Spawning behavior on highly pressured pond

[plawren53202]

Was fishing my subdivision HOA pond this morning when I noticed for the first time some males on beds. This pond is relatively small, 3 acres or so; water this year has been crystal clear; and it is heavily pressured. It gets a lot of fishing pressure anyway, but this year with people being at home because of the quarantine (fishing is allowed in Missouri) it has been getting a ridiculous amount of pressure. I'm talking 4-5 people fishing it at any given time early afternoon until a little before sunset. It's kind of funny to me because I can tell the vast majority of these people don't fish much, lots of things like buzzbaits and 3/4 oz spinnerbaits frothing the water at 2:00 p.m. with high sun, no wind and bluebird skies in super clear water ??

 

I was focused on one bed in particular this morning that left me wondering how super heavy pressure like this affects spawning behavior. This bed was about 2 feet off the bank, about 2 feet of water, in an area that I know gets a lot of foot traffic and fishing pressure. (I was there at about 6:30 a.m., the quarantine crowd doesn't like to get up early to fish ?). There was a male guarding the bed, not big but average size for this pond (prob. 3/4 of a pound). I threw about 5 different baits at him. Weightless fluke, wacky rigged senko, tube jig, t-rigged craw, Ned craw. Tried both natural colors, and the obnoxious colors people throw at beds (bubble gum, chartreuse). Variety of presentations as well--cast past and drag across the nest, drop right on the nest, swim over the nest, etc. Covered the middle of the bed as well as the edges.

 

I was surprised that the male just didn't have any interest in any of them. Not that he didn't bite or pick it up, but just didn't even turn to look at them. At points I had a craw just dancing in the middle of the bed, standing up and wiggling. I spent about 15 minutes experimenting with that one bed. It just got me wondering if spawning bass act differently in a super pressured area like this. Made me wonder if the high level of foot traffic and anglers constantly going by on the bank changed the equation. 

 

The whole thing was just weird. My experience with bass on beds in more traditional lake settings, something out of everything I tried would have finally gotten this male to pick it up, or at least pay attention. It was his complete lack of attention to anything I threw that really confused me.

[jbsoonerfan]

Weird that someone with as much knowledge as yourself couldn't get this fish to bite. I assume all those losers out there throwing spinnerbaits in high sun with no wind who don't know nearly as much about fishing as you do have messed things up for you.

[plawren53202]

5 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Weird that someone with as much knowledge as yourself couldn't get this fish to bite. I assume all those losers out there throwing spinnerbaits in high sun with no wind who don't know nearly as much about fishing as you do have messed things up for you.

Wow, I'm used to snark like this on other websites but haven't seen it on this site yet. God forbid I raise a legitimate point about the nature of the fishing pressure.

 

I'll draw an analogy, if you were a trout fisherman fishing a stream and the stream was experiencing unusually heavy pressure from people throwing bass lures or other obviously inappropriate tackle, that would be worthy of comment. A consistent stream of heavy bass lures would no doubt affect those trout. Seems like a legitimate point. I didn't mention in my original post that a lot of these people are causing other problems too, like leaving trash, worm boxes, used line behind. The choice of tackle was relevant to my question. In a pond that doesn't exceed 4 or 5 feet deep, is small, and has crystal clear water, a bunch of people throwing oversize and overly aggressive lures from morning to sunset every day could be relevant to bass behavior and pressuring them too heavily. On what I consider to be a forum of educated bass fisherman, it didn't seem inappropriate to observe the choice of tackle.

 

Unfortunately I can't find an option to just delete this thread, though I would rather do so at this point. Just went a completely different direction than I intended. 

[Mobasser]

I'm in North central Mo. I'm thinking that if you can clearly see this fish, he can see you too, as well as your casting motions or any shadows. Bass are already spooky in clear shallow water. Given that everyone is tossing all kinds of baits at them, they're not gonna hit. I fish a clear quarry lake and I've seen this too. As for spinnerbaits and springtime bass? They go together like Apple pie and ice cream. Check out scalefaces post in the tackle section. He's been making a killin. You could also try night fishing, with a spinnerbait, t rig, or jig/ trailer combo. Fish em all slowly

[plawren53202]

5 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I'm in North central Mo. I'm thinking that if you can clearly see this fish, he can see you too, as well as your casting motions or any shadows. Bass are already spooky in clear shallow water. Given that everyone is tossing all kinds of baits at them, they're not gonna hit. I fish a clear quarry lake and I've seen this too. As for spinnerbaits and springtime bass? They go together like Apple pie and ice cream. Check out scalefaces post in the tackle section. He's been making a killin. You could also try night fishing, with a spinnerbait, t rig, or jig/ trailer combo. Fish em all slowly

Thanks for the feedback...I have fished spinnerbaits lots of times in spring as well, I just happened to mention it here more in reference to the size and color as inappropriate for the conditions and size of the bass in this pond. Super clear water, and the bass don't get over a pound. I've thrown a Booyah Pond spinnerbait several times here, but a big (3/4 or 1 ounce) chartreuse double Colorado blade would be overkill.

 

Also, I'm catching other fish here most days. My two best baits are the weightless fluke and a wacky rigged small Senko. Definitely catch more at low pressure times like early early in the morning. It was just this one bedding male that had me puzzled because he acted so differently than any bedding male I've ever fished in a lake or a less pressured pond.

[jbsoonerfan]

16 minutes ago, plawren53202 said:

Wow, I'm used to snark like this on other websites but haven't seen it on this site yet. God forbid I raise a legitimate point about the nature of the fishing pressure.

 

I'll draw an analogy, if you were a trout fisherman fishing a stream and the stream was experiencing unusually heavy pressure from people throwing bass lures or other obviously inappropriate tackle, that would be worthy of comment. A consistent stream of heavy bass lures would no doubt affect those trout. Seems like a legitimate point. I didn't mention in my original post that a lot of these people are causing other problems too, like leaving trash, worm boxes, used line behind. The choice of tackle was relevant to my question. In a pond that doesn't exceed 4 or 5 feet deep, is small, and has crystal clear water, a bunch of people throwing oversize and overly aggressive lures from morning to sunset every day could be relevant to bass behavior and pressuring them too heavily. On what I consider to be a forum of educated bass fisherman, it didn't seem inappropriate to observe the choice of tackle.

 

Unfortunately I can't find an option to just delete this thread, though I would rather do so at this point. Just went a completely different direction than I intended. 

I should have put LOL, I was being sarcastic because you were making fun of people who you feel are inferior to you. I throw a spinnerbait all times of the day and I have a lil bit of success doing so. Just because these people may or may not be using the wrong presentation is neither here nor there. I have fished for males on beds and it didn't matter what I threw at them, they weren't going to pay any attention to it. That's just the way it is sometimes. 

[WRB]

Young male from the size you referenced, about 11" long? Every bass acts as a individual fish when spawning and unpredictable how they respond around a bed.

If this bass is aggressive it has been caught a few times already. 

I would drop down to something 3" long in pearl white rigged on a 2" drop shot in the middle of the bed near any pebbles if you see them. Cast the rig, let it settle, sit down and watch. A female or the male may be waiting for you to leave. If a bass moves nearer the nest just jiggle the plastic without moving it and wait again stay seated.

If this doesn't work leave and find another bed.

Tom

[VolFan]

I have a similar pond at a public park here. When you stand near the bed, the fish know something is coming. They back off a few feet and move to deeper water, then come back to it when you leave. You can either make your cast and walk away, waiting a few minutes for the fish to calm down or make a cast well past the bed from a point well before the bed and do it by feel instead of sight. 

 

Nothing works until it does.