Bed Fishing

[JustJames]

Today I went out for a quick hour after a very disappointed day yesterday (broken my fev rod tip on my first boat trip).

There are couple of guy bed fishing in the same area I wanna fish. He told me he saw a few but they dont bite. This is the same bed I tried a few day ago as well with no luck.

I tried with my Fat Ika within 5 mins, I got that fish out, just a small 1.5 lbs. Saw a few fish in the same area but couldnt get them to bite either. Another guy came by and said he got another which bite his worm more than 10 times but he doesnt wanna set hook. I went to that spot pitch my ika out a few times until he took it out and start to run. I play with this guy a bit before landing him, pretty good size may be 2.5lb.

 

When I fish for bed fish I fish them quick and try to release them close to  their bed.

I have read somewhere that sometime the fish doesnt go back to their bed and other fish would eat all their eggs. Now I kinda feel bad a little.

What do you think? 

 

[Bluebasser86]

This is a very sensitive subject that some guys get really emotional about. I see both sides of the argument, but since there's no laws against it, whether it's "right or wrong", is going to depend on the fisherman's moral compass. It's very exciting to be able to watch the fish and see how they react to a bait and to try to get them to bite. Then there's obvious concern about things like if a bunch of fish are caught off beds in tournaments and taken to weigh in, those beds are most likely lost. If the lake has a healthy population of fish, that may not be an issue though. 

[Kidflex]

Totally up to you. Bass on beds are gonna get fished and maybe caught wether it's by you or someone else. I will cast to bedding fish but I won't stay on it for more than a couple casts before moving on. I also have never taken a bass home either.....and I've caught a decent amount. Some folks will get butt hurt about the idea of taking fish off beds and such. It doesn't matter to me because it obviously isn't hurting the populations of bass (at least in the places I fish).  

[Catt]

Again!   

[JustJames]

Thanks catt, i just search "bed fishing" on google and come up with a lot of discussion in this forum about this very topic and read a lot of your responses as well.

This is my first year target bass directly on bed that why Im concerned.

I will try to target deeper bass to find maybe female one who are hungry after spawning. 

[Catt]

Random thought

 

Everyone worries about catching bedding bass but gives no thought to catching them between beds.

[JustJames]

At least I dont have to see it lol?

[HookRz]

Some guys won't fish beds, some will. That ain't gonna change. Closing the tournament season during the spawn might  be a good idea. We seem to have struck the right balance that way here in Pa. The year round fishing in our natural lakes and impoundments is noticeably better than in similar lakes just across the Ohio line, IMHO. 

[soflabasser]

You can catch a bass any way you want as long as you catch the bass in a way that is considered legal, whether it's bed fishing, live bait fishing, using electronics to locate bass,etc.

[TOXIC]

Lots of scientific studies show bed fishing does no harm.  As for morals and ethics, that's an individual thing.  

[fissure_man]

10 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Lots of scientific studies show bed fishing does no harm.

 

Links?

[Paul Roberts]

No. I don't fish to fish on beds. IME -years of observing on small waters- it's a destructive practice. I get to fish a fair amount and just don't need to make a vulnerable male bass's job any tougher. I choose not to participate.

 

Will it impact populations? Not necessarily -esp on larger waters, and esp in the S apparently.

[.ghoti.]

I don't fish beds. Not for any ethical reason. Don't wish to get into the "ethics" of the situation. There aren't any. If it's legal, it's legal. It it isn't legal, it isn't legal. End of story.

 

 I don't do it because the big fish on the bed is too hard to catch. The little fish on the bed are fairly easy to catch.

 

I look for beds, in season, and then fish the closest drop into deep water for pre and post spawn fish. Both of which are easier to catch than bed fish.

 

Sitting on a bed for an extended period of time, trying to catch a large fish I can see, and who can see me, is, for me an exercise in frustration.

[Fun4Me]

If I catch a fish on a bed, I release it where I caught it. Even though it's legal, I'm not that impressed with non tournament anglers who live well the fish and release them far away from the bed, but that's JMO. I would like to see tournaments all go to catch, weigh, and release at the spot (during the spawn), but I understand that it doesn't make for good weigh ins where people want to see the fish being held up, and the intrigue on who is going to win when they bring the bag on the stage.

[Paul Roberts]

14 minutes ago, .ghoti. said:

I don't do it because the big fish on the bed is too hard to catch. The little fish on the bed are fairly easy to catch.

 

I look for beds, in season, and then fish the closest drop into deep water for pre and post spawn fish. Both of which are easier to catch than bed fish.

Agreed. I avoid guarding males -they are generally smaller fish, easy to catch, and have one heck of a job ahead of them. (For me that slips into ethics territory, for me. And again I'm fishing small public waters for the most part where those fish will see a parade of anglers most Saturdays and Sundays.) But I will search out females, both pre and post. Spawning females can be simply too preoccupied.

[Zeeter]

I read years ago that bed fishing has little, if any effect on the bass population. Here's an older article - not the one I am referring to, but it shows the negligible effect of fish populations when there are no bed fishing regulations:

 

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/Bass_on_Beds_Final.pdf

[A-Jay]

Fishing for bass on beds is one of the thread subjects that can & often does inspired some heated debated and has closed up more than a thread or two in the past.    As a younger human I was all about it.  Where most all of my angling lessons came from the bank, seeing the biggest bass I would most likely see all season 5 feet away was always very exciting.  And even today, the site of an oversized super fatty camped out in shallow water, still hears me utter the obligatory "WOW" !  -

  But these days, I choose not to target beds directly, instead prefer to move out a bit to look for staging fish.  However, and this is something that can't really be overlooked, I fully understand that when looking at the big picture, catching a ripe, pre-spawn female in 10 ft is not all that different from targeting the bed fish.  This fish may have been on a bed 10 minutes prior and just moved or may be simply waiting to move up in 10 minutes.  So being fully aware of this, I am not under the illusion that when I'm using this technique, it is not somehow interfering with the spawning process; because in reality I most certainly am.   Just because I may not have 'sight fished' to catch this fish doesn't erase the fact that that there is some unnatural interruption to the whole deal. 

Now what effect this has on a population in the long run, can't say.  But bass fishing has been going on for a while.  It's had it's ups I downs.  The bass still seem to be there despite all of this and if history is any type of guideline, will continue to somehow manage to be there again next year.  So where it's legal, go for it if that's your thing.  In the end, Bassheads are gonna do what they do, and so are the bass.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

Interfering != Influence

 

Meaning, you can interfere with the spawn, but it's doubtful you have any affect on the spawn.

[JustJames]

Sorry for bringing up this hot debate, I should have known better. It is all up to individual, no matter you bed fishing or not if you fish in this pre/post spawning, you might pull the bass out from its bed with or without you knowing it full well.

 

I cant stop fishing no matter what time of year so I must admit I would eventually bed fishing, otherwise I would stop fishing all together until you know for sure bass done with their spawning but when April-May or summer when all bass move to deeper water.

 

BTW last year I didnt feel this bad becuz I was in a boat random cast to shorelin where I didnt see bed, was I bed fishing? Who the hell knows.

[WIGuide]

Personally I bed fish. It seems like every year in some tournament there's some on beds and when they are at some point during the day I'll run up and try to catch some. If I'm just out for fun, I'll still try to catch them sometimes, but there's certain lakes that just get pounded when the bass are up on beds and those lakes I'll refrain from doing so. There's no reason for me to add more pressure to their process than they already suffer from other anglers beating the water to a froth and nature on top of that. 

[Catt]

If Big Momma Nadine decided this morning she going to a net to lay eggs & ya catch her on the way is it not still interfering with the spawn?

 

If Big Momma Nadine has laid her eggs & decides to move on to another nest & ya catch her is this still not interfering with the spawn?

[TnRiver46]

Depends on whether I have a craving for caviar........... just kidding, I don't bed fish because it's not nearly as fun (for me) as just regular ole fishing. I have done it before but I'm not big on trying to catch the same fish (that I can see) for 30 minutes or more 

[RoLo]

 

The topic of 'bed-fishing' always seems to launch a lively and opinionated discussion.

When I read some of the replies though, I can't help but wonder how many anglers

actually fished for cows on the bed. In the first place, the time she spends on the nest

is better quantified in hours rather than days. More importantly, a bedding cow is a fasting cow,

and if she's not in a housekeeping mood, you've really got your work cut out for you.

 

Though it's not often mentioned, there's generally a sizable overlap in seasons, where you may

encounter pre-spawn, spawning & post-spawn bass during the same day. For the most part,

trophy bass taken while fishing 'blind' during the spawning season are usually bass in pre-spawn mode

still on the feed. All that said, I no longer bed fish, and focus only on the pre-spawn period.

 

Roger

[J Francho]

Biologists up here said that 70% of the fish don't participate in spawning.  If that's true, most fish you catch are "pre-spawn."  Or are they post-spawn?

 

[fissure_man]

2 hours ago, Zeeter said:

I read years ago that bed fishing has little, if any effect on the bass population. Here's an older article - not the one I am referring to, but it shows the negligible effect of fish populations when there are no bed fishing regulations:

 

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/Bass_on_Beds_Final.pdf

 

Thanks for the link @Zeeter.  That report has some pretty compelling statements, but no references at all?  I’d argue the conclusiveness of some of the statements made in there, and even the logic of some others.  I think this chart (page 8) says a lot about the level of uncertainty involved:

 

 

lol

 

1 hour ago, Catt said:

If Big Momma Nadine decided this morning she going to a net to lay eggs & ya catch her on the way is it not still interfering with the spawn?

 

If Big Momma Nadine has laid her eggs & decides to move on to another nest & ya catch her is this still not interfering with the spawn?

 

I think the concern is not so much about pestering Nadine, as it is with letting the neighbors eat her kids while daddy is supposed to be babysitting