Spawning whites sign of spring

Ken White/Herald-Tribune Les Jarman with some of the first white bass caught during their spawning run up the Little Sac River.

There is something unmistakably comforting about the cycles of nature that make us feel whole, that make us feel connected again to the way things work, to the way they have always worked. If you allow yourself, you can feel the pulse of the earth spinning on its axis, the rush of survival as white bass, crappie and walleye pile into our rivers every spring by the thousands. In the case of the white bass, there can be one on top of another, sliding back and forth and between each other in the current as the fish battle their way upstream to where they will spawn.

Forget the robin or the groundhog, a much more accurate predictor of spring is when the white bass show up in the Ozark rivers in late February or early March. It's cause for celebration after a cold and snowy winter like the one we just experienced.

I was more than ready when fishing guide Les Jarman called early last Wednesday and asked if I thought it was too windy to search for white bass in the river. "It shouldn't be too bad in the river where we can get out of the wind," he said.

Water temperature plays a big part in finding the whites in the river and when the temperature gets close to the 50-degree mark, the whites are on the run and spring has arrived. But as Jarman said, "I wonder how many times the whites will move in and out of the river before they stay awhile."

Last week, just a day before the trout parks traditional opener, we set out to see if the report I had gotten several days earlier that the whites had started hitting in the river was correct.

After reaching a spot where for years Jarman usually catches his first whites of the year, we rigged up small jigs on the ultralights and cast into the cold water. On the second cast I felt the hard hit of what could only be a white bass. Although it was small, it fought like a shark.

Before I could release the fish, Jarman's rod had a big bend as a larger white attacked his lure. By the time the fury had ended we had landed seven fish while losing several others.

While catching fish we had several other boats of anglers move in and just as fast as the action started, it also ended just as fast. Years ago I remember Charlie Campbell say the whites are like a light bulb, "When they turn on things look bright, but when it's turned off the light is gone and so it is with the white bass. You know they are there but getting them to hit is something else."

Several years ago, while fishing for trout in early March at Taneycomo, I ran into Campbell and he said the whites were running up Swan Creek near Forsyth. We headed up the creek the next day and we found the water loaded with whites on their spawning run. Using a small topwater lure, we caught our limit in less than an hour and six of the fish hit four pounds. That's a lot of action on an ultralight rod.

The first fish I caught was a female that weighed just under four pounds. After releasing this fish so she could continue her journey, I checked my lure before making another cast. When I looked around, I was literally surrounded. Boats to my left, my right, upstream and down. Cars were zooming down the highway across the nearby bridge. I thought this must be what it's like when you find yourself in the middle of the school swimming upstream.

With some luck that particular fish made it to spawn, and with even more luck, her fry will survive and make the journey downstream past the same spot, past Forsyth into Bull Shoals before returning. Swimming again right past where I was anchored on the way to the same spawning grounds where they were born. With some luck, I will be there too.

Fishing for white bass can be good most anytime of the year, but there's something special about fishing the rivers in the spring when the spawning run is going strong.

Some of the best places to find the whites this time of year include tributaries to Bull Shoals, Table Rock, Pomme de Terre, Stockton, Truman and the Lake of the Ozarks. When the whites go on a feeding frenzy almost any lure will work, but most anglers prefer jigs, grubs spoons and minnows.

Depending on the weather, the next several weeks is the time to seek out the white bass in the rivers for all the action you want -- once you find them.