Striped Bass

Weight: 70 pounds

Length: 50 inches

Diet:   Fish

Also known as stripers, striped bass or silver bass, white bass are plentiful in big rivers. Frequenters of swift water, white bass are often found below upper Mississippi River locks and dams and near wing dikes. The best time to catch white bass is during low, clear water conditions in late summer and throughout late fall.

Like many sport fish, white bass are sight feeders. An effective bait is a small minnow or an artificial lure. After locating a school of feeding white bass, cast and retrieve a yellow or white leadhead jig through the school and wait for action.

White bass are often caught with the same tackle as walleye and sauger. When walleye and sauger are plentiful below the upper Mississippi River locks and dams, anglers complain they have trouble catching them because white bass are constantly taking their baits.

Conservation agencies in Iowa and Illinois are stocking hybrid white bass into upper Mississippi River pools and the Ohio River, and reports of hybrid white bass catches within Missouri's portion of the Mississippi have become common.