Shining bank whitefish
 

Has anyone on here ever caught any? I've been trying for the last 2 years and havent caught any. I've read everything I could find on how to catch them but still no luck. I borrowed a camera from a friend and found a large school of them but no bites. I've been told by the old timers that live around there that they are pretty much impossible to catch. The only ones they have seen pulled out of there were by the natives with their nets. Your input and knowledge would be much appreciated!

Have you found the school consistently and are they only out deep.
It’s nice to find white fish shallow then they are more serious about biting.
I also tried to catch whites in shiny bank 3 or 4 times I tried never saw one and I have never heard of one ever been caught with out a net.
When the natives net I heard they do well and big ones to.

I've only seen them in the one spot a few times in 4 to 8 foot of water. They seemed to just be cruising around slowly about 2 foot under the ice.

That’s whites for you. Pain in the azz. You will see 100 for every one that bites. There’s a reason they use a square hook. What have you tried?

Hooks: solo wire worm (in 1000 different colors, any single one of which might be the only one they are interested in), wire worm above something else, Russian hook, cast master or wetaskawin special smacked into the bottom...I saw a show where guys were doing well on the smallest rapala jigging raps.

Often the bets bite is at first light, meaning 45 min before sun up. So you better know where to go and be on the spot early.

Lol yep tried all of the above except for the Russian hook. That has to be the one they only bite lol. Oh and my bro told me he knows a guy who was fishing with a group the one day a few years back and they limited out on whites. Said they would bite anything they put down the hole.

They seem hard to find. I've only found them in the one spot. I seen one pick something off the bottom but not sure what it was cuz a pike kept hitting the camera while I was trying to observe. Alot of shrimp in the lake so that's probably what they are eating.

Are you allowed to put a maggot on your wire worm there?

[QUOTE=Jb32;4138689]I've only seen them in the one spot a few times in 4 to 8 foot of water. They seemed to just be cruising around slowly about 2 foot under the ice.[/QUOTE

Good you found them were they big size?

Ya they all looked like they were a good size. And yes you can use bait. I tried tiny minnows and maggots + meal worms.

Whites
 

I used to fish Shinningbank around 30 days a year in the winter. I have caught a total of one 4 pounder while jigging for perch. Seen plenty but rarely do they even stop to look at a hook. The whites I have seen there always seem to be in that 4-6 pound range. I have never seem smaller?

Ya I've become kinda obsessed with catching one lol. Guess I will have to try in the summer now. I've seen them coming up to surface and eating tiny snails that the boats kicked up. Gonna try to find a way to mimic that.