Regulation question

[Hot Carl Jr]

First I want to preface this by saying that I am a very infrequent fisherman, though I'm hoping to change that this year. Last July my girlfriend and I rented a boat on White Lake for a day of fishing and we would like to do so again this year, but this time in late May. Last year we caught a pretty even mix of Northern and Largemouth using lures (topwater buzzbaits, spoons, rapalas) as well as live minnows under a bobber. Unfortunately I can't really remember which lure caught which species. Since bass season won't be open when we go this year, how do we target northern and avoid bass. Are there specific lures we should avoid using? Are minnows an option this time of year? Or will bass simply not be biting in late May? I understand that we should move to a different location if we are only catching bass but I'd like to avoid any problems if I can. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Jigs]

Carl:

A lot of what you use for pike will catch bass and vice versa.

Spoons, plugs, spinner baits, minnows, are all good for pike.

If you find yourself catching a lot of bass in one spot, yep, should move.

If the water is warm and bass are on the nests, maybe avoid shallow areas....Late May, dunno if they would be spawning or not.

As to the specifics of the lake, I'm not too familiar with it. Probably someone else will help ya.


Regards:

[saskie]

There is no sure fire way to avoid catching bass while pike fishing in the spring. Bith species are likely to be in shallow flats and bays, and "typical" pike tackle will work equally well for bass. Only advice I have is go with slightly larger baits, but even then you're still likely to catch some OOS fish. Just release them ASAP, and like was already said if you're definitely catching more bass than pike - try somewhere else.

[Hot Carl Jr]

Thanks for the replies. I guess it boils down to releasing any bass we catch as soon as possible and moving to a different location if that seems to be all we're catching.