Post-Spawn?

[stk44]

A few weeks ago in a much smaller lake/ large pond, the bass were spawning and crushed them on crank baits. Yesterday, I went kayak fishing with a friend of mine on a lake we are not entirely familiar with. We fished from about 4pm- dusk.  Surface temp was about 68 degrees. Water temp here was about 72 degrees and all the fish I graphed were about 6-10 ft deep ( I'm using a portable echo 150 which I'm definitely not proficient with yet.) on average down a ledge that is 19-20 ft deep. I was fishing DT-10's  on 30 lb braid with 15lb flouro leader, DT-6's on a 12lb P-line, Crankin Raps and shallow strike king cranks. I also was jigging with stickbaits, and tubes on 20lb fireline with 10lb flouro leader. I finally caught one fish about 30 minute before dusk in the shallows. Is it likely that the active fish were in the shallows the whole time? Or were the majority of the bass in post spawn, suspending and hard to catch? Would someone please be able to give me some suggestions on fishing post spawn or post spawn from a kayak? FYI I've looked up dozens upon dozens of post-spawn articles, I'm just looking for a few more suggestions, tips, etc.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[WRB]

I am a deep structure angler by habit, however you need to determine the depth bass are active in before deciding how deep to fish. There will always be some shallow bass and during the spawn cycle when a high percentage of the bass population will be shallow or less than 8 feet of water in most lakes.

Bass rarely go deeper to chase a crankbait, you need to be at the right depth where the bass are located.

Post spawn bass tend to locate where they stage for pre spawn.

Tom

[stk44]

I also marked a lot of fish schooling close together, definitely not bait fish, at 2 ft in anywhere between 10-15ft of water. I was assuming they weren't bass, what are your thoughts?

[Snakehead Whisperer]

If the water is 72 degrees, spawn should be in full swing for LMB. You might be fishing too deep, or too far from spawning flats. Try fishing secondary points and any creek bed/channel between them and the spawning areas (including smaller points between the secondary and the flat, paying particular attention to areas in which the channel intersects with any kind of cover or changes in structure.) Larger female fish will be staging in these areas if they are pre or post-spawn (although they will be much easier to find and catch if they are pre spawn.) If you fish the shallows and start catching smaller male fish, you are in the right area. Just back off a bit and fish deeper/slower. 

 

On a side note, it's likely that your DT-10 is not reachind 10' on 15lb. fluorocarbon. I'm pretty sure they are designed to reach 10' on either 10 or 12lb test. 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I also marked a lot of fish schooling close together, definitely not bait fish, at 2 ft in anywhere between 10-15ft of water. I was assuming they weren't bass, what are your thoughts?

You should fill in your profile details so we know what region you're in, etc. Welcome to the site, btw.

 

It could just be surface clutter or floating debris/vegetation. How do you have the sonar set up? e.g. Are you using fish symbols? What sensitivity? etc. There are some really good videos on YouTube and here on BR that give a good run down on using sonar and how to configure it to work best for the conditions you're fishing in. Right out of the box, the settings are usually pretty generic and won't allow you to realize the full potential of the unit. 

[WRB]

Does this lake have crappie, they tend to stack and look like a tree when schooled. Carp will look like bass on your meter. The only way to know for sure is catch a few. You can try a sinking lipless crankbait, count it down about 1 foot a second, then retrieve through the marks or a structure spoon like a Kastmaster 1/4 oz chrome and worth that through the marks.

Tom

[stk44]

You should fill in your profile details so we know what region you're in, etc. Welcome to the site, btw.

 

It could just be surface clutter or floating debris/vegetation. How do you have the sonar set up? e.g. Are you using fish symbols? What sensitivity? etc. There are some really good videos on YouTube and here on BR that give a good run down on using sonar and how to configure it to work best for the conditions you're fishing in. Right out of the box, the settings are usually pretty generic and won't allow you to realize the full potential of the unit. 

I have the sonar setup with a 20 ft range, frequency is 77 I think for shallow water, have the gain on medium and started with the fish ID off but I'm not really good at determining what is a fish and what isn't so I turned the fish ID on.

[stk44]

Does this lake have crappie, they tend to stack and look like a tree when schooled. Carp will look like bass on your meter. The only way to know for sure is catch a few. You can try a sinking lipless crankbait, count it down about 1 foot a second, then retrieve through the marks or a structure spoon like a Kastmaster 1/4 oz chrome and worth that through the marks.

Tom

Yes, the lake has a pretty good crappie population. I don't have any spoons or much experience with them, but I do have some lipless cranks to try out the next time I'm on the lake.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I have the sonar setup with a 20 ft range, frequency is 77 I think for shallow water, have the gain on medium and started with the fish ID off but I'm not really good at determining what is a fish and what isn't so I turned the fish ID on.

That might be your issue. The fishID may be giving you false positives. Is there anything that you can see with your eyes that suggests that there are actually fish there?

[masterbass]

Which lake were you at?

[WRB]

The Echo 150 should be set at 200MHz, not 77 and turn off the fish ID icon.

Tom

[Nice_Bass]

don't fish many small lakes or ponds (depending on what you consider small) but if your fish were in spawn a couple weeks ago and your water temps in that range I tend to find the fish just starting to migrate to points and some will be there while others still in some pockets or secondary points (and some still with eggs to drop).  You will know if they are really stacked on points when they are prior to full on summer mode which is a bit different. 

Most importantly put it to 200khz and turn fish id or whatever it may be off and go from there.

[stk44]

That might be your issue. The fishID may be giving you false positives. Is there anything that you can see with your eyes that suggests that there are actually fish there?

 

Not really, I just saw that the underwater structure definitely looked good where I was marking the fish, and there were some rise bubbles a little later in the evening which I'm assuming were mostly bass.

[stk44]

Which lake were you at?

 

Northemoreland

[WRB]

Not really, I just saw that the underwater structure definitely looked good where I was marking the fish, and there were some rise bubbles a little later in the evening which I'm assuming were mostly bass.

Bubbles are not bass, they can't release it. Air/gas is a solid sonar return, any air or gas within the water column will be shown as a fish icon when on. Bass do have air bladders and that is what the sonar signal returns as a fish, not the mass and most fresh water fish have air bladders and the sonar can't distinguish between a bubble or a fish, it's all looks the same depending on the size of the air/gas bladder or bubble.

Tom

[stk44]

Ok, they were more like boils. Like when a trout rises to slurp a fly. There was some sort of hatch on the water, but they were coming to the surface ever so slightly, they may have not been bass.