Hi guys,
I live near the Lake Livingston, but I am a novice in bass fishing. Do you use a popping cork for deep white bass fishing? In the shallow creek near my house, the popping cork works great for gars. Factually, it is not a classic popping cork rig with a jig head. Rather, I use the mini-Caroline rig with � ounce sliding sinker under the sliding popping cork. It imitates live baits very good in the water column. This time, whites are slow in my area, and I would like to test this rig in some lake channels next week. Thanks for any info.

Not sure how to answer because "deep" and "popping cork" don't really go together. Unless you have a 30ft leader on the end of that cork.

For white bass, if they are deeper than 20ft, all you need is a slab.

Thanks, Holzer, for the reply. Slab is a great deal! I've also tried Drop shot and Caroline rig.

Popping corks work great when sandies are feeding on top. I like use a speck rig under a popping cork. Sometimes when they are feeding on top but sometimes they seem finicky I will start throwing a popping cork with good results

Thank you, 44 Diesel. Agree, a popping cork should work great in shallow water and during surface feeding. I factually use Caroline rig under the popping cork. I think it could work in the water column at 15-20 feet. I'll check next week. I hope whites will be more active. Thanks again for your replies, guys.

Bobbycat, I fish Livingston and when the white bass school on top regardless of depth a popping cork with a small, sometimes tiny, Pet Spoon is deadly.
Match the spoon or jig you use to the size shad you see then chasing or cough up when you catch one.
Pet Spoons have become ridiculous in price so i use white crappie jigs most of the time or like suggested before a spec rig.
However Pet Spoons have the advantage whenever the fish are picky, they are fantastic white bass baits.

Bobbycat: I fished Livingston from 1974 to 1999. One of the best ways to catch whites when catching is difficult is to fish the rails on the submerged bridges on old Hwy 190. I've described the technique on here several times before, but in case you are interested, here it is again:

About "rail fishing" for whites: You have to use the inline spinner technique for this to work. When fishing is slow, try "rail fishing". Locate a bridge and position the boat directly over one edge of it. You will be right over one rail and the other will be about 20 ft away running parallel to it. You can fish the rail 2 ways. The most productive way is to cast the inline spinner far enough to go over the opposite rail out into the deep water. Let it go to bottom then crank it back a few turns and let it go to bottom again. Crank it in some more and when the spinner gets close enough to the rail, you can feel the drag of the line coming over the rail. Keep cranking at a medium to medium fast speed so the spinner will not hook the rail. When the spinner clears the rail, you will feel a let-up on line tension (assuming a fish didn't latch on as it came over). Immediately release and let the bait drop just this side of the rail. When it hits the bottom, take up slack and crank several times as usual. If no bite, try a 2nd crank on top of bridge. You catch the most fish on the 1st crank this side of the rail. You will also catch a lot as spinner comes over top of rail and on 2nd crank after you come over rail.

The other way to rail fish is to make medium length cast down the bridge just inside the rail you are sitting over. Just work the inline spinner technique parallel to rail and on top of bridge close to the rail all the way back to boat. All the bridges (at Lake Livingston on Old 190) have in tact rails except the 1st one east of the river channel. The rails are OK on each end of it but the middle section of bridge is out.

My family and friends have been using this to catch whites since the early eighties. When fishing is really tough, you can usually catch them this way. Good luck and feel free to ask questions if I didn't explain it well enough.

I should have added that I prefer a small spinner (#2 silver Mepps plain Aglia) and put a mash-on 3/16 oz weight on the line about 13 inches up from the spinner. The smaller spinner is less likely to get caught on the bridge rail.

Thank you very much, guys. A lot of useful information! I think that I know this place but did not try to fish there. This submerged bridge is near Indian Hill, correct?.
It is easy to find this place, using this map https://www.luckytacklebox.com/blogs/fishing-reports/lake-livingston
I will try next week. Thanks again for your replies.

P.S. Did you try drop shot rig there?

No, but we used to fish slabs - just not pulling them over the bridge rails. We found that fish liked the ends of the bridge, either on top of the road bed or on the slopes on the side of the roadbed. There is more than one bridge. There are 3 bridges between Indian Hills Point and the river channel. There is a bridge on the west edge of the river channel, one at Hell's Half Acre, one about 400 yards east of the west end of the roadbed and one more about half a mile east of that one.

Thanks a lot, Dennis. I have the lures that you mentioned above. I will try different methods, including the drop shot. I am a big fan of this rig.

Bob .

P.S. Thank you for your wonderful article and demo. Very interesting and informative!