In the spawn, which lures work best

[BassHunter266]

I live in florida so the bass habits might be different.

[Banor]

I havent fished much further south than Kentucky but from what I've read and from experience the spawn is the spawn is the spawn if you are talking about bed fishing.  When they are locked onto beds you have to do one of two things....  Imitate a predator wanting their eggs and work the lure into the bed or beat them on the head with a bait until they are mad enough to pick it up and move it.  Either way it involves accurate flipping/pitching with some type of soft plastic or atleast something you can be very accurate and methodical in working the bed.

I've done and seen it done both ways.  Way #1 is much less painstaking as way #2.  

I'm sure Avid and some of the other Florida anglers can fill your ear full.

B

[Chris at Tech]

It's also helpful to use a visible color, like white, so you can see the bait's position on the bed.

[Valascus]

Two of a bass' main predators when it comes to their eggs are lizards and bluegill. Bass will annihilate these lures if they see them on their beds. I do not pitch or flip directly onto the bed. Instead I cast well past it and work the lure back onto the bed. I have found that flipping or pitching directly onto a bed just seems to spook the fish...then again, I am not that great at either. Still practicin'. Lures I suggest are any soft plastic lizard you can get your hands on (I prefer YUM! Zellemander's and ZOOM's Magnum Lizards) and bluegill swimbaits. MattLures Swimbaits are very good bedfishing lures, they are expensive, but when you are stickin' bedding fish left and right I would imagine cost is no longer an issue. I usually T-rig my lizards with as light a weight as I can get away with.

Another type of presentation that is often overlooked for bedfishing is the dropshot rig. This presentation gets your bait onto the bed for the longest amount of time, essentially being able to just be left their until the fish gets irritated enough to clobber the lure.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

my weapon of choice would be a 6 inch black with red flake lizzard all the way

[Banor]

Agree with the drop shot.  That is something I am going to try next year.  I think it could be very productive.

B

[jomatty]

i love lizards in the spring as well but rarely use them for bed fishing.  

when im fishing beds ill often use a wacky rig senko.  deadly.  its so hard for a bass to resist them when they are quivering down and then deadsticked in front of them.  ill often use a creature of some sort as well, like a nory bug or other.  crawfish are good as well.  actually im not sure it makes a huge difference what you throw on the bed.  whatever it is, the bass dosent like it there.  if you sink a coke can on her nest she is likely to eventually move it.  when i use a coke can i put a set of trebles on the tab, as everyone knows that bass often attack the front of a lure

i dont mind bright colored baits and going by the coke can theory it usually dosent make a big difference.  i do stay away from the florescent colors and if i want something i can see i use white.  sometimes it does make a difference and moer natural colors are better.

many times a bass that does not seem catchable just needs to be agitated enough.  youve got to make em mad.  ill throw a number of lures at them and eventually they will get mad enough to strike.  the funny thing is that in my experience if you miss her as long as she didnt get hooked she will continue to hit again until you catch her.  when they get mad they seem to stay mad.

matt

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Anything that can sit still in the nest or be shaken.  

Weighted offerings can be kept in the nest easier and longer.

Visible colors are an aid till you get the jist of the whole dance.

It's mmore about  how much time are you willing to put into getting a certain fish and if you are ok with pressuring it at such a critical time of year.

[NJfishinGuy]

i wonder if a bass is protecting a bed of eggs and u catch him what happens to all those bass eggs, will the bass go back to them or will he take off and those eggs and potential baby bass go eatin or die , if they wont go back it sounds to me like a really bad way to slow down the population of bass in a lake

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

They go directly back to the nest.

[Banor]

^^ What LBH said.

You can spook them, catch them, beat them on the head and otherwise tick them off and they will not leave that nest if they are "locked on".

B

[NJfishinGuy]

well then i feel much better cause i did catch a large sucker probably 5lbs off a nest once i think ill be hitting those spawners nex srping hardcore now i dont feel bad. when do they actually next? late april/may

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

It's different everywhere.

There are factors that need to line up, temp being the biggest.

[senile1]

well then i feel much better cause i did catch a large sucker probably 5lbs off a nest once i think ill be hitting those spawners nex srping hardcore now i dont feel bad. when do they actually next? late april/may

NJFG, some of your bass will begin to spawn when temps are in the upper 50s to low 60s while a bunch will still be on the pre-spawn deeper-water edges of your spawning flats.  As the temps warm into the mid to upper 60s alot more bass will move up to spawn, while some will be finished and will move off.  So, theoretically, you could have three patterns to fish at once:  pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn.  I usually fish when I can get out there so I don't time the spawn, but there are a number of anglers who believe that the first full moon with temps in the spawning range will bring up a bunch of fish to spawn.  These are the things you should look for to determine when the fish in your area are spawning.