What stage are they in?

[RippinLips57]

Hey everybody I'm a lil new to bass fishin I've always fished in the salt but I'm kind of confused with the stages of the spawn and all that I've looked for beds because I wanted to try somthin diffrent because I can catch them around cover but I wanted to try to bed fish but I haven't seen any beds. Electronics said the water was around 75 to 80 anybody know what stage there in or can you tell with the temp? Thank ya ?

[visagelaid]

I would imagine with those water temps they are in postspawn.

[RippinLips57]

Probably a dumb question but if they are in post spawn what are they doing, are they roaming, feeding or are they just kinda chilling by their bed? Are they lethargic and skidish or are they aggresive? 

[Turtle135]

Yes, with those water temperatures your bass are likely in post spawn (they have already laid the eggs and the eggs have hatched). The bass will guard the hatched fry for a couple of days.

 

The bite in post spawn can be hit or miss. The bass can be non aggressive while they regain the strength that they exerted during the spawning process.

 

On my waters I look for breaks (depth changes on the bottom contour) and cover near the spawning areas. The majority of the bass have not moved to off shore summer haunts just yet.

[WRB]

The vast majority of your bass have transitioned to the warm water summer period with water temps above 75 degrees. The bass have scattered, some are along the shoreline cover, some are under docks, some of the bigger bass have moved deeper to structure like points, humps, ledges etc. The bass have a wide variety of prey choices and location choices. Night fishing will soon be your friend.

Tom

[RoLo]

 

I think it's safe to say that most of your waters are in the 'post-spawn' period.

During the actual spawn, bass are preoccupied with reproduction, and food takes a back seat.

But during the post-spawn, bass are back on the feed and building back up after the rigors

of the spawn.  I always look forward to the post-spawn, which can offer some of the best

bass fishing of the year, and definitely some of the best topwater action of the year.

 

Roger

[RippinLips57]

So i can pretty much throw anything anywhere lol? 

[JPascavage52]

It depends on what part of the country you are in due to the climate/ lakes not freezing/ water warming faster. Here in PA, it is late pre-spawn/ early spawn, and the fish are just getting onto beds. However, down your way, it sounds like they are in post spawn, or even starting to get into summer patterns. The good news, is that, during post spawn, bass don't tend to wander far from where they spawned, instead they tend to find some nearby deeper water/ cover, and suspend around that. The cover you were discussing, such as laydowns, grass, bushes, stumps, docks, pilings, etc, are often great areas for bass to build their nests, so I would stick close to any of those with some deeper water nearby, and fish with a slow falling lure, such as a weightless worm/ fluke, or something that you can keep in the upper half of the water column, such as a spinnerbait, spybait, or swimjig. If that doesnt work, I'd move out to the first breakline, or about 10 foot mark, and work parallel to the shoreline. Also, move outside of the creeks/ spawning coves, and work points out here. 

[RoLo]

4 hours ago, RippinLips57 said:

So i can pretty much throw anything anywhere lol? 

 

 

The 'post-spawn' is a mixed bag, a time when you can throw pretty much anything.

But the word "anywhere" does not apply, because the same as any seasonal period,

the key is 'location', and 'location' is a moving target.

 

Roughly speaking, bass during the 'pre-spawn' period tend to hold along the shallow "inside" weededge.

During the 'post-spawn' though, they begin aggregating along the deep, "outside" weededges.

The upshot is knowing that both sexes are back on the feed, and topwater fishing is in high gear  

 

Roger

[Paul Roberts]

Not sure how long your spawn season is overall, but it's probably pretty much done. You'll have fish in post-spawn and into pre-summer now. The bass are now hungry and have switched gears toward finding the best hunting. Your sunfish and shad are probably spawning so those areas will be bass magnets.

 

Covering the whole water column will matter at this time.

-Post-spawn fish may still be high (nearer the surface) so vertical and overhead cover may be important. Topwaters, buzzbaits, squarebills, tubes, swim jigs, jigs in cover.

 

-Pre-summer fish may be anywhere but you're looking for fish leaving known spawning areas. Look shallow for sunfish spawners (there WILL be bass hanging around them), and for shad spawners around shallow hard cover like docks, logs, rip-rap, and weed beds. Look deeper for bass collecting up on main structure such as the ends of points and drops. Crankbaits are a good bet there. You may have to search some bc bass are in transition and not distributed yet. Once you find some there mat be a lot of them piled up.

 

Let us know what you find.

[RippinLips57]

Alright thanks for the advice everybody's ya really helped me out its supposed to rain tho  but If it's not rainin this weekend im going to get out on the water and I will get back to ya