hit the deer. That can get expensive.

 

[Mattsfishin]

Gofish Tex all can build you a really nice aluminum trailer. I think he repairs trailer also. Yeh my knee's were bad from the head on wreck I had while on my motorcycle. Dang pickup truck came over into my lane and took me out but I dealt with it. Now They gonna cut on me but I am trying to wait until the fall. More important issues. New dog, garden, fishing and volunteering at a local food pantry.

 

[Whitebassfisher]

I have been hung up with Covid and flu since last wed. Yep - had covid and flu at the same time.
.......
WB - you hit the deer. That can get expensive.

Yes, I was meeting another car. About the time we were almost even, a deer was suddenly about 20 feet in front of my truck, headed from my left to right. My guess is that when the oncoming cars lights got out of it's eyes, it jumped. Now my lights are in it's eyes; it's hypnotized. At 55 mph, that means I had a whole 1/4 of a second to react. I was pulling my spawn fishing boat and it just wasn't safe at the time to pull over, but I did find a place about a 1/4 mile further down to pull over and look at my truck. There was very little damage considering. About 40 hours later I went back to the spot out of curiosity; there wasn't enough damage for it all to add up. It was a nubbing buck, roughly 8 months old. That is why the damage was so little; it weighed less of course and also wasn't as high up as a full grown deer. In that split second all I saw was "deer." I obviously didn't have time to really see if big or not, only that it had no antlers. But this time of year, no deer have antlers. A 3 year old deer would have been a whole different matter.

 

[Doc Woody]

Going to try Kickapoo tomorrow. Hopefully we can find some. If not, on to Crappie.

 

[shadslinger]

I’m still catching spawning white bass deep. 8’ to 27’, full eggs and milt.

 

[Gofish2day]

Matt,
About time you got another dog!!
You had mentioned that trailer place before and its in my phone.
Going to do this fix to get another 4-5yrs and buy a new one when this Covid $$ dollar craze goes away.

 

[Doc Woody]

Thanks for the info SS.

 

[shadslinger]

My party caught these today and all of those big females on the table were chock full of eggs and the males were just nasty.
So spawning continues in the lake.

 

[Whitebassfisher]

From what I know, the main requirement for white bass reproduction is that the eggs not get silted over for roughly 48 hours. There is enough flow in the lake right now that if eggs were excreted and fertilized near the surface in the river bed areas, that they wouldn't settle to the bottom and get silted over in 48 hours probably. I have heard that whites can reproduce over wind blown points etc, but I don't know exactly how they are doing it. But, you have reported this for years, they are reproducing somehow.

 

[Beaux]

So let's talk a little about the staging, spawning, and post spawn movements on this particular watershed. Been fishing a creek off the Trinity above Livingston for a number of years now. Who shows up first? Males or females? Do they wait for the females and spawn together?, Or do the females lay eggs then the males fertilize? What happens after they spawn? Do they hang out? Or do they start back to wherever they came from?



Just wanting to pick the brains of the forum. Trying to base the length of the spawn based off of what has been caught. Still lots of small males being caught. Pulled a 3 man limit last Saturday, and after cleaning, less than 1/3rd were females.

 

[Jigger]

I think it takes them more than a week or so to get the deal done. maybe up to 2 months if the weather pattern is scattered. If weather pattern is warm and waters are on a warming trend, thats when its efficient. If weather patterns are inconsistent, they may spawn for a day or so, then lay back for a day or so. Go back deep for a few days, maybe some inefficient spawning there.

Guessing!!

 

[SeaOx 230C]

They spawn in stages. They are free spawners. The femal rises towards the surface and release egss. The males gang up around her releasing milt. The fertilized eggs must float for 48 hours. If they settle to the bottom they die. This is why they seek current in the River or creeks to spawn. They will spawn on sandy points in the lake also....

Based on what I have seen some spawn as early as December and as late as May.

You can estimate this by size of juvenile fish you are seeing.

They grow very fast and only live 5-6 years or so. If I rember right they grow about an inch a month.