Bed Fishing Scenario ..... need some help ...w/pic

[KU_Bassmaster.]

OK here's the situation: (Bird's Eye View)

Not let me explain the pic. "A", "B", and "C" are all beds with male bass on them. B and C both have about 2 lbs males and A has a 3 lbs. male that I posted yesterday in "Caught the male ........". Now yesterday the female (BIG I am going to say at least 6 lbs maybe pushing 8) was basically lurking around beds A and B, but seemed to be favoring A a little bit. Now this morning she was definitely favoring B ...... big time, but not commiting at all. In fact she never even was actually on the bed. The closest she got was maybe 2-4 ft. The red line I drew was her path that she repeated over and over again until it got too windy and I couldn't see a thing. Every once in a while she will stop for a few minutes. One time she did this and I pitched my bait past her and slowly vounced it past her and she immediately swam off. The water temps are in the mid to high 60's. It looks like we are going to have a minor cold spell this week that started last night. The low dropped down to near 40 and the high is going to be near 70 for about the next week.

My questions are: Is she going to commit to one of the beds soon? If so, will it be "B" which she seems to be favoring now even though A has a considerably bigger male on it? (BTW, bed B is more eye appealing ... at least to me. It's in about 5 ft of water and the bed actually sits on top of a small hump that maybe rises a foot or so) Is there any way to catch her effectively when she is just lurking like this?

I only learned how to sight fish about 2 years ago, but feel like I got pretty darn good at it last year. So far I have never see anything like this situation where a female will lurk around 3 beds but not commit to one of them.

Oh yeah ... and the beds are probably all in about a 20 foot radius from one another and the arrow at the bottom points at which way I am looking at this. I am also fishing from the bank since I am up at school right now if that makes a differnce. I am thinking I am going to bring my boat up here this weekend and hit it from the other angle.

[Peter E.]

a female bass does not commit to just one bed she will scatter her eggs in a few different beds. To catch her i would go with a senko wacky rigged weightless or go for a reaction strike. If the baits you threw her way spooked her downsize your presentation and work toward softer landings on your casts. As t the rest i would say that it would be trial and error each bass is different even though we as anglers sometimes pick up on a hot pattern and think that all the fish are eating that thing. Good luck, and don't forget ultra light jigs.

Peter

[Matt Fly]

I was always taught to not chase them, by that I mean cast towards them when they are swimming and off the bed.   Can I ask how far off you are from the nest?   Is this a pressured area where she might have been stuck already and she's nervous due to the boats close proximity.

[5bass]

KU,the same thing is happening where I fish.The fish are basically just roaming in certain little areas but you cant figure out their moods.I would just throw something small onto the place where she always comes back to,even if you have to let it sit a while......this may trigger something if she comes back and sees something already on her nest.You may have to leave it for a few of her "laps around the farm". Either way,keep everything as natural looking and as small as you can. If she looks at your bait and goes on by,switch baits and do it again,I'm sure eventually,if you change baits enough,she'll see something she likes.

Another thing to try is to back away from the bed about a cast length,and run a Spook above the beds.That works sometimes but you have to be pretty much out of their sight when it happens.

Oh yeah,set your drag!

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

It isn't normal for a female to shop for beds. Normal is for a male to prepare a bed then go out and coax a female to come to his bed. She will join him on the bed fora few minutes of "enjoyment", lay some of her eggs on that one bed, then remain no longer than the next day helping the male protect the eggs, then leave. The male has it all to himself until fry swim away. If eggs are on those beds that female is keeping a distance from those males which would butt her away if she crosses a certain line. Each male has his "sweet spot" in which whatever gets there will be killed, injured, or escorted away. It might be each sweet spot in which a bait will be most effective is on the sides of the beds towards where the female is cruising. If you drop say a lizard in one of those sweet spots the male will beat the female to it everytime unless he's busy chasing a bream out of it. While he's doing that another bream can sweep in and gulp a mouthfull of eggs, or maybe the female can do that, or eat a bream doing that.

If there are no eggs on those beds and haven't been, then the males are waiting for ideal conditions before selecting their females from downstream. One female won't put eggs on all 3 beds for each of 3 males. No way.

Jim

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I was always taught to not chase them, by that I mean cast towards them when they are swimming and off the bed. Can I ask how far off you are from the nest? Is this a pressured area where she might have been stuck already and she's nervous due to the boats close proximity.

That's what I have always heard too ....... never cast to them while they are off their bed.  I just did this one time to see if I could get a reaction strike from her on a wacky rigged senko.  One time was enough to stop me from doing it again .

I am standing a good 20 yards off .... I am pretty sure visiblity isn't an issue.

I am pretty sure she hasn' been stuck yet.  This is KS remember, where 90% of the people think the only things in the lake are crappie. ;D  Plus if there was any other bass guys out there sight fishing, she was REAL hard to see.  The only reason I even saw her was because when I caught the male off bed A, the huge clump of what I though was grass moved.  And as far as boat pressure I am pretty sure that is not a issue either.  This is a small lake that maybe sees 10 boats a day on it at different times.  That being said that coul;d make her even more boat leary, but I am fishing from the bank right now.  If I don't catch her by Friday, I am going to go home nad get my boat and see if dragging bait through the opposite way intice her.

[Randall]

Most people look for fish to stay on the bed to catch them but most females only stay on beds when they are dropping eggs. After that they will roam on and off them but still want to protect them. They may also put eggs on two beds when they are close like that. The best way to catch that fish is to put a lure on the back side of the bed and wait as long as it takes for the fish to swim over the bed. I have left a tube as long as 30 minutes with out moving it waiting for a fish to swim by or come back.   As it swims over bring the lure at the fish. Do this as many times as it takes to get the attention of the fish and get her to stay on the bed longer. Once she gets to where she is looking at the bait and staying better you have a chance to catch her. My guess is you have already lost your chance but I have seen females stay for as many as five days in colder water. As the water gets to the upper sixties and seventies the stay is much shorter. Most stay one day in 70+ degree water.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I have tried leaving my bait on the back of the bed like you have said ...... problem is the d**n male keeps picking it up and taking it off.  I've tried catching the male and taking him a few hundred yards down the bank and releasing him to see if I could just get the female one on one.  During that 15 minutes or so the female was no where to be found.  As soon as the male returned ..... a couple minutes later .... you guessed it, here comes the female lurking around.  I have also yet to see the female chase anything ......  The male on the other hand is chasing things off left and right.  She is one lazy bass ... letting the man do all the work ;D

[bassnleo]

I like the the idea of a bait on the surface over the beds. I have several Rapala floating stickbaits that I've modified. I cast them to he general areas of the beds, give the short jerk, let it sit.

The bait was modified by shaving some of the bills off so it dosen't dive. I also weight the tail w/ suspend strips so it sits tail downward when at rest. When it's jerked it kind of just fizzes the surface. Dunno why it works, but have had great success with it around bedded fish.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I checked on her first thing this morning and to my suprsie she was on the bed . I thought she would have been long gone. So I caught the male and let him go 50 yards or so down the bank. I finally had some one on one time with her, and she made me pay. She ruined my $20 bait!!!!! > It took three cast and she swirled on it and felt her pulling line so I set the hook. She obviuosly olny had the tail and after that she was long gone. I didn't see her for the rest of the day. I think it's over. :'( :'( She definitley won this battle.