YELLOW BASS 
PER CENT OF CATCH 
6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 
—— 1950 SPRING ANGLING 
APRIL 15 —JUNE I5 
505 FISH MEASURED 
———-— 1951 SPRING ANGLING 
APRIL IS—JUNE I5 
176 FISH MEASURED 
1945 AND 
1946 BROODS 
1945 AND 
Sse BROODS 
9.5 10.0 10.5 11.0 1.5 12.0 
TOTAL LENGTH IN INCHES 
Fig. 19. -- Size distribution of yellow bass caught by anglers at Lake Chautauqua in the spring 
months of 1950 and 1951. 
In 1950, only 20 white bass were caught at 
Lake Chautauqua and, of these, 14 were fish 
spawned in 1950. A total of 805 of these bass 
were caught at the lake in 1951. This number was 
more than 40 times the number caught in 1950. The 
catch in 1951 would have been 10 to 20 times 
as high had anglers followed a simple fishing 
technique. 
This technique consists simply of taking 
advantage of the summer habit of the white bass of 
feeding in schools near the lake surface. When 
these bass are feeding the water “boils.” In the 
summer of 1951 we noted that, in a body of water 
adjoining Lake Chautauqua, the “boils” frequently 
occurred from sunrise to 10 o’clock in the morning 
and from 3 in the afternoon until dark. 
In the summer the fly-rod fisherman should try 
a flicker spinner baited with a small strip of pork 
tind or a small metal wobbler. He should cast the 
lure directly into the center of the “boil.” Bait 
casters will find that smaller, bass-size, metal 
wobblers are very effective when cast into 
the “boil.” 
The “boils” were seldom seen in the fall and 
spting months. During these seasons, the white 
bass are feeding in deeper water, and the bait 
caster can often have good fishing success by 
casting a weighted metal wobbler over sand bars 
and other areas that he observed in the previous 
summer were being used as feeding grounds. 
White bass will take small minnows and 
occasionally worms, particularly when fished in 
currents caused by high water. ; 
The white bass is a fast-growing fish. At Lake 
Chautauqua, fish that were spawned in 1950 
averaged 8 to 10 inches in length by the middle of 
July, 1951, and, by fall of that year, 10 to 12 inches. 
Fishing for white bass should be good in 
1952 and 1953. If the outcome of spawning is poor 
in 1952 and 1953, the fishery will decline by 1954, 
since the white bass is a short-lived fish and the 
older fish are very difficult for anglers to catch. 
25 
