When they are actually spawning...

[Quarry Man]

fished two different lakes the last two days. fish were in the act of spawning, as in I saw several pairs of bass rubbing together in shallow beds. One cast and they wanted nothing to do with it. I decided not to fish for them as these are two lakes I care a lot about and they are pretty small lakes.

 

That being said, when some of the fish start spawning, where can I find the rest of them? I tried a bunch of stuff but didn't catch any. I don't want to target bed fish and don't want to interrupt spawning.

[PhishLI]

Stick to deeper water. I have yet to see a bed up in these parts deeper than 3 ft. If you get a fat female out in deeper water treat her nice and get her back in as fast as possible to reduce stress,

[RoLo]

 

In reality, every waterbody simultaneously experiences pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn periods.

That's Mother Nature's way of assuring ongoing survival. Differently put, when you see bass on the bed,

you can bet the ranch that other bass are in the pre-spawn and post-spawn stages.

Trophy bass are more cold-tolerant than immature bass, as a result, large bass normally spawn

earlier than smaller bass. 

 

Roger

[TnRiver46]

+1 on what @RoLo said, they don’t all spawn simultaneously. If some are spawning, just as many if not more are NOT spawning 

[Quarry Man]

update: got out on the lake for the last two hours of the day. started off with moderate winds and then ended fairly calm. No fish deep, spent about 30 min fishing deep, decide to move shallow. Caught a 2.3 on a Neko rig shallow. Then threw a small swim jig and a KSIF on a ball head jig, no takers, switched to a naked freedom chatterbait and a KSIF, two fish right away. one dink one 3lber. Next I threw a buzz bait on the way back, missed a big blowup. switched back to the chatter and missed a pickerel twice in a row. was probably 3lbs also. looks like they were shallow. water temps 60-62.

[Manifestgtr]

5 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

In reality, every waterbody simultaneously experiences pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn periods.

That's Mother Nature's way of assuring ongoing survival. Differently put, when you see bass on the bed,

you can bet the ranch that other bass are in the pre-spawn and post-spawn stages.

Trophy bass are more cold-tolerant than immature bass, as a result, large bass normally spawn

earlier than smaller bass. 

 

Roger

This

 

...and I’ll add that since you’re up here by me in the northeast, not EVERY bass will spawn every year up here (everywhere but it’s more pronounced in the north from what I’ve heard). You can always count on at least some percentage not spawning. Since it’s such an insanely energy-consuming task, especially for bucks who will be put out for quite a while tending the nest, guarding the fry, etc...it’s just not feasible every calendar year.
 

I was actually a bit surprised...I took an almost 7 pound female earlier this week in a creek nowhere near the spawning grounds. I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around that one...

[Quarry Man]

32 minutes ago, Manifestgtr said:

This

 

...and I’ll add that since you’re up here by me in the northeast, not EVERY bass will spawn every year up here (everywhere but it’s more pronounced in the north from what I’ve heard). You can always count on at least some percentage not spawning. Since it’s such an insanely energy-consuming task, especially for bucks who will be put out for quite a while tending the nest, guarding the fry, etc...it’s just not feasible every calendar year.
 

I was actually a bit surprised...I took an almost 7 pound female earlier this week in a creek nowhere near the spawning grounds. I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around that one...

congrats on a big fish, especially for Mass. That is an interesting concept you have shared. Sounds believable. nonstop guarding for an extended period of time would be draining. Heck, after tearing my ACL and MCL a few months ago, im tired just walking for a few minutes.

 

p.s. I see you're in Lowell. I have family all around you. We'll have to fish sometime when im in town.

[Manifestgtr]

2 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

congrats on a big fish, especially for Mass. That is an interesting concept you have shared. Sounds believable. nonstop guarding for an extended period of time would be draining. Heck, after tearing my ACL and MCL a few months ago, im tired just walking for a few minutes.

 

p.s. I see you're in Lowell. I have family all around you. We'll have to fish sometime when im in town.

Nice! I’ll be around. 

[WRB]

If look at the spawn in 3 stages as noted pre (before egg laying) , spawn (egging laying)  and post (after egg laying). The bass move up to spawn in cycles that overlap, meaning females lay eggs more then 1 time and males only gaurd 1 nest.

The 1st group will be the bass that complete 3 stages 1st, the last group will be done last. The females laying eggs in more then 1 bed assures survival of the species.

The result the early birds fry are hatched before the later gators lay eggs.

Easiest bass to catch are initial wave of pre spawners and usually the biggest bass in the lake. Study articles on how to catch pre spawn bass and post spawn bass, they tend to be located in the same areas, deeper water near the bending sites.

Member Paul Roberts has a good video on the spawn cycle.

 

Tom

[Catt]

Structure 101 ?

 

Ya know where the beds are?

 

Look for breaklines leading away from the beds. As fhe female moves from bed to bed she will usually be 1 or 2 breaklines deeper than the beds.

[TriStateBassin106]

Having this problem aswell, many bluegill and bass are now spawning at my local pond, this period of fishing is probably one of the hardest of the year because the fish are doing so many different things, many fish are on beds not interested in what you throw, also female fish are cruising around not really interested in biting either. 

 

Edit: went out today and got skunked based on what I just said, not even the bedfish wanted anything to do with my baits. 

[Quarry Man]

caught two females deep near shallow spawning flats with grandpa when the I]wind and cold front moved in. textbook. Also caught a bunch of trout maybe 12 or so all 2lbs each bass were 3 and 2.5 lbs. not bad for a small lake