Spawning bass....

[SteveM4A1]

If you catch a bass that has yellow eggs coming out of its anus then you may have a female bass that's near spawning.

The males sweep the nest and guard the nest not the females. The females just coming in later to laid their eggs and then they leave. The males are the fish guarding the nests after the eggs are laid.

Right now the crappie are not even ready to spawn. Yes the water's warm enough but the timing is not right. Fish spawn no only according to the water temperature but also due to the amount of daylight and night time ratio. The length of the day is just as important as the water temperature.

I have always hear that bass spawn after the crappie spawn.

All the crappie don't spawn at one time. They spawn in waves with the biggest fish getting the prime spawning spots first.

I have been opening up the crappie that I have been catching at Loon Pit in the Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife area in Warrick County way down here in the SW Indiana area. The crappie eggs are not ripe yet. They are getting closer though.

Water temps at the surface in 8 ft of water are around 76 deg F two days ago. I didn't get out the last two days. But it's been in the 80's the last two days and not getting that cold at night.

The dogwood are blooming down here in the Evansville, IN area. They have been in bloom for the last half week.

If the bass are in the shallows that does not mean that they are spawning . They do come shallow to soak up this warm water and to feed on the shad and other fish that are in the shallows. There is a lot more food in the shallow waters this time of the year when it's so warm.

Remember that each body of water will warm up slower of faster depending on the amount of water in the lake. Some of the pits down here at Bluegrass are small in acres but very deep and have a lot of water in them. They may take longer to warm up because they can be as deep as 55 ft . And the deep water areas can take up almost 40% of the lakes total area. That's a lot of water to warm up vs a small 2 acre pond that's only about 10 ft deep.

I believe most bass fisheries biologists would contradict you in that water temperature is the number one factor of bass spawn behavior. Temperature controls everything bass do, and their nest sites are perfect examples of that. In the places I have fished, the crappie I have been catching have been done spawning for more than 2 weeks. And I highly doubt when I go fishing tomorrow, that I will see bass spawning still going on. By that I mean that most, where I fish, have probably spawned out.

And the dogwoods bloomed more than two weeks ago. I live on the east side and every dogwood in my area is done.

[JustinM]

I'll be at bluegrass tomorrow and let you know what I see. Oh and bluegrass is much much deeper than 55'. Two place are over 90'.

[Stevens]

I'll be at bluegrass tomorrow and let you know what I see. Oh and bluegrass is much much deeper than 55'. Two place are over 90'.

I fished loon today, and i really dont know.. i caught a bunch of males on lizards in spots a bed could be and only caught one female. Water temps are in the 70s now.. i think theyre spawning, if you catch a male up shallow tomorrow throw right back in there.. thats something i didnt do a whole lot of today but wish i would have.

[JustinM]

I'll give it a go Stevens. I'll be on bluegrass tomorrow. People on loon have me wanting to kill someone lately. I don't know what it is but every time on loon I run into stupid rude people lately. Let's hope the thunder storms hold off enough tomorrow to get out. And the cold front doesn't mess up patoka for me on Saturday and Sunday.

[psvec]

I'll be at bluegrass tomorrow and let you know what I see. Oh and bluegrass is much much deeper than 55'. Two place are over 90'.

was going to go to the river and prefish for the up going tournament out of angel mounts tommorrow, but with the wind gusting about 25, might go to one of the bluegrass pits, might try otter sat then river sunday, anybody fish otter this year, i used to fish it alot and caught some big fish, but just one or two then the rest would be small.