White Bass The white bass is an excellent fighting fish that typically grows to 16-17 inches. This schooling fish often exhibits characteristics similar to wipers, pounding schools of forage fish in mass numbers. White bass can be easily confused with wipers. However, they are generally smaller in size, have broken stripes, and on the tongue wiper will have a split in the tooth patch. When water temperatures rise above 45 degrees F, between February and June, white bass migrate up rivers and streams seeking gravel or rocky bottom areas for spawning activity.
White bass consume large quantities of prey fish and are, therefore, constantly on the move in search of food. Their preferred selections are typically shad and shiners, although they will supplement their diets with crustaceans and insects. They have also been known to eat their own young. White bass often make a great commotion when they feed at the surface, which experienced anglers will look for.
White Bass in Florida
The following is courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission:
Appearance: White bass look like short stripers. They are silvery-white with five to eight dusky black stripes on the sides. Stripes below the lateral line are faint and may be uneven. Whites are stockier than stripers, with a smaller head, and dorsal fins are set closer together.
Habitat: White bass are found mostly in the Apalachicola and Ochlockonee river systems.
Behavior: Male white bass move upstream in big schools to a dam or other barrier in early spring, Females follow, and spawning occurs in moving water over shoals or hard bottoms. Females may lay as many as half a million adhesive eggs that stick to rocks and gravel. White bass eat minnows and open-water baitfish like gizzard or threadfin shad.
State Record: 4.69 lbs. Big Catch: 15 inches or 2.5 lbs.
