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I went to the Provo boat harbor yesterday evening to catch some white bass babies for catfish bait. I fished off one of the docks. I must have had over a hundred bites but it was very difficult to hook them, no matter what I tried. I used a #10 and a #14 hook. They would get the bait and swim around with it but no matter what I did at that point, I seldom set the hook. I started out with very small pieces of nightcrawler and worked my way down to miniscule size. I caught some fish that were a little bigger and after sunset some big fish moved in and I caught a couple of those. All in all, I got about a dozen total.
Anyone have any tips on how to hook up those little buggers? Four an hour is just too slow.
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Catchinon, get some #14 or 16 Dry Fly hooks, they are finer wire and smaller gap than standard bait holder hooks. The baby WHB will be able to get them in their mouth easier, they are sharper, and you should be able to hook em. You can always do what TD does and get a cast net, go down early in the AM when they are slurping midge larvae off the surface and get some that way. Standard bait holder hooks are not small enough for them. I would recommend that you pre tie the hooks on some very light tippet material, 5X or 6X. Use a Palomar knot like you are tying a Drop Shot rig for Bass, and use a very light spit shot on the end of the leader. Set your hooks about 6-8 inches apart, 4-6 inches above the weight, and use a slim float, set about 12-18 inches above the top hook. Should be able to catch em real easy and get your bait w/o any problems !! Good Luck !!
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That setup sounds really good--thanks for the specifics; you're the best.
I get
with what is and isn't legal with the white bass because they are game fish but also legal for use as bait in UL. I know that it isn't legal to catch them in traps so I'm guessing that netting them is also verboten. Maybe someone who is certain could tell us.
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[quote Therapist]
You can always do what TD does and get a cast net...
[/quote]
Not legal to use a cast net to catch any game fish, including white bass.
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[#0000FF]As a general rule, if you can find the wee whities you shouldn't have much problem catching them. And you don't have to go down to micro hooks either. I have caught hundreds over the years on the same size 4 hooks and tube jigs I fish for larger fish. They got attitude much bigger than their size. See the attached picture of one about the same size as a crank bait that so rudely bit back.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]If you are getting bites, I cannot understand why you are unable to catch them. Even moderately sharp hooks will catch white bass. And it doesn't take a Bill Dance hookset either.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]The last picture I am attaching is of some small jigs I make on size 10 and 12 hooks for catching chubs and other small fish on hook and line. But you really don't need that small of hook. Just use a sharp hook and leave the point exposed a bit when you put a piece of worm on it.
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I have caught the little, but not tiny, wb on 6/0 hooks when fishing for cats with smaller baits. I had no problem hooking up on the larger fish that came in late in
the evening. I always leave plenty of hook exposed and have used a segment of worm as small as a match head so the hook was not crowded with too much bait.. My hooks were Eagle Claw baitholders; maybe they aren't sharp enough. I tried every type of hookset motion I could think of from a slow and steady lift to a quick wrist-snap. None were deep-hooked so it seemed that they were only holding on to the bait with their lips without taking it in deep. So I'm with you: "I cannot understand why you are unable to catch them."
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"My hooks were Eagle Claw baitholders; maybe they aren't sharp enough."
[#0000BF]Those hooks have points, but are definitely not sharp.[/#0000BF]
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[#0000BF]If you have access to fly tying hooks in size10 or 12 you should have a higher hookup ratio.[/#0000BF]
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I use a size 16 copper john on a 3wt fly rod. Great fun.
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