How To Bed Fish?

[RMcDuffee726]

Hey guys, so last year I sadly missed bed fishing by a week or so.  Unfortunately, I only found one fish on a bed, and caught him.  Without a doubt I have little to no experience with bed fishing and I am curious how you guys fish for bass on beds.  I've found mixed results online when I was researching this technique.  I always thought that you need to use smaller, unweighted baits and crawl them into the nest to really aggravate the bass until they decided to strike, but maybe that is not always the technique. I'm not talking about super specific tactics, but what would be some general tips you guys could give me?  Do I use T-Rigged lizards and other creature baits or do you go for the smaller "finesse" techniques to annoy the bass.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!  Tight lines! 

[TyF]

Have a few different baits with different types of actions tied on and let the fish tell you what she wants. Most of the time the fish will react more to one type of bait than the other and that tells you which bait to use. Also switching up baits often helps give the fish a new target and may intice a strike. All bed fish are different and may want different presentations. It may take a long time to get the fish to bite but most of the time they will eventually commit. If not then come back to them later in the day.

I always have these baits tied on in this order when bed fishing:

1) White Jig

2) Dropshot

3) weightless Senko (wacky or texas rigged)

4) Some type of sunfish imitating bait (swimbait, crankbait, topwater)

 

[CJ]

You should do a search on some of the old threads on here. Real good stuff.

[the reel ess]

I'm not very good at it either. But last year was the most I've targeted bedding bass because I've lately been fishing private waters. There were beds almost all the way around the reservoir.

I caught bass mostly on the weightless Trick Worm, Rapala floating minnow and some on wacky stick worms. I caught over 50 one day on a Torpedo, but it was very overcast and even sprinkled rain. I missed a lot that day too so I think it was mostly bedding males trying to run the thing away from the nest. I couldn't buy a bite on that bait next time out.

When I've seen them on the bed, I've cast a worm, craw or lizard past it and pulled back through it. Get the hook point out because sometimes they won't hold the bait long. Use a bright color to make it easier to see.

I have a bluegill swimbait to try this spring and I'll try a dropshot after watching people do it on TV. I need to gain confidence at that anyway.

[Choporoz]

27 minutes ago, CJ said:

You should do a search on some of the old threads on here. Real good stuff.

But don't try to search "bed fish"....three letter words don't play in the BR search engine. ....you might try 'bedding' or using google to search BR pages

[BigSkyBasser]

It really depends on the waters you're fishing and how those fish respond to threats in their territory.

I've grown up fishing gin clear, cold, deep lakes, so I have learned to adjust based on how fish react.

My go-to has always been larger crawfish applications, especially floating baits texas rigged.

The first time I took by girlfriend fishing on beds, we slayed em' throwing Z Man Lizards on a 3/8 oz bullet sinker on a 3/0 WIde Gap EWG. When you have baits that actually float or suspend it seems to trigger more aggressive bites during spawn.

[J Francho]

Senkos, Topwaters, jigs, heavy "drop baits" like t-rigged creatures are a few go to baits.

Here's another method I use: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/dropshot-bedding-bass.html

[Hurricane]

Live worm on a bobber...

[Catt]

Ok y'all listen real close!

search in Google, type in subject, & add bassresource; this will pull up everything including archives!

[MDBowHunter]

Mattslures flat tailed bluegill is deadly when bed fishing, they sit with the tail up at an angle. They look just like a bluegill raiding the nest, and the bass usually won't leave it there long. I cast out past the bed and pop the bait right into the bed, and usually they grab it immediately.

[bigbassin']

Well for starters, the fish has to be catchable. If it leaves the bed and isn't a monster I typically just move on because these fish won't be that aggressive in my experience. Once I've found a good bed to fish try to see if there is any hard cover in the bed (stick, rock, soda can, etc.) as bringing your bait around it will often trigger the fish to bite. My go to baits will be a t-rigged craw, worm, a jig, and a drop shot. Cast just past the bed and bring your lure onto it. Keep your bait on the bed for as long as possible, while just barely shaking it. Take different angles when you bring your lure through the bed and see if anyone path produces a bigger reaction from the fish, if so repeat this path. I'll normally move on after taking 10 casts with each lure if I haven't been hit yet.

[Hog Basser]

I like to wine 'em and dine 'em before I bed 'em, but that may just be me.  

[Rick Howard]

10 minutes ago, Hog Basser said:

I like to wine 'em and dine 'em before I bed 'em, but that may just be me.  

Thanks.  

[contium]

Don't. Leave them alone to do their thing.

[SPECIAL ENGINEER]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

Ok y'all listen real close!

search in Google, type in subject, & add bassresource; this will pull up everything including archives!

Catt, 

I have learned so much from reading your posts. Especially your advice about fishing jigs or t-rigged plastics at night to improve  your ability to detect strikes. 

 

I think I have finally found some information that hopefully you will find useful.

instead of just adding bassresource after your search on Google put "site:www.bassresource.com" without the quotation marks. This works for any website and I have found that the results are much better than using the search feature on any forum. This is how I search any forum. 

By adding the "site:" then the website it will only search within the website specified

[J Francho]

You can just use a colon as a shortcut.  Like:

bassresource.com: bed fishing

 

[stkbassn]

I've had a lot of success with a grub/exposed hook...4 - 6 inch worm with a small weight exposed or t-rigged , craw , jig and pig...I just keep on going over the bed with the bait and bumping the fish as much as I can. I cast over top of the fish and bring the bait in fast and bump it..usually they turn around and hit the bait violently and I do this until they actually inhale it...this can take a while but that's my method...I know there are pro's and other guys on here with more refined techniques but it works, trust me. Try it sometime if you don't already.

[Airman4754]

I use a couple different things. No matter what, if possible I throw my lure onto the bank so there is no splash then work it in. That's too much of a hassle with a drop shot so I cast it to a spot where the fish still has escape lanes so it doesn't spook. 

For baits I use pretty much what everyone else does. A spinnerbait is my favorite, weightless Senko, weightless swimbait, a C-rig lizard, and a drop shot. I use those Jackall crappie and bluegill looking baits for the drop shot. 

I tried a Shakey Head once last year and it worked. It might not be a bad one for it either.

[bonzai22]

I do really well on a drop shot rigged only about 4 inches off the bottom. That way you can shake it in place right on their bed. Throw it kind of far past the bed then drag it onto the bed and shake it. 

[RMcDuffee726]

Thanks guys for the responses and tips.  Super useful!

[David Whitaker]

My favorite way to get em to react is basically a flipping rig. I throw mostly 20 pound Seaguar InvizX on a 7'-7' 6" MH or H Rod depending on the cover. If the water is super clear, the bass aren't spawning in thick pads/grass, or if they're super picky I'll downsize to 15 pound or even 12. I love to throw a 3/8-1/2 oz. tungsten in black or green pumpkin (depending on the lite color) and a 3/0-4/0 Owner worm hook. I'll peg the weight or put a bobber stop on top. The top baits I use are:

-Gambler Burner Craw

-Strike King Rage Craw

-Havoc Rocket Craw

I like to throw stupid simple color choices:

-Green Pumpkin/Purple Flake

-Junbug or Black/Blue

-White (if the waters dingy)

Most of these will imitate bluegill or crawfish. If I see a large presence of bluegill I'll throw the Big Bite Baits Warmouth. 

Hope this helps!!

[Darren.]

On 2/17/2016 at 6:37 PM, Hog Basser said:

I like to wine 'em and dine 'em before I bed 'em, but that may just be me.  

Beat me to it, LOL. I was going to say bedding fish is...unnatural.

[wisconsin heat]

My best luck has been using a small lure with a big hook. They can really be picky when biting. They'll grab the bottom 1/3 of a lure and swim away without eating it, leading to strikeouts. 

[RichDog]

I just cast a rapala rattlin, usually the smallest size, light tackle cuz its more of a challenge... zip it by the ruts and you'll see one or two come investigate the next cast gets them to jump on that lure like it wandered into the wrong neighborhood at midnight on a Saturday night lol

[IndianaFinesse]

My four favorite lures for bed fishing are the strike king bitsy tube, trd, four inch lizzard, and the z-man crawfish.  But bed fishing isn't as easy as some people think, my pb took me a frusterating four and a half hours to catch( it was on the bitsy tube).