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Yellow Bass Fish Identification, its habitats, characteristics, best fishing methods.
The yellow bass is named for its characteristic yellowish gold body and eye. They occur more frequently in medium to large tributaries and backwater areas of reservoirs and rivers. These fish like to stick together in schools. They like to be with other fish of similar sizes, appearances, and demeanor. That's when they feel the most comfortable. The schools travel together in search of the perfect foods. They prefer eating other, smaller fish of any type and tiny crayfish. Yellow bass spawn in the spring. They don't create nests for their offspring, the females lay the eggs in no particular area and leaves the young to fend for themselves.
A combination of understanding the fish and the techniques used to catch them will help you to hook more fish to the end of your line. Better knowing and understanding of the fish that you are trying to catch will make you a more successful angler, whether you are fishing for trout on a river or surfing on the beach or trolling on the open water.
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The Yellow Bass, also called a barfish, brassy fish, gold bass, striper, streaker, sand bass, rock fish or striped jack, is a freshwater fish native to the southern and midwestern parts of the United States. It ranges from southern Minnesota to Indiana and south to Texas and Louisiana. occur in the Missisipi River, west of Arizona, north of Wisconsin and Iowa, and as far east as central Tennessee.
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Description
Yellow Bass have laterally compressed body, it is slab-sided spiny-rayed fish that is Similar in shape to a small white or striped bass. It can be distinguished from them by its yellowish white belly and the broken pattern of its lowermost 2 to 3 side stripes. Also they are much smaller (rarely exceed 15 inches). Spiny dorsal fin joined to the soft dorsal fin by a membrane. The second and third anal spines are approximately equal and half the length of the head. 9 spines make up the first lobe and one spine and 12 soft rays are found in the second. Their tongue lacks the distinctive tooth patch found in other temperate bass members. They have 10 anal soft rays and 3 spines. Their lower jaw is equal in length to the upper jaw. The mouth is a little larger, though the snout does not project quite so much, and the profile of the head is straighter, and it has a larger eye. The posterior border of the cheek-bone is finely serrated. They have 51 - 55 lateral line scales. Yellow bass coloration along their back and sides runs yellow-olive-green to silvery-yellow on a sides and yellowish white belly and pelvic fins. They have 6 to 8 prominent black horizontal stripes running along their sides that are broken and offset above the front of the anal fin. Adult yellow bass reach a length of 8 to 11 inches and only occasionally weigh more than 2 pounds.
Habitat and Habits
Yellow bass are often found in schools. They prefer clear rivers and lakes. Yellow bass feed on zooplankton, insect larvae, aquatic insects and small fish. Recommended artificial lures when fishing for yellow bass are spoons and spinners. Live bait choices for this bass are small minnows such as silversides and threadfin shad. Due to the small size of the yellow bass, most averaging only about half a pound, they are not highly sought by most anglers.
The yellow-bass is fond of the deeper pools in the rivers and clear-water bayous, and the foot of rapids and riffles. It is partial to the same character of food as the white-bass, small minnows constituting the greater part. It likewise spawns in the spring, and grows to a pound or two in weight, sometimes reaching three pounds. Yellow-bass is an excellent food-fish.
Spawning
Yellow bass spawn over gravel bars in late April to June, when water temperatures range from 55 to 79 degrees. The yellow bass moves into tributary streams for spawning but otherwise spawns over rock reefs and gravel bars in lakes. Spawning occurs between one female and several males in 2 to 3 feet of water and begins when a male and female pair off, swimming slowly about, releasing eggs and milt. Female yellow bass are extremely prolific and may lay more than 500,000 eggs. Since no care is given to the eggs or fry only a few survive. Yellow bass eggs are small, averaging about .031 inch in diameter, and they are semi-buoyant. Fertilized eggs sink slowly to the bottom where they hatch in 4 to 6 days at a water temperature of 70 degrees F. No care is given the eggs or sac-fry. The growth rate of yellow bass is rather slow and with their life span being no more than 6 years this accounts for their small average size.
Yellow bass can also mate with the white bass to form the yellow bass hybrid.
Fishing Methods include fly-fishing, spin-casting, still fishing using a bait fish like minnows or killifish, nightcrawlers. Try jigs and flashy spinner-jig combinations: white, yellow, silver, or chartreuse, with reflective tape on the spoons and polished spinners. Any small lure that looks like a shad will catch Yellow bass when a school is located. Live shad is good, all-around bait. Also try crankbait spoons, minnow imitation plugs, jigging spoons, and propellered surface lures. Topwater plugs that sputter are good to use when Yellow bass feeding is in full force. In spring, shore fishing for Yellow bass can be fantastic; fish have a big appetite, strike eagerly at lures once waters warm. Bottom fishing at night with live bait may also make great success.
Best time for fishing bass usually in late afternoon or early morning, especially in late summer and early fall, and daytime from late fall through early spring; late evening through first light in summer. Yellow bass that are near structure (submerged trees, formations) more active -- and willing to bite -- than fish that are suspended in mid-depths. Use jigs or crankbaits in spring and summer, baitfish in fall. To catch Yellow bass, use medium-to ultra-light spinning tackle on a 5- to 6-foot rod. Six pound test line works best.
Watch where gulls or other fish-eating birds at a reservoir are feeding on small fish, there will be schools of white bass as well. In reservoirs, look for riprap on shorelines, rocky points, just off islands, sudden drop-offs, old river channels or sand bars. In rivers, check out places where streams enter, bridge pilings disrupts current flow, above wing dams, or downstream from a lock and dam.
Yellow bass are excellent fighters, and are considered excellent table fare. Yellow bass is an excellent eating fish, with firm white flesh that is appealing fresh or smoked.
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