White bass fever strikes in Ozarks

Spring means more than just winter being over.
By BRENT FRAZEE
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
STOCKTON, Mo. -- Les Jarman rounded a bend on the Little Sac River and was greeted by a sure sign of spring.
The channel ahead was filled with boats -- a reliable indicator that the white bass were running.
"When the whites start moving into these rivers, it doesn't take long for the word to get out," Jarman said on a recent weekday. "It's hard to keep a secret around here.
"People will come out of nowhere. On weekends, there are times when you wouldn't think you could fit another boat on this river."
Such scenes go a long way toward describing the wild popularity of the white-bass run at Stockton Lake, a 24,900-acre reservoir in the Ozarks.
When the temperatures start to rise each spring, the fish gang up and leave the reservoir for their annual trek up tributaries to spawn.
The run can start and stop with the weather. Cold fronts can cause the white bass to drop back to the reservoir and regroup before resuming their journey.
But when conditions are right -- as they were on a recent weekday -- they will be in tributaries such as the Little Sac in force. And so will the fishermen.
Quotable
"This is my favorite time of the year," said Jarman, a longtime guide who lives in Stockton. "I can't wait for these spring runs to start.
"That always tells me that winter's over."
Jarman celebrated spring's arrival in style last week.
Fishing with Ken White and me, he stopped his boat short of the traffic and began casting to the edge of some flooded cover. No sooner had his chartreuse grub started to settle than he felt a jolting strike.
When he set the hook, he felt 2 pounds of spring straining to get free.
The white bass pulled hard on the 4-pound test line and bent the ultralight rod sharply. But in a matter of seconds, Jarman had his catch in the live well and was casting for more.
"It's good to be back here fishing," Jarman said. "Last year during the drought, there wasn't even enough water to get a bass boat up here.
"A lot of the whites spawned on the main lake, and we had some good fishing, but I missed being able to get up in these rivers. This is where I like fishing for them.
"I've been fishing the Little Sac since I was a kid. We used to come down here and catch goggle-eyes and bass. Now it's white bass and walleyes."
Jarman continued to cast. And he continued to catch fish.
No, the action wasn't nonstop. But it was good enough that he and his fishing partners had a school of 26 whites swimming in the live well after two hours.
And a good percentage of those fish were the big females that Jarman was after.
"Really, it's just getting started," Jarman said. "It usually reaches its peak in April.
"But they'll be in here spawning clear into May. A lot of people give up on it too early."
Early and late
Jarman starts early and ends late when it comes to the white-bass run. He usually begins his search about Valentine's Day.
Anytime the water temperature is in the mid-40s, he knows there's a chance there will be whites in the river. But the run doesn't get into full swing, he said, until that temperature rises into the mid-50s.
Even then, fishermen have to search to find the fish. As Jarman said: "Anybody can catch them. But not everybody can find them."
The key is finding how far upriver the whites have traveled. Jarman usually starts by looking in the bends. He also knows that whites will often gather on flats, where they will rest and feed on their way upstream.
Whenever possible, Jarman tries to avoid the crowds.
"A lot of boat traffic will make them skittish," he said. "I'll do best when I can get away from the traffic."
But the white bass aren't the only fish that have spawning on their minds. The walleyes also are on the move in tributaries and on Stockton's main lake, heading for the rocky areas where they will lay their eggs. And Jarman is avidly pursuing them, too.
He often spends the day fishing for white bass in the Little Sac, then heads to the big water to fish for walleyes at dusk and at night. That's what he did on this day.
After launching his boat early in the evening, he headed for a rocky bank near the dam and started working suspending stickbaits in a stop and go manner. That same method had produced a 7-pound walleye the night before. And a 10-pound, 4-ounce trophy several years ago.
There were no huge ones this night. But Jarman and his partners did catch five keeper walleyes and had several other hits.