In contrast to the 1,150 miles of shoreline and 54,000 acres of water that constitutes Lake of the Ozarks, the flatland lakes on the plains of Kansas are tiny. The largest is Milford Lake, consisting of only 15,700 acres of surface water and 163 miles of shoreline.

Moreover, these flatland reservoirs have fewer points than Lake of the Ozarks, but the flatland points are bigger than those at Lake of the Ozarks. Likewise, a multitude of white bass often congregates on wind-blown points and adjacent shorelines at such Kansas waterways as Milford and Melvern lakes. And it's not unusual for two knowledgeable anglers to tangle with 25 white bass at one point.

Since there aren't many points at the flatland lakes for white bass to gather upon, wind-blown shorelines regularly entertain a vast assembly of them.

For a party of two or three anglers, the best way to fish these large flat points and long stretches of windy shorelines is to allow the wind to push the boat around the points and along the shorelines at a rapid but controlled pace. Use a drift sock and an electric trolling motor to control the direction and speed of the boat. Upon finding a significant assembly of white bass, lift the drift sock, and the electric trolling motor turns the boat around, propelling it into the wind as you cast and retrieve lures and catch white bass with metronomic regularity.

During fall, white bass can be in extremely shallow water; some days they forage at the edge of the lake in about 8 inches of water. Successful anglers, therefore, cast their lures to the shoreline and retrieve them at the proper pace to entice their quarry and yet not become snagged in the rocks.

The best rods and reels to accomplish this task are a medium-power baitcasting rod and a high-speed reel spooled with 12-pound line, and two medium-power spinning rods matched with medium-sized reels. One spinning reel is spooled with 8-pound line and the other with 10-pound line.

On the casting outfit, wield either a Bill Lewis Lures Rat-L-Trap or a 1/4-ounce Worden Rooster Tail. On the spinning gear, anglers regularly employ a 3-inch Bass Assassin Shad on a 1/8-ounce or lighter jighead, a 1/6-ounce Rooster Tail, a 1/8-ounce or lighter Blakemore Road Runner, and a 1/8-ounce or lighter chenille and marabou jig.

In the eyes of many anglers several of these lures fall into the finesse category. But when the autumn wind blows and pushes a boat down a bank and around a point at a rapid gait, all of these lures are fished as Kevin Van Dam, 2001 BASS Masters Classic champion, employs his power tactics for largemouth bass: accurately, quickly, and enticingly.