Krotz has two secrets for finding these elusive fish. "The easiest way is to look for fish churning the surface as they feed on shad. Usually that happens in the last hour of daylight each evening, but on very hot days the fish tend to be more active when it's a little cooler just after dawn. You simply maneuver your boat near the school and cast. The other way is to troll. That can work anytime," he said.

According to Krotz an electronic fishfinder can help locate these fish. "Watch the screen for the dark blob that indicates a school of small shad and get ready. White bass are likely there, too," he said.

Sometimes getting into a school of white bass is a surprise. That happened to Pat Herron.

"I was fishing for smallmouth bass in a big pool in Indian Creek just above the Cedar River. Suddenly the water was alive with fish as a school of white bass moved in. They were only about eight inches long but fought hard. I caught a bunch of them before they moved on," he said.

White bass are generally a summer fish. They seem to vanish when it gets cold.

"I have caught them just after ice out below the Coralville Reservoir tubes in the Iowa River but most productive fishing happens during the warm months," said Krotz.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources fishery biologist Paul Sleeper is partially responsible for Eastern Iowa's good wiper and white bass fishing, having stocked adult white bass in Pleasant Creek Lake in 1992. Prolific at spawning, the species thrived to produce outstanding summer angling.

Sleeper stocks wipers in Lake Macbride and Coralville. "We usually stock around 300,000 wiper fry that we get from Delaware into the two lakes. Last year I received 62,000 2-inch-long Nebraska wipers and split them between the two lakes. There are now several strong year classes in the lakes. I know of two 13-pounders caught last year. The bigger fish are harder to catch, probably because they are feeding on 5- to 7-inch long shad and don't pay much attention to the small crankbaits that so many anglers use," he said.

According to the biologist there are no wipers in Pleasant Creek. In the other lakes telling one from the other can be challenging, but a fish over a couple of pounds is likely a wiper.

White bass even perplex fishery biologists. Catfish, crappies, black bass, and trout have been extensively researched. Not so white bass. That, combined with the wandering habits of this fish makes it difficult even for biologists to help anglers predict where to find them. Like successful anglers, biologists recommend watching for schools of fish breaking water late in the evening.

Interestingly the white bass is a true bass. Better-known largemouth and smallmouth bass are actually in the sunfish family. White bass have two close relatives -- the smaller yellow bass that sometimes stunt in Iowa lakes and degrade fishing and the massive striper that they resemble. Stripers don't live in Iowa, although many Hawkeye anglers mistakenly call white bass "stripers." Fish culturists created a cross, called the wiper that grows rapidly and can reach 13 or 14 pounds, about half way between the size of a white bass and a striper. While white bass readily reproduce wipers don't. Populations must be maintained by regular stocking.

Big wipers are probably the fightingest game fish in Iowa, but they're not common. Because they don't reproduce, but do provide thrilling fishing, the IDNR currently plants them in Iowa's largest waters. These include Rathbun, Saylorville, Red Rock, and Coralville Reservoirs, Lakes Macbride and Manawa, and Pool 14 of the Upper Mississippi River.

According to IDNR fishery research chief Don Bonneau, yellow bass, the smallest of Iowa's true bass, usually stunt when stocked in small ponds and lakes. White bass don't. About the only good Iowa yellow bass fishery is in Clear Lake.

"This is the only Iowa lake where yellow bass consistently grow to a size acceptable to anglers," he said.

Stunted yellow bass have degraded angling for all species in several Iowa lakes and aren't stocked anywhere. White bass and wipers never stunt.