The Lost Spawn?

[Scott F]

Every year, I spend two weeks on the same Northern Wisconsin lake chasing pre-spawn, smallmouth and largemouth bass. I've been taking the last two weeks of May for this trip, but the last few years, the weather for the first week of the trip has been horrible. Last year, in addition to the cold temps, it rained 5 out of the first 7 days. In the two years prior to that, the ice had only gone out days before our arrival and we had two days with snow. To up my odds, this year, we booked our stay a week later than normal. That was a good decision as the ice left the lake around May 7th about a month later than the average date. Winter turned quickly into summer and the temps from the beginning of May were consistently in the 70's and low 80's, very warm for that area during May. Warm, sunny days with light winds followed and the fishing the first week was very good. The lake I fish isn't a trophy lake but a HUGE numbers lake which is the way I like it. The water temps rose quickly from the low 50's to the low 60's by the end of the first week.

The pattern of fish movement on this lake I have witnessed over the last 20 years during the spring is that when the water temp hits 50, the smallies will move onto the many offshore rock bars and often will concentrate there in schools. At times, we can catch 50 or more bass in one spot without moving the boat. As the water warms, the fish we catch on these bars begin to get smaller as the larger bass will move to their spawning areas and spread out along the shorelines. When the water gets near 60, spawning beds will begin to appear. At first, you just see beds with no fish on them. As days pass and the water temps rise, there are more beds and the bass are closer to them. At this point they are still feeding pretty well and will readily take baits that are cast near them. In may areas, the beds are so numerous and close together, we call them "Bozo Buckets" (Remember Bozo's Circus on TV?) Once they lock onto the beds, the feeding stops and the good fishing ends. My fishing partners and I don't enjoy harassing bedding fish that aren't still feeding so we leave them alone at that time.

This year, the offshore fish never really stacked up. The bigger fish seldom appeared anywhere. During the second week of my trip, the air temps which normally average 69, were near 90 every day. The water went from the low 60's to 70 very quickly. During a normal season. It takes 2 full months to go from ice to 70 degrees. This year, it did it in 3 weeks. During this past week, we expected the beds to appear and the bass to be along the shorelines but few beds were made any only one out of 5 had a fish anywhere near it. For those of you who believe bass spawn during the full moon, it came and went with nothing happening. With water temps at 70, the smallmouth bass should be done spawning but as of now, it hasn't even started. I'm always gone by the time the largemouth spawn. But even they aren't making many beds yet. I won't be up there to see what's going to happen, but for this year, it looks like the bass for the most part, won't spawn at all. It's been a very unusual year. I keep track of the number of fish I catch and the numbers were close if not better than most years, probably because the water was much warmer than usual, but the average size was down considerably. 

One strange thing happened. I was fishing the edge of a rock pile and hooked a big fish. As it came near the boat, I could see it was a very large walleye. I turned my head to tell my partner to get the net. When I looked back, the walleye was gone and a small smallmouth was on the line in it's place! The only thing I figure could have happened was that the walleye grabbed the smallmouth right after I hooked it. when I was bringing it in, I couldn't see the bass. The walleye must have let the bass go right next to the boat. That had me scratching my head for a while.

[Montanaro]

Smallmouth can spawn pretty deep.  Conditions may have dictated that most of them spawn out of sight of you or in places you dont usually look

[Scott F]

2 minutes ago, Montanaro said:

Smallmouth can spawn pretty deep.  Conditions may have dictated that most of them spawn out of sight of you or in places you dont usually look

That could be true. Generally, smallmouth spawn in the same places every year. For 80-90% of the bass to suddenly change spawning locations would be a drastic change.

[Turkey sandwich]

Last weekend was my first trip out targeting bass this year, and noticed the same.  I was in northern PA (where snow was still happening well into April) before temperatures went crazy.  I got on a largemouth lake where the water was already 72-76 over the course of the day, beds were easily visible, but virtually all of them were empty and being replaced by sunfish.  It was incredibly weird for this time of the year.  All of the bass we caught appeared to be 12-17" males while beating the banks around creeks and coves.  The lake has a massive spawning flat with nothing on it other than sunfish beginning to to take over the beds, and carp going crazy in weeds.  It was weird, man.  

[UPSmallie]

This time last year I was bagging limits of smallmouth on spawning flats.  So far I've only caught one smallie but it was a really fat pre-spawner.  I think the timing and water temperatures just vary.  The location might be the same, but the spawning might be taking place earlier or later.  Hit or miss sometimes.

[Way north bass guy]

Exactly one month ago I was standing on 12” of ice in a bay on a nearby lake, this weekend the water was in the high 60s to low 70s. Our bass season doesn’t start for a couple more weeks, and I’m not sure exactly what to expect on opener. I’ve caught a few incidental bass while pike fishing and they look pretty thick, and I’ve not seen any beds in the shallows yet. It’s defenitely been the weirdest spring and quickest warm up I can remember. Maybe it’ll be a super quick spawn and they’ll go right into summer mode. Either way, I’m sure I’ll be able to find some on opener. 

[NHBull]

We are about 3 weeks behind last year, here in central NH

got a couple moms on beds today...

[Ksam1234]

We had the same thing happen here in western NY. I live right on Lake Erie and we had ice until mid April and the air temps went from 40 degrees to 75-80 in a week. We caught tons of smallmouth that moved in and it usually lasts until mid June but it last only about 2-3 weeks and we didn’t see any beds in that time and they have already left. There is a few straggler smallies and we see some maybe a bed here or there  but nothing like normal.  We have had a lot of guys come from Virginia and West Virginia who were disappointed bc they came all the way for nothing .. wonder what happened 

[Gundog]

I know the smallmouth spawn on the Susquehanna was compressed into just a few weeks. Crazy spring weather made it maddening to try time it. I only caught 3 bass during the 10 trips I took. 

[Glenn]

Lake temps in my area went from 54 to 68 in 5 days.  Normally it takes several weeks.  The bass all spawned en-masse and were done in a few days.  It was crazy.  Normally the spawn spans at least 2 full moons.  But this year, the full moon had nothing to do with it.  They were done by time the next full moon came around.

 

Nothing but balls of fry and a few guarding males now.

[A-Jay]

8 hours ago, Glenn said:

Lake temps in my area went from 54 to 68 in 5 days.  Normally it takes several weeks.  The bass all spawned en-masse and were done in a few days.  It was crazy.  Normally the spawn spans at least 2 full moons.  But this year, the full moon had nothing to do with it.  They were done by time the next full moon came around.

 

Nothing but balls of fry and a few guarding males now.

Seemingly the identical scenario played out in this area as well.

Not a fan.

A-Jay

[Darren.]

8 hours ago, Glenn said:

Lake temps in my area went from 54 to 68 in 5 days.  Normally it takes several weeks.  The bass all spawned en-masse and were done in a few days.  It was crazy.  Normally the spawn spans at least 2 full moons.  But this year, the full moon had nothing to do with it.  They were done by time the next full moon came around.

  

Nothing but balls of fry and a few guarding males now.

This would explain some seasons I've experienced here in VA.

No beds where there are always beds, suddenly fry balls....

[JLBBass]

winter going to summer, without much if any of a spring really screws with the pre spawn-spawn cycle for sure!!! I hate the springs we've been geting the last few years!!!

[Will Wetline]

It was a slow start in central Massachusetts but improved to near normal smallmouth activity according to my records.

 

[Janderson45]

10 minutes ago, Will Wetline said:

It was a slow start in central Massachusetts but improved to near normal smallmouth activity according to my records.

 

The Q definitely didn't seem quite right to me this spring either.  Quality and quantity of prespawners was down, and sheer number of fish that I saw up shallow over the past few weeks seemed down as well.  My feeling was it probably had more to do with me personally than the Quabbin itself though.  Water level being so high this spring had me all sorts of confused early on.

 

I plan to take a break from the big reservoir for a while, I'll return once they're locked in (hopefully) on my usual summer patterns for a few trips, then maybe once more in the early fall.

[gim]

Great story Scott.  The conditions you speak of are likely a result of a compressed spring.  We experienced a similar pattern here in MN.  In mid-April, we had a historical late season blizzard.  The lakes lost their ice very late this year, some breaking over 140 year records.  Shortly after that, we had a string of 90+ degree days around Memorial Day.  So basically, we went from blizzard to ice out to abnormally warm weather.  I can't verify whether we had a "lost spawn" like you did in Northern Wisconsin but its likely.

[sully420]

I dont know about smallies but i think the largies spawned in two waves two weeks apart. I live in Minnesota and we had the same weather on opener i caught them pre spawn 3 days later i was catching spawned out females. I then had 2 weeks of males with some females mixed. Now its females feeding up very quickly. I think some of the females spawned twice.

[BassThumb]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Great story Scott.  The conditions you speak of are likely a result of a compressed spring.  We experienced a similar pattern here in MN.  In mid-April, we had a historical late season blizzard.  The lakes lost their ice very late this year, some breaking over 140 year records.  Shortly after that, we had a string of 90+ degree days around Memorial Day.  So basically, we went from blizzard to ice out to abnormally warm weather.  I can't verify whether we had a "lost spawn" like you did in Northern Wisconsin but its likely.

 

3 hours ago, sully420 said:

I dont know about smallies but i think the largies spawned in two waves two weeks apart. I live in Minnesota and we had the same weather on opener i caught them pre spawn 3 days later i was catching spawned out females. I then had 2 weeks of males with some females mixed. Now its females feeding up very quickly. I think some of the females spawned twice.

I was finding spawning smallmouth and pre-spawn largemouth up near the beds a couple days before Memorial Day weekend. Then I worked 4 straight days over the holiday so I didn't fish. When I went out after, it was all over. I never saw any largemouth on the beds, but after Memorial Day, there were vacated beds everywhere. I think the largemouth spawn lasted about half a week over the blazing hot holiday weekend. The smallmouth spawn likely happened as planned on local lakes.

 

For reference, a shallow local favorite lake iced out on May 1 and had 79 degree water on May 31.

[Further North]

Weirdness here, north of Eau Claire as well. I was out of town for the opener, May 5th, but the ice went off the lakes around here on the 3rd.

 

From friends, I learned that water temps were mid 40s.  By the time I got on the water the afternoon of the 13th, water temps were 60° about noon, to 65° when I got off the lake at dusk.  Smallies were starting to make beds.

 

By the next Sunday, there were a fair amount of fish on beds, but most were females. Water temps were pushing 70° in some spots.

 

The weather has been all over the place since then, from mid 40s to 100°, storms, floods... Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes…The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.

 

...you know...all that stuff.

[NHBull]

I thought spawn was done 2 weeks ago, but put 4 mama's in the boat over the last 2 days