Posted By: Dennis Christian
Lake Whitney Fishing Trip Report (2 days) - 04/26/24 10:17 PM
Thanks to all who provided intel for our Whitney fishing trip 4/24 and 4/25. Eight of us (Cliff, Bruce, Eric, Todd, Graham, Ed, Bobby, and I) fished the 24th in three boats and six of us (ex Cliff and Bruce) the 25th in two boats. Results: On the 24th we caught about 150: 12 legal stripers, 40 short stripers, a couple of drum, and the rest white bass, From 7 am to 2 pm on the 25th we caught 502: 369 white bass, 126 short stripers, 6 drum, and a 31 inch buffalo. The vast majority were caught on the bottom near the east side out from McCowan Valley in 24 to 27 fow. We located them using sonar and side scan then spot-locking and thumped to keep them under us. One boat found them there the 1st day, and the two boats went back to that same spot on day 2 and found them again.
Eleven of the legal stripers were caught a bit SW of there near the river channel when birds were seen working over surfacing fish. One boat (Bruce, Cliff, and Eric) got to them and caught 11 legals and one short before they stopped. That was the only surface action we saw the two days. The other legal was caught (by Todd) farther south in 28 fow on the bottom next to a drop-off into much deeper water. In that same area Graham hooked a really big striper and fought it about 5 minutes before it got tangled in another line and came off when he attempted to get free from the other line. Ed caught the 31 inch buffalo next to the cliffs on the west side near the dam.
Baits: Ed and Bobby did great with heavy white slabs. Graham and I used Hazy-eyed slabs and BoBlades. Todd did well with the HayBud spinner including catching a 19 inch striper on it. Not sure what the others used. We stayed two nights at Cozy Cabin (airB&B) on the west side of the lake, and grilled steaks the 1st night and had a fish fry the second. We had planned to go back out in the afternoon of day 2 and also fish the morning of day3, but all the catching on day2 satisfied our fishing urge and tired us out. Weather prevented day 3 fishing.
This one shows the HayBud spinner:
We actually were holding up 5 fish: Ed caught 3 on one line and Bobby and I each had one. One of Ed's fish covered up mine.
Eleven of the legal stripers were caught a bit SW of there near the river channel when birds were seen working over surfacing fish. One boat (Bruce, Cliff, and Eric) got to them and caught 11 legals and one short before they stopped. That was the only surface action we saw the two days. The other legal was caught (by Todd) farther south in 28 fow on the bottom next to a drop-off into much deeper water. In that same area Graham hooked a really big striper and fought it about 5 minutes before it got tangled in another line and came off when he attempted to get free from the other line. Ed caught the 31 inch buffalo next to the cliffs on the west side near the dam.
Baits: Ed and Bobby did great with heavy white slabs. Graham and I used Hazy-eyed slabs and BoBlades. Todd did well with the HayBud spinner including catching a 19 inch striper on it. Not sure what the others used. We stayed two nights at Cozy Cabin (airB&B) on the west side of the lake, and grilled steaks the 1st night and had a fish fry the second. We had planned to go back out in the afternoon of day 2 and also fish the morning of day3, but all the catching on day2 satisfied our fishing urge and tired us out. Weather prevented day 3 fishing.
This one shows the HayBud spinner:
We actually were holding up 5 fish: Ed caught 3 on one line and Bobby and I each had one. One of Ed's fish covered up mine.