Posted By: Dennis Christian
A History of the Mepps Method for catching white bass on structure in big lakes (1976 – present day) - 05/09/22 12:35 PM
I thought I would take the time to share this story anew since many have joined the forum since I first shared it in 2009. Let me start by saying this is not an ego trip – God blessed me with a wonderful discovery of how to do my favorite sport – white bass fishing – in a much better way, and I want to share it with my fellow anglers. As evidence of its effectiveness, it was used to win the last two Tawakoni sand bass tournaments and a 2nd place, 3rd place, and big fish before that. The 2013 Lake Ray Hubbard white bass tournament was won using this method. Last year 1st and 2nd place in the Livingston white bass tournament were won using the technique. The last few Cedar Creek Lake white bass tournaments were won using the Mepps method. In 2009 the late Ray Sasser posted an article about it in the Dallas Morning News. There is also an article on the Mepps.com website describing the technique and how it was discovered. In the last few years, Bob Maindelle of Holding the Line guide service has his customers catching hundreds of white bass using the method, even working with the Mepps company to perfect a modification to make the #4 Mepps heavier and easier to cast.
A pic of my Mom's physical therapist and me with a catch of white bass we caught on #2 Mepps
![[Linked Image]](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/224x300q90/r/922/q54maH.jpg)
Many who have started using this method will attest to its effectiveness. But, for many years after the discovery, I selfishly kept it to family and close friends. You see, it was in 1976 when it was discovered, yet I did not share it with the public until 2009. I am 80 years old now and God will call me home at some point. I love the outdoors and fishing and have viewed this discovery since 2009 as a gift from God that must be shared. Those of you who have learned this method – please weigh in on its effectiveness for you. My daughter teaches music, and she says music is for sharing. Well. a really good fishing method is for sharing too.
Below are pictures of #2 and #4 Mepps Aglia plain spinners. On the lighter #2, I put a 3/16 oz mash-on weight about 16 inches up the line to make it possible to cast with a bait-casting reel and to make it sink faster.
Pic of a #2 Mepps and a 3/16 oz mash-on weight I use with it
![[Linked Image]](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/450x269q90/r/923/JRoiTU.jpg)
Pic of a silver plain #4 Mepps Aglia spinner
![[Linked Image]](https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/507x269q90/r/923/GKgF09.jpg)
The technique described
Following is an updated copy of a previous post describing the technique:
First, locate a school of white bass down on structure and park the boat within a short casting distance. Cast into or beyond the fish so you can work the bait through them. After casting, let the spinner free-fall to the bottom. Then point the rod toward the line and take up the slack. Then raise the rod slightly and hold steady while cranking the reel at the same time. Crank from 3 to 6 turns for 5 to 1 gear ratio or higher reels. Keeping the rod as still as you can helps you feel the bite. Making sure all the slack is out of the line and raising the rod as you start cranking gets the blade spinning immediately. However, with a #4 Mepps, keeping the rod generally pointed toward the line will get you more strikes. Using a #2 or #3, moving the rod up or sideways suddenly to give the bait a jump start seems to work best. Most bites occur immediately after you start reeling. If you don't get a bite after cranking the reel 6 turns, stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 3 to 6 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat.
They strike it coming up from the bottom, so don't guess - make sure the Mepps gets back to the bottom. The bite can be sharp but is usually soft or you feel something pecking at the bait or a gentle tug. When you feel this raise the rod to set the hook. Try different speeds until you find what they want. The slowest speed to try is cranking barely fast enough to make the blade turn. (If the blade is spinning, you can feel the tension in the line. You definitely notice the lack of tension if the blade does not spin. The larger the spinner the greater the tension.) If that speed is a 1 and burning it up is a 10, I usually crank it about a 3. Use that as starting point and vary up/down if needed. Try both holding the rod in front of you and reeling more vertically, and try holding the rod to the side down toward the water and dragging the spinner more horizontally. When the bite is so lite it's hard to feel it, it helps to keep the rod pointed directly at the line. Sometimes when doing this, to help the blade start immediately, I'll extend my arms full length toward the line before starting to reel. Then ensure all slack is taken up and pull the butt of the rod back to my stomach or to my side as I start reeling - keeping the rod pointed toward the line. Novices sometimes don't reel fast enough to make the blade spin. I have to tell them to point the rod at the line and, when the bait is on the bottom and slack out of line, reel it up fast about 10 turns. They'll catch some and after a while, they develop a feel for how fast to crank.
I usually use a #4 unless I know the pattern is smaller (#2) - like it is in August and September here in Texas. #4 is easier to fish because you don't need a weight added to the line, and you can feel the blade spinning easier. But usually, in August and September they won't touch a #4 but eat up a #2. When using a 2 or 3, I use a mash-on 3/16 oz lead weight up the line about 16 inches. This makes it heavy enough to cast with a casting reel and gets the bait to the bottom faster. Putting the weight that far away from the lure helps prevent the lure from flipping back and catching the line - fouling up the retrieve. I use Berkley Vanish 100% fluorocarbon 10 lb line, smooth retrieving casting reels such as a Shimano Curado and Lew’s reels with 5:1or higher retrieve ratios and medium action 5'6" to 6 ft rods.
Here is a noteworthy observation. Almost all who I try to teach this to who use an open-face spinning reel don’t do well. It just does not have anywhere near the feel of the smooth-retrieving casting reels. A very high-quality spin-cast reel does OK. The kids I teach have good success with these - much better feel of a bite than an open-face. One key factor, the reel handle is closer to the rod than the open-face so the rod does not shake as much when reeling. Keeping the rod as still as possible really helps to feel the lite bite.
All this may sound very complicated, but you quickly get the feel of it if you are on fish and catching some. I taught my grandsons, my mom, and my sisters, as well as guests I take out. Of course, none of this works if you are not over a concentration of fish down on the bottom.
The Mepps to get is the Aglia, plain, silver. Retail stores like Walmart or Academy usually have only "dressed" Mepps if they have them at all. They will work just as well as plain if you cut off the bucktail. I order mine online from BassPro, Cabelas, FishUSA, etc.
The discovery
In the summer of 1976, my father-in-law and I were fishing the Old 190 roadbed on Lake Livingston with slabs and were having only mild success. Another popular way to catch whites is to troll for them, and several trollers were out that day. They would troll up and down the roadbed swinging around the occasional anchored boats, which were slabbing for whites (as we were) or catfishing. Though I personally don't care for it (it seems boring), trolling for whites can be very effective. On this particular day, I noticed that every time this one boat trolled over the section of roadbed where we were slabbing they would catch a nice white. I would slab the section again after they were out of the way, and I wouldn't get a hit. Obviously, white bass were down there because the trollers kept catching them. But, working slabs in the same area produced little.
How could I cast a lure and emulate what the troller was doing? The trolling action must look like a shad or minnow swimming steadily through the water near the bottom. I opened my tackle box to see what I had that would look like a swimming minnow. My eye went to a silver #2 Mepps Aglia spinner I had bought for trout fishing in Wyoming. So, I tied it on and cast it to the area where the troller had been picking up fish. I took up the slack and cranked the spinner up from the bottom, and, sure enough, I immediately caught a nice white. A second cast produced another white. I searched my tackle box, found another Mepps, and put it on my father-in-law's line, and he too started catching whites. If we didn't get a fish after cranking the reel 6 to 8 turns we would stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 6 to 8 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat. We ended up with a nice bunch of fish that day, but more than that, I had made the fishing discovery of my lifetime.
Verification and effectiveness at other lakes
For months afterward on my fishing outings, I would rig one rod up with a slab or spoon and another with a Mepps spinner. I wanted to verify the new technique. There was no comparison. Sometimes I could catch fish with the slab, but I could always catch more and catch them faster with the Mepps spinner. Now convinced, I taught my relatives and friends the new technique. It became so reliable that we stopped chasing surface schooling whites altogether, preferring to find them on a structure, mark them, and anchor or use a trolling motor to stay on the fish. We discovered that with this approach we did not have to get up at the crack of dawn - we could locate fish any time of the day and catch them. Throughout the late 70's, the 80's, and 90's we primarily fished Lake Livingston, and many a day we'd be pulling fish in every cast and be surrounded by boats attracted by our success. They would all be slabbing but catching few if any.
I have taken the technique to other Texas lakes, and it is successful everywhere I try it. I have used it successfully on Eagle Mountain Lake, Lake Ray Hubbard, Lake Lewisville, Cedar Creek Lake, Richland Chambers Reservoir, Lake Palestine, Lake Limestone, Lake Whitney, Lake Buchanan, Lake Tawakoni, and Lake Waco.
Conclusion
I encourage you to give this method a try if you haven’t already. While I am still kicking, I am available to take people out in their boat or mine and demo the technique for them. Just PM me on this forum, and we’ll try to hook up. You can see links to a youtube demo and Ray Sasser’s article in my signature block below. Good luck!
A pic of my Mom's physical therapist and me with a catch of white bass we caught on #2 Mepps
Many who have started using this method will attest to its effectiveness. But, for many years after the discovery, I selfishly kept it to family and close friends. You see, it was in 1976 when it was discovered, yet I did not share it with the public until 2009. I am 80 years old now and God will call me home at some point. I love the outdoors and fishing and have viewed this discovery since 2009 as a gift from God that must be shared. Those of you who have learned this method – please weigh in on its effectiveness for you. My daughter teaches music, and she says music is for sharing. Well. a really good fishing method is for sharing too.
Below are pictures of #2 and #4 Mepps Aglia plain spinners. On the lighter #2, I put a 3/16 oz mash-on weight about 16 inches up the line to make it possible to cast with a bait-casting reel and to make it sink faster.
Pic of a #2 Mepps and a 3/16 oz mash-on weight I use with it
Pic of a silver plain #4 Mepps Aglia spinner
The technique described
Following is an updated copy of a previous post describing the technique:
First, locate a school of white bass down on structure and park the boat within a short casting distance. Cast into or beyond the fish so you can work the bait through them. After casting, let the spinner free-fall to the bottom. Then point the rod toward the line and take up the slack. Then raise the rod slightly and hold steady while cranking the reel at the same time. Crank from 3 to 6 turns for 5 to 1 gear ratio or higher reels. Keeping the rod as still as you can helps you feel the bite. Making sure all the slack is out of the line and raising the rod as you start cranking gets the blade spinning immediately. However, with a #4 Mepps, keeping the rod generally pointed toward the line will get you more strikes. Using a #2 or #3, moving the rod up or sideways suddenly to give the bait a jump start seems to work best. Most bites occur immediately after you start reeling. If you don't get a bite after cranking the reel 6 turns, stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 3 to 6 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat.
They strike it coming up from the bottom, so don't guess - make sure the Mepps gets back to the bottom. The bite can be sharp but is usually soft or you feel something pecking at the bait or a gentle tug. When you feel this raise the rod to set the hook. Try different speeds until you find what they want. The slowest speed to try is cranking barely fast enough to make the blade turn. (If the blade is spinning, you can feel the tension in the line. You definitely notice the lack of tension if the blade does not spin. The larger the spinner the greater the tension.) If that speed is a 1 and burning it up is a 10, I usually crank it about a 3. Use that as starting point and vary up/down if needed. Try both holding the rod in front of you and reeling more vertically, and try holding the rod to the side down toward the water and dragging the spinner more horizontally. When the bite is so lite it's hard to feel it, it helps to keep the rod pointed directly at the line. Sometimes when doing this, to help the blade start immediately, I'll extend my arms full length toward the line before starting to reel. Then ensure all slack is taken up and pull the butt of the rod back to my stomach or to my side as I start reeling - keeping the rod pointed toward the line. Novices sometimes don't reel fast enough to make the blade spin. I have to tell them to point the rod at the line and, when the bait is on the bottom and slack out of line, reel it up fast about 10 turns. They'll catch some and after a while, they develop a feel for how fast to crank.
I usually use a #4 unless I know the pattern is smaller (#2) - like it is in August and September here in Texas. #4 is easier to fish because you don't need a weight added to the line, and you can feel the blade spinning easier. But usually, in August and September they won't touch a #4 but eat up a #2. When using a 2 or 3, I use a mash-on 3/16 oz lead weight up the line about 16 inches. This makes it heavy enough to cast with a casting reel and gets the bait to the bottom faster. Putting the weight that far away from the lure helps prevent the lure from flipping back and catching the line - fouling up the retrieve. I use Berkley Vanish 100% fluorocarbon 10 lb line, smooth retrieving casting reels such as a Shimano Curado and Lew’s reels with 5:1or higher retrieve ratios and medium action 5'6" to 6 ft rods.
Here is a noteworthy observation. Almost all who I try to teach this to who use an open-face spinning reel don’t do well. It just does not have anywhere near the feel of the smooth-retrieving casting reels. A very high-quality spin-cast reel does OK. The kids I teach have good success with these - much better feel of a bite than an open-face. One key factor, the reel handle is closer to the rod than the open-face so the rod does not shake as much when reeling. Keeping the rod as still as possible really helps to feel the lite bite.
All this may sound very complicated, but you quickly get the feel of it if you are on fish and catching some. I taught my grandsons, my mom, and my sisters, as well as guests I take out. Of course, none of this works if you are not over a concentration of fish down on the bottom.
The Mepps to get is the Aglia, plain, silver. Retail stores like Walmart or Academy usually have only "dressed" Mepps if they have them at all. They will work just as well as plain if you cut off the bucktail. I order mine online from BassPro, Cabelas, FishUSA, etc.
The discovery
In the summer of 1976, my father-in-law and I were fishing the Old 190 roadbed on Lake Livingston with slabs and were having only mild success. Another popular way to catch whites is to troll for them, and several trollers were out that day. They would troll up and down the roadbed swinging around the occasional anchored boats, which were slabbing for whites (as we were) or catfishing. Though I personally don't care for it (it seems boring), trolling for whites can be very effective. On this particular day, I noticed that every time this one boat trolled over the section of roadbed where we were slabbing they would catch a nice white. I would slab the section again after they were out of the way, and I wouldn't get a hit. Obviously, white bass were down there because the trollers kept catching them. But, working slabs in the same area produced little.
How could I cast a lure and emulate what the troller was doing? The trolling action must look like a shad or minnow swimming steadily through the water near the bottom. I opened my tackle box to see what I had that would look like a swimming minnow. My eye went to a silver #2 Mepps Aglia spinner I had bought for trout fishing in Wyoming. So, I tied it on and cast it to the area where the troller had been picking up fish. I took up the slack and cranked the spinner up from the bottom, and, sure enough, I immediately caught a nice white. A second cast produced another white. I searched my tackle box, found another Mepps, and put it on my father-in-law's line, and he too started catching whites. If we didn't get a fish after cranking the reel 6 to 8 turns we would stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 6 to 8 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat. We ended up with a nice bunch of fish that day, but more than that, I had made the fishing discovery of my lifetime.
Verification and effectiveness at other lakes
For months afterward on my fishing outings, I would rig one rod up with a slab or spoon and another with a Mepps spinner. I wanted to verify the new technique. There was no comparison. Sometimes I could catch fish with the slab, but I could always catch more and catch them faster with the Mepps spinner. Now convinced, I taught my relatives and friends the new technique. It became so reliable that we stopped chasing surface schooling whites altogether, preferring to find them on a structure, mark them, and anchor or use a trolling motor to stay on the fish. We discovered that with this approach we did not have to get up at the crack of dawn - we could locate fish any time of the day and catch them. Throughout the late 70's, the 80's, and 90's we primarily fished Lake Livingston, and many a day we'd be pulling fish in every cast and be surrounded by boats attracted by our success. They would all be slabbing but catching few if any.
I have taken the technique to other Texas lakes, and it is successful everywhere I try it. I have used it successfully on Eagle Mountain Lake, Lake Ray Hubbard, Lake Lewisville, Cedar Creek Lake, Richland Chambers Reservoir, Lake Palestine, Lake Limestone, Lake Whitney, Lake Buchanan, Lake Tawakoni, and Lake Waco.
Conclusion
I encourage you to give this method a try if you haven’t already. While I am still kicking, I am available to take people out in their boat or mine and demo the technique for them. Just PM me on this forum, and we’ll try to hook up. You can see links to a youtube demo and Ray Sasser’s article in my signature block below. Good luck!
![[Linked Image]](https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics/userpics/2022/05/full-93485-138684-b0c90a53_16fc_4b26_afb5_d704509925bc.jpeg)