Dear Italo. I have a question about fish movement. Yesterday, I was fishing the mouth of the Maitland River near Goderich ON. To my surprise, there was a school of white bass 1km upstream from the mouth of the river. My question is, why are they in the river? I know they swim up to spawn in the late spring, but it is September. They were in the middle of the river where it is about 10ft deep and aggressively hitting topwater lures. I managed to land 3 and had success with the Rapala Skitter pop. The bite started about 1 hour before sunset. Do you have any ideas why they entered the river? I don’t know if wind is a factor, but it was blowing from west to east (gentle onshore wind). As for the river itself, it was very low due to lack of rain (lowest all year). The water in the river was very clear. Maybe they were chasing baitfish? Maybe they move into the river at night? They are considered a rare catch in the river. I don’t know much about fish movement between Great Lakes and their rivers, so I would be happy if you have any ideas. I think I can be a better fisherman if I know more about fish movement in general so advice that is not specific to white bass is also very welcome. Thank you.
Posted on September 5th, 2021White Bass can be very migratory cruising the open Great Lakes suspended on 60’+ of water and also enter shallow bays and tributaries. The only reason I think the White Bass were in the Maitland River is feeding. Whatever they were looking for was in the river. Could be minnows and small trout migrating back down to the lake or a combination of crayfish, invertebrates and small fish…God bless you.
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