Pre Spawn Tips

[Bamabassman30]

I'm having trouble finding consistent solid fish this time of year I fish a lot of tournaments around my home town mainly smaller watershed lakes and catching fish is no problem just the quality doesn't seem to bee there I'm a spinnerbait crankbait jerkbait guy so obviously spawn and post spawn is when I do my best i seem to struggle in water temps from 50-60 degrees except the occasional big fish just looking for some pointers what do you guys throw at em and where? Thanks

[Hooligan]

Two things, regardless of location, for pre-spawn fish.  #1 fish hard, and sort through.  Fish a jig, a jerkbait, a senko- doesn't matter.  If those females are there and active, the males are more aggressive and you have to get through them first.  If you're catching nothing but bucks, back out to your first drop or transition.  Move to points, things like that to start.  Second, fish hard- they're there.

[Bamabassman30]

I fished a lake Friday were the water was 59 degrees smoked big fish on a spinner bait and medium diver crank bait I had a 7.4 largemouth and a 6.14 spot then Sunday I started pre fishing for a tournament I have on another lake close by which the water was in the low 50s for most of the day killed the bucks all day if I'm catching bucks on the shallow end of a point will the females hang around the same points on the deep ends maybe back off a little bit

[719BassFishing]

My advice would be to fish main lake points. The bass are going to start moving up and main lake points are the first place they are going to move up on. Give these prespawn fish 3 main presentations: finesse(shaky head, senko), reaction(jerkbait/crankbait) and something with a bigger profile like a football head jig. You can usually figure out a pattern using those three techniques. Spring time is all about grinding it out!

[Comfortably Numb]

As Holligan said if the males are shallow, the females should be moving up soon but are probably hanging a little deeper now.

 

I like to place boat shallow and cast a Rattle Trap deeper and drag it up the dropoff. Big spinnerbaits or Carolina rig too.

[F14A-B]

Two things, regardless of location, for pre-spawn fish. #1 fish hard, and sort through. Fish a jig, a jerkbait, a senko- doesn't matter. If those females are there and active, the males are more aggressive and you have to get through them first. If you're catching nothing but bucks, back out to your first drop or transition. Move to points, things like that to start. Second, fish hard- they're there.

Exactly right!.... Enuff said.... Next..

[michang5]

Here in central Texas, many of the bass are already paired up on beds. Being that this is the first pre-spawn/spawn I've fished (started in July), this is all new to me. I've spent just about every day the last week or so trying to figure out the bedded fish on my city lake and small neighborhood ponds.

I've been able to agitate and hook most of the males on the beds with a hula grub, lizard or finesse jig. The bigger females (often times there are two around a male) don't seem to give a flip about what I'm throwing. They just casually swim back and forth.

Do I just keep at it with the same presentation and bait? Switch one or both? Move on?

I'm assuming that I have to appeal to the females feeding instinct -- instead of guarding with the males. Correct?

[Hooligan]

No.  Often, when you put a bait on a bed, and the male and female are there, the male is going to get it first.  The females are usually not as defensive.  It's all about placement and timing.

[michang5]

I fished from a canoe yesterday and was able (I think) to grab both a male and female from a bed.

Sight unseen, I cast a baby brush hog to shore and SLOWLY dragged it back. A 1.25# hit immediately. Released it and cast the BBB in exactly the same place. Immediately a 2.5# with round belly took it. Released quickly right in front of the bed.

Not 100% , but seemed likely.

[WRB]

Pre spawn covers a lot locations if you use 50D water as the start, better off thinking winter presentations until the water reaches 55D at the depth the bass are located, not surface water temps.*

Basic understanding of what pre spawn is for the bass is important when trying to locate big femal bass.

Pre spawn for big bass means it's time to put on extra fat by eating high protein prey without chasing down fast moving prey. Spinnerbaits and crankbaits may not be your best choice until the water warms up more.

Think about where the bass spawn, then look at a map and determine the locations that would have a lot of prey nearby. Crawdads are high protein and larger size baitfish. This means lures like crawdads (jigs & big worms) and slower moving baitfish (swimbaits) are good choices.

Tom

* get yourself a digital instant read probe that can be easily inserted down the basses throat right after catching it, read the body temp or a probe with 10' of wire and read the water temps.

[RoLo]

 

Failing to find 'good fish' during the spawning season is often the result of fishing too deep. 

This is particularly true in clear lakes, where anglers have been conditioned to bassing in 12 to 18 feet of water (or deeper).

 

Similar to the vegetable kingdom, 'photoperiod' apparently exerts the major influence on spawning and not water temperature.

Water temperature is a coincident indicator that varies significantly between northern-strain bass & Florida-strain bass,

 

In any event, it's vital to understand the role and disposition of cow bass during the actual spawn.

The buck bass selects the bedding site, sweeps out the nest and guards the fry. This makes it abundantly clear

that the nest is HIS and not hers. To that end, the bed of every buck is normally visited by several cows (hot dang).

During the actual spawn, cow bass 'fast' and are not interested in food or eating. Moreover, since cow bass are not

the designated protectorate, they are not aggressive during the actual spawn and difficult to catch.

As a result, the lion's share of cow bass caught during the spawning season are caught during the "PRE-spawn" or "POST-spawn modes.

Happily, there's a generous overlap in the 3 sub-seasons.

 

Roger