What do they do?

[Jtrout]

So last week when the temps were higher and the water was warmer the bass started the bed making and gaurding. Now due to the recent rain and temperature drops do the bass continue to finish there spawning rituals or do they stop and back off til it warms up again?

[Preytorien]

I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but I think they'll stay on their beds once they spawn. They may cruise in bigger patterns, but I've seen some of the same weather patterns you have, just a couple days earlier, and once the water cleared up, those beds were still there and the fish guarding them were still there. 

[scaleface]

I went fishing yesterday.  .The bass havent spawned yet . Unseasonably cold  .   North wind   10 to 15 mph, morning air  temp 40 degrees  , bluebird sky , surface water temp low 60's. I caught perhaps 40 bass including four over the slot with a Texas rigged 6 inch purple Manns Jelly Worm .Most of the fish came from isolated brush  and stumps 3 to 6 foot deep or  the steeper banks in the creeks .  They were all in the cover and  hitting real well .  

[Turtle135]

50 minutes ago, Jtrout said:

So last week when the temps were higher and the water was warmer the bass started the bed making and gaurding. Now due to the recent rain and temperature drops do the bass continue to finish there spawning rituals or do they stop and back off til it warms up again?

I believe Preytorien is correct, if the females have dropped their eggs into a nest a male will continue to guard that nest. If a female has more eggs to drop she will likely hold off until the weather is to her liking. The warmer the water the faster the eggs will hatch, better survival rate from nest raiders, which is what she is looking for.

[Team9nine]

Yeah, just depends upon how far along as well as what the water temps were before and after. As was stated, if eggs have already been dropped, males are much more likely to try and tough it out to stay and protect, but will still abandon if the water temps drop too much (more like too cold). If eggs had not been dropped in the beds yet, moving off beds for a while is much more likely. Either way, females will likely pull out and wait for the warming trend to resume before any further spawning activity takes place.

-T9 

[Catt]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Yeah, just depends upon how far along as well as what the water temps were before and after. As was stated, if eggs have already been dropped, males are much more likely to try and tough it out to stay and protect, but will still abandon if the water temps drop too much (more like too cold). If eggs had not been dropped in the beds yet, moving off beds for a while is much more likely. Either way, females will likely pull out and wait for the warming trend to resume before any further spawning activity takes place.

-T9 

I'll only add the female never lays all her eggs in one nest!

[Nitrofreak]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

I'll only add the female never lays all her eggs in one nest!

All the reading I have done and never once did I come across anything that stated that, very interesting, is it known how many nests they will lay eggs in ?

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Nitrofreak said:

All the reading I have done and never once did I come across anything that stated that, very interesting, is it known how many nests they will lay eggs in ?

News to me too .

[Catt]

14 hours ago, Nitrofreak said:

All the reading I have done and never once did I come across anything that stated that, very interesting, is it known how many nests they will lay eggs in ?

 

12 hours ago, scaleface said:

News to me too .

Apparently y'all don't read what I've wrote!

I believe the female often moves on and off of the bed to deposit more eggs (hatchery studies support this claim). Few females drop all of their eggs at once. Instead, they expel a portion and then move off to a near by break line, bush or grass edge. Ken Cook former Oklahoma Fisheries Biologest

It is this sporadic purging of eggs and the ability to spawn with different males on several nests that keeps the annual spring bedding season from being severely impacted by large tournaments. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist Clarence Bowling says studies have shown that a female (when handled properly) will simply locate a bed and an available male in the area where she is released and complete spawning. Get a lock on the spawn by Tim Tucker

[Nitrofreak]

I do read a lot of what you write, I, for some reason do not remember reading about such, hence, the question my friend, this is why I love this site, so much can be learned and applied in our own regions, I take none of that for granted and try hard to put everything to good use.

Great stuff Catt, as always, thank you !! 

[Catt]

The whole spawn is misunderstood by many anglers because someone mistakenly placed 60 degrees as when the spawn starts & while that is a good starting point it got anglers watching a thermometer instead of watching their body of water.

[Onvacation]

I think you have made an excellent point. I bank fish at a conservation area and dunce around to about eight different ponds/lakes of various size.  Obviously the air temperature, weather, phase of the moon and so on are all consistent as is, for the most part, the surface temp of the water.  However it is interesting to see that each pond this year has been at a different phase of the spawn on each day.  To assume that every bass on every body of water in a given area is at the same place in the reproductive cycle on any given day would be wrong.  

[Nitrofreak]

I have paid attention to this year in particular, we have had a lot more fronts than in recent years, this year it's really strange, I have only seen 4 bass that were where you would normally see them, all the bass I have caught so far have not even a hint of redness or damage on their tails, I'm not sure if fronts really have them all messed up or what but the water is clearer than normal, compared to the last couple of years, the temps are really close to the past two years in each area on my home lake, it's almost like the spawn hasn't happened yet, some areas are in their 70's others high 60's, I have noted a lot of fish still relating to main lake channels close to primary points as of this past Tuesday, since I don't get to fish as much as I would like I can't tell if it's about to happen or has already happened.