But finding the right combination should guarantee you plenty of action. White bass almost always travel in large schools. If you catch one while trolling, others will likely be in the immediate area. Consequently, circling back through the same spot should attract additional strikes.

When a fish hits a trolled lure, immediately shift your motor into reverse and back up to the strike area to stay near the school. After the first bass is in the boat, rather than trolling again, try casting jigs or lures in the surrounding area.

Before guide Floyd Preas passed away, he was the recognized expert when it came to catching white bass.

His favorite method was a technique he called jump fishing. He slowly cruised areas of the lake where he had found whites in the past. Then he watched for the telltale surface commotion caused by a feeding school. On a calm day, such action can be visible from as far as half a mile away.

Preas often extended his sight range by using binoculars, and Koller occasionally uses the same method.

STRIPED BASS
Although most of the stripers currently average 1 to 3 pounds, anglers often land fish weighing more than 15 pounds, and several weighing more than 20 pounds have been caught. Last year, Noel Arnold set a new inland fishery record with a 27.28-pound monster at Lake Pleasant.

Arnold lives in Whittman, Ariz., and spends a lot of time fishing for striped bass at the Aqua Fria Reservoir. Even though his record fish swallowed a live waterdog, Arnold normally entices the line-sided fish with frozen anchovies.

When using anchovies, Arnold uses two rod-and-reel setups. His spinning rig is spooled with 8-pound line, and his baitcaster with 12-pound line.

I like to fish at night, he said. And early on, the smaller fish are normally what I’m catching. As it gets later, though, the fish seem to get bigger. That’s when I switch to the heavier baitcasting rig,

He uses a small lead jighead on the lighter rig, and slip-sinker with a plastic worm hook on the other one.

Once I get to where I’ll fish, I lower a submersible green light to attract the lower organisms in the lake’s food chain. They attract the shad, which in turn attract the bass, Arnold said. I also like to cut up a bunch of anchovies to use as chum.

Koller concurs with Arnold, especially about fishing at night after the water warms over the next few months.

We take out clients after dark and drop down crappie lights in the creek channels or down near the dam, he said. Then we have them fish frozen anchovies. Although most of the fish are less than 2 pounds, on a good night we often catch a hundred or more over a few hours.