Help with Hybrids

[Fishmanjoe]

I found some fish, I am guessing hybrids, feeding on the surface yesterday. Threw some spooks at them and a few other lures, but no hits. Anybody have any advice or strategies for catching fish in that situation?

[jad2t]

Dude sometimes they can be very frustrating. Are you sure they were Hybrids? They make quite a surface disturbance when they're busting shad. It may have been a school of white bass or yellow bass and the spook you threw could have been a bit bigger than what they were chasing or what they can eat.

One time me and Mike were surrounded by blowups on JPP a couple summers ago, just after sunrise and we each threw everything we had at them and not a single one of us hooked up.

[Reel Tune]

Sometimes a subtle change as color, size, shape or action can trigger the bite. Sometimes all they want is something live.

[agelesssone]

Probably was white bass, they have been very active on the surface lately.

When a hybrid or striper attacks on the surface, it is a real commotion, not a little splash.

For the white bass, 1/8 oz jighead with a 1 1/2 or 2 inch white twistertail.

[Travis C.]

Here is a video of some Hybrid action on Percy with surface activity. Its a few years old.

Mr. Ed (tcintn) will get a kick out of it. :)

https://youtu.be/PCGQBUACCOU

[Farley]

A 1/16 white road runner will get a hit every cast with the small stripe. Do know that they are mixed when feeding and the majority are under sized hybrid, so if you plan on keeping any know exactly how to tell the difference. I've seen people posing for pictures with a cooler full of baby hybrid.

[Fishmanjoe]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

[agelesssone]

A 1/16 white road runner will get a hit every cast with the small stripe. Do know that they are mixed when feeding and the majority are under sized hybrid, so if you plan on keeping any know exactly how to tell the difference. I've seen people posing for pictures with a cooler full of baby hybrid.

Great advice Harley. It's difficult to distinguish between smallish hybrids and white bass. When in doubt, I just release. It could be that a game warden or creel checker might have a different set of criteria to judge the fish by than you do.
So.....are a few small fish filets worth the possible time, money, headaches, and aggravation that could be caused by the difference of opinion? Definitely not for me!

[Headhunter]

A rooster tail, blade bait and a spoon also will catch the white bass for sure.

I have seen hybrid absolutely blowing the top out of the water and they seemed uncatchable. Back in the 1990's our best bait was a jig head with a twister tail and you had to try to get between the hybrid and the bait it was chasing. There would be boats that would pull up to the school, never catch a fish, cuss us because we were and leave. The hybrids and stripers can be beyond frustrating and there are times they are just not going to hit a topwater although since someone showed me the cork and fluke it seems to the job when nothing else will.

I do not get to fish as much as I used to, but I don't think the hybrids on priest blow up on top as much as they used to. I think it is boat traffic. Back in the mid 90's I can remember schools covering hundreds of yards of water. From a distance, the first couple times we saw them, we thought the wind was getting up and it was whitecapping. They used to come up in July at about 8 am, just outside the no wake buoys at 4 corners in huge schools, I don't think we ever caught one over 5 lbs and most were close to 3 lbs, but they were fun and frustrating because some mornings they just would not hit anything artificial. I chased them many mornings with a trolling motor on a canoe.

[aero320]

The tongue patch will allow you to determine if a fish is a White Bass or Hybrid. Both fish have a small patch on the top of their tongues. If the fish have two patches, they are Hybrids. A single patch means the fish is a White Bass.

The Hybrids get the split patch characteristic from the Striped Bass. To distinguish the Hybrid from the Striped Bass, look at the second spine of the anal fin. If the spine is 1/2 the length of the third spine, the fish is a Striper. If the spine is 2/3 the length of the third spine, the fish is a Hybrid. This characteristic comes from the White Bass.