Jeff Little took time off from kayak fishing to cash in on some hot action with schooling hybrid stripers. (Photo by Mike Pehanich)
It's summertime, and the food chain throughout the Upper Midwest is in glorious bloom. Nature hosts her own version of a fireworks display when white bass, stripers, largemouths and smallmouths round up baitfish and force them to the surface. The whitewater celebration that follows topside can leave lasting memories.
My favorite such moment, by far, occurred on Illinois' Lake Shelbyville decades ago when a mixed gathering of predators, led by a population of zealous white bass, began herding shad across the lower portion of the reservoir. On consecutive mornings, white bass, along with opportunistic largemouths, kept the lake's surface frothy as they repeatedly forced thick schools...