I havent fished for white bass in 30 years. I want to take my grandson out to catch some. I used to throw a little george at them but cant find them anywhere. What is a good lure to use for the whites now?
Thanks

Look up the MAL lure from holding the line guide service.

I will second the Mepps. I make my own “clone” version of it. You might want to tie on a slab with a teaser jig tied about 18” up the line for your grandson. If you struggle to find them, you could always troll with a white crank bait 12-18’ divers.

MAL, smaller slabs, tail spinners (Lil’ Georges).

TxRanger1: I have a series of tips for catching white bass. Here is the one on lures:


6/8/2010

POST #3

What are my preferred baits and how do I work them? To cover this I thought I would start at the beginning of my white bass fishing and work my way forward. Before I start, let me say that my preferred way to catch whites started with a spoon, then changed to a slab and then to a Mepps spinner, which I have used now since 1976. The Mepps has worked so well I've not needed to try anything else, such as soft plastics or crank baits.

When I started in 1967 my teachers - father-in-law and wife's Uncle Charlie - used various silver spoons. I think slabs were not around yet or just getting started and these guys not quick to change from what they knew. The spoons commonly used were Sidewinders, Mr. Champs, Tony Acetta (sp?) and their favorite - Dixie Sirens and Dixie Jets. For smaller spoons I recall they had some Little Cleos in their tackle box - they didn't have any larger Little Cleos, which came to be my favorite spoon much later.

Here are the exact instructions Uncle Charlie gave me for working a spoon on the bottom: "Make a cast and let it fall to the bottom, jerk it up about a foot and let fall back to bottom, then crank 3 or 4 turns of the reel and let it fall back to bottom. Repeat all the way back to the boat." It seemed kind of mechanical, but when I was having trouble catching 'em I'd remember this and it was effective. However, I experimented and came up with my own favorite way to work a spoon - after a cast and letting it fall to bottom I would point rod toward line, take up the slack and make a long sweep up with the rod tip. I would most often get a bite when the spoon slowed or stopped at the top of my sweep. Of course, there were times it took a different action to get them to bite. I remember to catch them one time straight down in 30 ft water we had to raise the spoon up from the bottom a few turns of the reel and then bounce the spoon up and down rather violently (caught 180 that outing!)

We liked the Dixie Siren best because it had a beautiful smooth chrome-like finish and you could jig it or swim it like you can a Little Cleo. When slabs became popular (and cheaper to make) it put Dixie out of business (in the early '70s I think). I still have 3 of them and am afraid to use them lest I get one hung and lose it. Like everyone else, though, we began using slabs in the early '70's. We worked them just like the big spoons mentioned above. We caught tons of fish and thought we were doing as well as you could do.

If you have read my article on Mepps web site, you know what happened next. We discovered we weren't doing as well as we could. For those who haven't read it, I was having a rather mediocre day on Livingston working slabs on the Old 190 roadbed. But to my dismay there was a troller picking up a fish every time he trolled by me - right where I was slabbing. To make a long story short I tried to emulate what the troller was doing by swimming a lure - a Mepps spinner - along the bottom and started catching them.

This brings me to the present. I now use Mepps plain Aglia silver spinners almost exclusively. The one I used on that day in 1976 was a #2. Through experience I have found that different sizes work better in different lakes or circumstances. In Livingston #2 and #3 seem to work the best. Both of these are lightweight and we have to add a 1/4 oz mash-on weight about a foot up the line from the spinner to cast them and get them down to the bottom faster. Here in Cedar Creek the #4 seems to work best most of the time. The good thing about it is that it is heavy enough to cast and get to the bottom without adding weight.

The circumstance requiring a #2 instead of a #4 is when the new hatch of shad are the primary forage of the white bass. The fish are looking for a smaller shad and the #2 works well. Here this usually happens in mid July and lasts a couple of months.

So, how do you work a Mepps? It is NOT like a slab, and I think it is different from a soft plastic in that for these baits most of the strikes are on the fall. With a Mepps the strike is definitely on the retrieve - as you start it up from the bottom. I like this because it is easier to feel the strike on the retrieve and in my opinion more fun. Sometimes they almost knock the reel out of my hands. But more often it is a light bite - but always on the retrieve up from the bottom. Of course, occasionally I'll get one where the fish hit it on the fall. Most of the time when this happens it's a catfish.

This is the technique: Locate the boat where you can make a medium to long cast to where you marked fish. After bait gets to the bottom, lower the rod in the direction of the cast and take up the slack. Then simultaneously raise the rod tip and begin cranking the reel. Crank about six times. If they haven't struck the lure by then, stop cranking, release the reel and let lure free fall back to the bottom and repeat the steps I just mentioned. Work it all the way back to the boat this way. I usually have to experiment with speed of retrieval at each place I stop. Sometimes they want it slow, sometimes fast and sometimes medium. I also test to see if they want a more vertical movement or more of a lateral, drag along the bottom movement. On deep humps with fish down on the bottom, I can park right over them and crank vertically and catch fish. But mostly I fish shallow (10 to 18 ft) structures and I'll park off to the side and make a medium to long cast and work Mepps across the structure. I find that a 5 or 6 to 1 ratio reel with 10 lb flurocarbon line works best. I keep the tension on the reel spool very loose so the weight of the bait readily pulls line out as it is falling to the bottom.

I said above that I "almost" use Mepps exclusively. The other bait I use, which I work like a Mepps, is a 5/8 oz or 3/4 oz Little Cleo. For some reason, it seems to do as well as Mepps in Eagle Mountain Lake. Not only can I work it like a Mepps, but also I can work it like a slab if needed. Sometimes at EM the only way I can get them to bite in the deep water is with a series of very sharp jerks using the Little Cleo.

One more thing about Mepps, it works just as good on surfacing fish. So, I never have to change from Mepps even when I run across some working under the birds.

I give more background and info re the discovery of the Mepps technique in my article in case you are interested. Dennis Christian Article on Mepps Web Site Some people think the Mepps technique is too hard to learn. Let me say that my mother, aunts, sisters and grandkids learned it. You might not get the hang of it on the 1st try but don't give up. Once people get the knack of it, they never go back to their slabs or whatever.

TxRanger1, Bob Maindelle here with Holding the Line Guide Service. I would concur with Dennis on all he has communicated about fishing with spinners - there is a lot of wisdom there.

The MAL Lure which folks have referred to in their replies to you here is a modified Mepps spinner, made for me by Mepps, with design input I've provided them to make it a more user-friendly tool. It uses the Aglia #4 blade which is a killer for white bass and hybrid.

The main thing is the added weight. I fish with children and rookies all the time to the tune ~220 trips per year. As a guide, it is my job to help people be successful. The MAL is a quality tool to help me accomplish that goal.

The added weight of the MAL helps anglers of all ages and experience levels cast farther, feel the lure better, feel the bottom better, and it gets the lure to bottom more quickly than a standard spinner.

This added weight "forgives" a number of sins -- like having an underfilled spool, or a rod that is too short or stiff for the technique you're using, using line which is too heavy, or being impatient in not waiting for a lure to sink to bottom.

One additional benefit which is especially helpful if you venture to our Texas Hill Country Lakes (Belton, Stillhouse, Georgetown, Canyon, Buchanan) which are deeper than the East Texas lakes, it that the increased sink rate allows the MAL Lure to be used for vertical presentations, not just casting horizontally or for topwater action. It shows up very well on Garmin LiveScope for folks who use it.

You can find the MAL Lures here: MAL Lures

But, since there is a grandson involved, if you call me, I'll do better than that! (254.368.7411)

You'll find the original (at 5/8 oz.) and the heavy version (at 7/8 oz.). For your grandson (assuming he's a child), I'd go with the heavier version. You'll find my pricing the same as for the comparable (but non-modified) Mepps product, and my shipping will cost you less than shipping from Wisconsin. For East Texas lakes, chartreuse is hard to beat.


Good luck!

Here is what the MAL looks like:

#2 mepps silver blade spinner with a white tail

Academy has these now.

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-tail-spins-freshwater-bait?sku=diamond-dust-1-4-oz