Understanding The Spawn

[Detroit3Pistons]

I know that the spawn is coming up and don't really understand how it takes place. Here's what I know, the male comes up and makes the nest and waits for a female to lay the eggs (Am I right so far?). Once the female lays the eggs what is her next move. I have read and know that the male is easy to catch but where doe's the female go when he's guarding the bed? I've heard of people saying that they've seen some big fish cruising (the females). Is that what they do afetr she lays the eggs just cuise around?

Thanks

[KSimm19]

Actually from what I know, I think the females sit on the eggs while the males cruise around. You can catch some bedding females by laying some lizards in front of their faces. good fishing...

[gone_bassin]

Largemouth bass usually spawn between mid-April and mid-June. Nests are constructed by the male in 1 to 6 feet of water. The female lays between 2,000 and 20,000 eggs in several different nests; one nest can contain eggs from several females. The male guards the eggs until they have hatched.

im not actualy the one who wrote this, i just found it the other day and i remembered so here it is,

im sure the spawn also dependes on how warm the water is as well though  

[roadwarrior]

In the Midsouth the smallmouth spawn is early, it may have already started. All fish of the same species, on the same body of water,  do not spawn at exactly the same time. I don't fish bedding fish but I do fish for monster sows in their prespawn staging pattern.

We are catching big girls in deeper water near, but not on spawning flats. These fish are very aggressive right now. I think we'll catch some big fish over the next three or four weeks. Then it's striper season for me!

[Raul]

The spawning begins when the water temperature gets to 55° and stays stable at that temperature for at least 5 days in a row for at least 8 days regardless of the air temperature, once that temperature parameter has been reached males begin building the nest in shallow water and if it 's not available the nest will be built at a depth where enough sunglight reaches the bottom preferably on sandy bottom. The nest building takes about a week, after that period of time females come from deeper water towards the nesting area and begin choosing the nest, once they have chosen the nest and the male guarding it the courtship begins, this normally takes 2-3 days, after the courtship finishes they begin laying eggs. For 4-7 days both parents guard the nest after that the female abandons the nest and heads for deeper water leaving the nest to the male. The male stays in the nest as long as the eggs hatch ( which depends on the water temperature, at 72 ° it takes 6 days ) and the fry develops, once the fry has reached 7-10 mm in length and are free swimming the male abandons them, all the process, from the moment of egg laying to the time the fry are free swimming takes 35-50 days depending upon the temperature of the water.

[Danarchy]

Raul pretty much summed it up. I've watched bass spawn from shore numerous times. I saw small males stationed all around the lake, some on rocks, some on sand, and some on gravel. It appears that the male picks the spot and waits for a fine lookin female to chose his spot. I've witnessed the males nip at the females' tail, trying to get them to stay. It was almost like they were flirting. I guess if the female doesn't feel comfortable with the area, she'll probably move on to find a safer haven for her eggs, or maybe she was looking for a bigger male. But then again, size doesn't matter, does it? You can never fully understand females, no matter how hard you try.