Season or limit for White Bass in southern Ontario?

[KawarthaAngler]

Going to Windsor this weekend with a friend for my first time fishing for White Bass.  I cannot find anything on the government website on white or silver bass.  Their possession limits, seasons, etc.  Nothing.  

The Detroit river and that area are Zone 19.  The gov. document doesn't list white or silver bass as a species ... not in just Zone 19 ... but not anywhere in the full document.

[OhioFisherman]

https://www.ontario.ca/page/open-fishing-seasons-and-fish-sanctuaries#section-0

" For unlisted species (e.g., sucker and rock bass), the season is open year-round. "

I would still feel more comfortable checking? maybe a phone call?

[misfish]

18 minutes ago, KawarthaAngler said:

Going to Windsor this weekend with a friend for my first time fishing for White Bass.  I cannot find anything on the government website on white or silver bass.  Their possession limits, seasons, etc.  Nothing.  

The Detroit river and that area are Zone 19.  The gov. document doesn't list white or silver bass as a species ... not in just Zone 19 ... but not anywhere in the full document.

I hear it can be crazy busy there with anglers. Something like the Ganny. LOL

[Thrilla]

No limit 

[bigugli]

Year round season and no limit.

[ketchenany]

4 hours ago, misfish said:

I hear it can be crazy busy there with anglers. Something like the Ganny. LOL

You have never been to the Ganny! It’s all here say. The peace and quiet will overwhelm  you. You really have to try it. now if you are talking The Beaverhead that is another story. No people there either  

 

[David Chong]

Yeah, no closed season and no limit! It is a pretty busy time when they come in!

[misfish]

4 hours ago, ketchenany said:

You have never been to the Ganny!

Lived in Etobicoke. Fished all the local huppla spots.

[bigugli]

5 hours ago, ketchenany said:

You have never been to the Ganny! It’s all here say. The peace and quiet will overwhelm  you. You really have to try it. now if you are talking The Beaverhead that is another story. No people there either  

 

I'll never forget the days of the Ganny goon circus back in the 80's

[DanD]

Went on a walleye charter to the Detroit river; a week ago last Wednesday. Caught a pile of what I've always called white/silver bass; but the charter guy was calling them white perch? Who am I to argue; plus I was on my way to get a limit of walleye.?

Dan.  

[KawarthaAngler]

1 hour ago, DanD said:

Went on a walleye charter to the Detroit river; a week ago last Wednesday. Caught a pile of what I've always called white/silver bass; but the charter guy was calling them white perch? Who am I to argue; plus I was on my way to get a limit of walleye.?

Dan.  

 

That's encouraging to hear! 

[KawarthaAngler]

12 hours ago, David Chong said:

Yeah, no closed season and no limit! It is a pretty busy time when they come in!

Thanks Dave.

[Tdel]

When the silver bass came into the Coal Dock in Midland many years ago they were a very bright silver colour with dark lines running head to tail . I have also caught white perch there too but they had a slight gold tint to them and no dark lines head to tail.  The first time I caught a white perch I thought it a small silver bass but the gold tint and faded lines on the fish made me suspicious that it wasn't a silver bass. I looked it up and found out it was a white perch. I had never seen one caught at the coal dock until that time.

[David Chong]

2 hours ago, DanD said:

Went on a walleye charter to the Detroit river; a week ago last Wednesday. Caught a pile of what I've always called white/silver bass; but the charter guy was calling them white perch? Who am I to argue; plus I was on my way to get a limit of walleye.?

Dan.  

White Bass and White Perch are often confused with each other!

[FILTHY OAR]

6 hours ago, DanD said:

Went on a walleye charter to the Detroit river; a week ago last Wednesday. Caught a pile of what I've always called white/silver bass; but the charter guy was calling them white perch? Who am I to argue; plus I was on my way to get a limit of walleye.?

Dan.  

There is white perch in the DR and you will catch them before the silver bass invade the river, white perch is prob what you caught, silvers are just coming into the river now.

[Old Ironmaker]

No season, no limit. Just a heads up. We caught them by the boatcfull at the Hydro plant at Nanticoke until it shut down. They are very good eating fresh that day or the next. They are terrible the 3rd day and almost inedible to me frozen. I have heard they can be good smoked. Never tried them smoked. Also some near her pickle them. Not bad pickled but I personally wouldn't go to the trouble. The very first time we caught them we cleaned a few, cooked them in a butter and tasted them. Went on to clean more than 200 nice big ones, that boat was sinking when we quit fishing. The innards went into Ozzie's garden. The tomatoes tasted like fish that summer. 

[Bill Shearer]

Old Ironmaker is bang on with his description of the edibility of them. Smaller ones were better tasting than the big ones due to amount of dark lateral line on the big ones. Only worth eating within 24 hours. 

 

[dave524]

The incidental White Bass caught deepwater Pickeral trolling on Lake Erie were actually pretty decent on the table, White Perch on the other hand tend to be found in much warmer, discolored and poorer quality waters and I have found their flesh of poor quality. Some of the Erie White Bass were a real good size too.

 

edit: Now that I think of it , we called them Silver Bass not White Bass, same fish though. Probably if they had come from the luke warm water where I had White Perch from they would have not been a palatable as they were from 60 something degree water where the Pickeral were.

Edited May 25, 2019 by dave524

[OhioFisherman]

18 minutes ago, dave524 said:

The incidental White Bass caught deepwater Pickeral trolling on Lake Erie were actually pretty decent on the table, White Perch on the other hand tend to be found in much warmer, discolored and poorer quality waters and I have found their flesh of poor quality. Some of the Erie White Bass were a real good size too.

I remember a couple of my dad's friends stopping by the house when I was young on the way home from a trip to the Sandusky River for the spring walleye run, I guess it was just about over, they had a cooler full of huge white bass though, haven't seen them that big since. Caught white bass and white perch on Erie white perch were usually a good bit smaller and yellow - goldish tint to them. It was more common to catch the white perch in back water areas.

[KawarthaAngler]

Weekend trip was a big success.  Water levels were still high (could tell by the submerged docks).

I was told by seasoned anglers that the season is late this year (which is normal everywhere).  But they were still plentiful once they were found via fish finder.

Saw many boats out trolling in the morning for Walleye.  They were catching them, could see that.  They were staying in the 30ft depths, more to the centre of the channel.  Found the White's in 20-30ft depths on the edge of the channels, near sandy dropoffs.

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by KawarthaAngler

[David Chong]

26 minutes ago, KawarthaAngler said:

Weekend trip was a big success.  Water levels were still high (could tell by the submerged docks).

I was told by seasoned anglers that the season is late this year (which is normal everywhere).  But they were still plentiful once they were found via fish finder.

Saw many boats out trolling in the morning for Walleye.  They were catching them, could see that.  They were staying in the 30ft depths, more to the centre of the channel.  Found the White's in 20-30ft depths on the edge of the channels, near sandy dropoffs.

 

Looks like you had a blast! When they do come in, it really is "Catching" & not "Fishing"! LOL

[Old Ironmaker]

When the silvers were in at Nanticoke all you needed was a jig head and they would hit them 2 at a time. We found them when the minnows were jumping out of the water as the silvers fed on them.  They were definitely silver bass not white perch. Catching not fishing for sure. Fun on ultra lites. We catch them occasionally trolling for Walleye here on Erie. They can make a mess of long lines when they run across them, a big mess. One trip was 10 minutes when one ran across all 4 lines. We hate them as much as farm animals ( sheepshead aka fresh water Drum). 

[misfish]

Nice.

 

So, how did they taste ?

[FILTHY OAR]

Did you launch in Lasalle ? think I recognize the condo in the back ground...Were ya anchored and casting or drifting and jigging ?

[KawarthaAngler]

On 5/28/2019 at 12:11 PM, misfish said:

Nice.

 

So, how did they taste ?

I've only had 1 meal so far and it was quite good.

I did a lot of research before hand in regards to prep'ing this type of fish, plus my co-angler was experienced with White Bass. 

With Crappie and Walleye, I simply clean them shortly after catching them, and some I eat fresh, other I freeze for a later day.  But what I read and watched on YouTube I needed to 1) bleed them then 2) remove the 'blood (mud) line' from the filet.  Both of these steps were new to me but appear to be mandatory to make White Bass a good eating fish.

I always batter my fish and fry it in a little bit of oil.  The batter has spices ... so if the fish is a little 'fishy' ... it's not noticeable.  Crappie and Walleye are so mild, they can be pan fried with no spices other some salt and pepper and they are great.  With this fish, for many a little extra spice may be all that's needed.