Questionwhat do you use during spawning season and what locations do you suggest? what do you suggest for night? and how do you fish cold fronts?
AnswerTim; This isn't a question it is the subject of half a dozen books. I will try to give you some ideas though on each part.
When it comes to fishing spawning bass my first bit of advice would be to fish the deeper water just off the spawning grounds unless you can see large bass in the shallows. The females come into thee shallows for only a short time. They then leave the care of the eggs and hatchlings to the males who are almost always smaller. The bigger females after spawning returin to deeper water. Personally this isn't a time I like to fish for bass. If you catch a male bass off the bed, even if you release him right away his nest has been desimated by the bluegills that he has been fending off. Even if he is out of the nest for only a couple of minutes those gills have eaten all the eggs. If you must fish fish for the bigger females further out. They are not in very good condition as the spawn is very stressful.
They will not fight very well and will be skinny.
If you must fish the beds, try a lizzard or a tube fished about 18 inches behind a small bell sinker attached to a swivil. Cast it past the nest and slowly bring the lizzard right through the nest. Often the fish will pick up the lizzard, carry it several feet away and drop it. If you try to set the hook you will usually get only the lizzard back because the fish has not tried to swallow it but rather simply took it away from the nest. If this happens cast back exactly where you did before and repeat. He may carry it away several times but eventually he will lose his temper and try to kill the lizzard and then swallow it. You can often tell when he does this because he will hit it much harder than before.
Where to look for spawning bass varies greatly from lake to lake and even more in rivers. Mostly it will, in a lake, be in very shallow water often less than two feet but close to deeper water so he can retreat if a cold front comes through or if there are too many fishermen tryijng to catch him in a small area. With the boat traffic on some lakes bass have changed their spawning from shallow water to deeper water to get away from the noise and constant traffic. If this is the case the best way is to talk to someone who fishes the lake or hire a guide.
I do not fish for spawning bass at night, unless they hit a topwater. When the sun gets down below treetops it is time for me to practice my favorite kind of fishing.
I tie on surface baits on all my rods except my spinning rod which is usually rigged with a worm or lizzard. I like to use a chug bug, dalton special, devils horse until it becomes completely dark.
I then go to my huge magnum jitterbug.
This used to be called a Muskie jitterbut but I catch bass with it. Just as it is getting dark I go to certain places where I have had good catches before. Some of these are shallow water and may contain spawning bass but most are in deeper water with weeds or standing timber. Then I simply start casting in a circle around the boat. or slowly move along a shoreline or channel line fan casting.
When cold fronts hit down here I usually stay home and watch TV. I have never done well after a cold front. If I can be on the water just the hour or two before the front passes I fish until the wind changes to the North or Northwest and then I go home. At times if a storm accompanies the cold front I get off the lake because I do not like lightning. If I were still fishing tourneyments and a cold front had come through the night before I would probably fish in that case. I would use much smaller lures, probably plastic worms or some other soft plastic. I would slow down until I could hardly stand it then double my retrieve time. I mean slower than slow. Also I would go smaller in my choice of lures and fish very very close to any cover and again slow slow slow.
It is difficult to slow down like this so that is one reason I seldom fish after a cold front.
Earlier I said that I do not fish bass on the beds. Down here in Georgia and Florida I doubt this harms fishing at all but further north the loss of a few beds of eggs to the gills will mean the bass population may be damaged and in many states and in many Canadian Provences fishing during the spawn is against the law. I used to fish bedding bass but now that I seldom keep the fish I catch anyway I just don't want to lose that bed. If where you fish it is legal to fish the beds then there is nothing wrong in doing so. It is just a personal thing with me.
I hope this has been of some use to you. As I said in the beginning books have or could be written on each of your questions
Please let me know if any of the ideas that I have given you have helped. Let me know if you have good success. You can do this either through All Experts or directly to my e-mail. My last question was from a mom who wanted her son to be able to catch a big bass they could see in the shallows of their lake. I suggested the lizzard and a couple weeks later I got a message that the boy had caught a 15 1/2 pounder using a lizzard. That made me feel very good.
[email protected]
