Prespawn forever?

[The Budget Angler]

Here in NC, our bass keep getting thrown around by rain.  It seems like every time we have a good stretch for them to start spawning, the rain comes through and sends them deep again.  At what point will they just spawn anyways?

 

Tight lines!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

There's a really good chance the biggest fish have spawned once already.  Heck it's mid April almost, I'd bet a lot of fish have spawned up there.   

 

I watched a video last night of Jason Christie where's he catching fish on bed in 55d water. 

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

They find a way to spawn even when you think they can’t.   There have been years on Kentucky Lake where the water level has gone up and down by 5 - 10 feet constantly.   You would think there is now way they could spawn.  They always find a way.

[spartyon8]

Last week I was fishing Lake Norman and then Watauga Lake in Eastern Tennessee. I was catching some big girls in full blown prespawn with some about to burst. I have a feeling TN Boy is right, there will come a moment when they say just drop wherever/whenever. None of my fish were under 3lbs so it's time! I did find one bed on Norman but there wasn't any sign of life around it. 

[Pat Brown]

They are spawning everywhere and have been for months BUT they have been way more 'waves' of fish that slide up and back and it's way more confusing than years where the spring is warmer.

 

On the big lakes it's not the way it was last year with seemingly every fish on the lake on bed at once.

 

It's more like the little areas that SHOULD fire first are firing and the rest of the lake is slow to catch up as the water progressively stabilizes in the low 60s.

 

I have been catching pre spawners, post spawners and bed fish all month on ponds and lakes all from the exact same areas.  They're just kinda all over the place and in many different stages.

[FishTax]

I'm looking forward to being back on some lakes and maybe a pond this week. Recovering from my skunk on mountain streams, missing my big girls back in the home lakes 😎

[The Budget Angler]

23 minutes ago, FishTax said:

I'm looking forward to being back on some lakes and maybe a pond this week. Recovering from my skunk on mountain streams, missing my big girls back in the home lakes 😎

It's been rough out there, man.  I'm not sure what's been up, but in 3 trips I've only gotten one dink.  I'm probably gonna go after school on Wednesday, so let's hope the big mommas are hungry!   I'm seeing beds, but I can't tell if they're old or new.  Seen a few bass guarding fry balls, but couldn't get them to commit to a crank, texas rig, or a whopper plopper.  I think I'm gonna try a suspending jerkbait next, keep it in the strike zone longer.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

If you're seeing fry balls, then your fish at a min. started spawning at the beginning of April.   7-14 days from laying eggs to fry "swim up".     

 

Those are males guarding the fry balls, and they'll always run away once they detect you....not far though.     They don't behave during this stage like they do when defending or locked on a bed. 

 

If you want to catch those fry guarders, stay off the bank where you think beds are located or already observed, or make long parallel casts down it with a whacky worm, and a buzzbait.     

 

You can assume at least a portion of your females are in a "post spawn" funk, likely the biggest fish.   They might spawn again, but you'll likely have another wave, one that is bigger in numbers leading up to the next full moon which is the 23rd.   

 

You might already know all the above, so no disrespect if you do.     

[The Budget Angler]

@AlabamaSpothunter Didn't know any of that.  Dumb question: how can I tell if a bed is active or old?  I assume I've been spooking fish off of beds but the water is too murky for me to see anything other than the outline of the bed.  Any advice and criticism is welcome!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Near the end of true pre spawn (meaning no fish have spawned yet), the males will flood the shallows and create beds a number of days before the females are ready to start spawning, then they try to steer/court females onto their beds and will repeat this process as many times as he can throughout the spawning cycle.  During this period the male is continually "fanning" the bed to oxygenate laid eggs and keep any debris from building up on the eggs and suffocating them.  So, in short, the bed might be 3 weeks old, but it'll appear "shiny" or clean as long as he's courting or guarding/fanning laid eggs. 

 

I can't say yet based on 1st hand observations if the males will abandon the fry ball to repeat the cycle for a second or maybe even third spawning moon cycle.  Or if he recycles the bed, builds a new, or calls it good after one round.    

 

But for a timeline perspective, the male is:

 

day 1: building a nest

 

day 4: courting females

 

day 6-8: has a female locked onto the bed, and they're actively spawning

 

day 22:  laid eggs finally undergo "swim up" stage and form fry balls, male begins to hyper focus on the fry ball's defense and stops fanning/guarding the bed.

 

day 29:  male has been continually guarding the fry balls

 

***Females can make beds as well, but it's not commonplace.  

 

As for advice, 

 

If you can barely see those shiny spots, just make mental notes of it and stay a good bit back and then make your presentations.      

 

It's mind blowing, and equally frustrating how much harder the females are to catch once they discover you the first time.    Way easier imho to catch big females in the "blind" casting to high percentage bedding areas.     

 

Throw a Pegged/T-Rigged creature bait, and/or skip that whacky worm especially on the back side of docks, and under overhanging trees/bushes.    

 

I learned the hard way at least for my fish that during the spawn (when females are actually present near a bed), moving baits aren't the best way to go.     Lots of people preach to move lots during the spring and some days that's true especially after that first true wave of bigger fish spawning, but if you're fishing for bigger spawning females.....a very targeted approach with a much slower presentation is deadly, and I haven't had the same level of success with a moving bait.   

 

Lastly, I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, I've just nerd'd out on the spawn as it's really fascinating to me.    Most of the above is based on first hand observations on my home lake that has several feet of viz and easily observable beds.    So like most advice in fishing, it's mainly applicable to my own lake and fish population 🙃