Bass on the beds???

[mhall]

I hit two different ponds last night and caught a bunch of buck bass, however I think every female in both ponds was sitting on the nest. Here we are almost in May and the bedding cycle is starting again after that cold snap, what a wierd spring. My question is this, are you guy's seeing the bedding bass in the big lakes some too, I had a tough go of it this past weekend at my favorite haunts and this time of year that doesn't normally happen to me????????

[CTFSHWHISKER]

fished the usa bassin at rough this weekend,caught a lot of fish and i looked for bed fish for an hour or so and didn't see a single fish,and it was clear, nor did i see a bed,we had a little over 11lb and i didn't get a bloody tail fish.we even caught alot of fish deeper than 8ft.i'm sure after this week they will be back up to the spawning areas.the couple of ponds i fish and simpson here in bardstown had bedding fish before the cold spell.

[BASSKING]

I hit one of my honey holes saturday . its a small lake around 100 acres, The bass were locked on the bed. tried everything and couldnt even get a look. the lake is full of grass and rock at one point the trolling motor bumped into a big slab of rock and one of the biggest bass ive ever seen in this lake ran out from under. she was around 18-20 inches and i could see her in abot 3 1/2 foot of water threw a few different lures at her and she wasnt even looking.bed fishing is not my specialty. she was not the biggest bass in the world but she was big for this lake.

[Bigboy]

I just watched a show that was promoting the Aquavu underwater camera,
they have been finding out that bass spawn all the way thru june and they also bed in water up to 20 feet deep. They are going to do a lot more research on it. This info may not effect how you fish, but the fish are evolving and things might get tougher and tougher and you won't even notice because everyone blames weather, fishing pressure, or to much boat traffic.

Bigboy

[CTFSHWHISKER]

as clear as rough and nolin are on the main lake right now i would figure they could nest down to 10ft probably.I also saw them nesting on top of big flat rocks at nolin a couple years ago that was a first for me.

[mhall]

I just watched a show that was promoting the Aquavu underwater camera,
they have been finding out that bass spawn all the way thru june and they also bed in water up to 20 feet deep. They are going to do a lot more research on it. This info may not effect how you fish, but the fish are evolving and things might get tougher and tougher and you won't even notice because everyone blames weather, fishing pressure, or to much boat traffic.

Bigboy

This is exactly what me and Netboy was talking about over the weekend in that how much role does the spawn play in the big lakes and for how long. Very interesting stuff for sure. I was convinced the smallmouth were through with the spawn however I caught one Saturday that was way back in the head of the creek and it's tail was all beat off, 15 1/2 incher and looked to still be bedding to me. I've seen green bass bed way up into June before but I figured the smalljaws would be done by now. My bite I was on just shut down and without blaming all the usual stuff I was very surprised because it's usually a very good time of year for me to catch fish off of my spots, Hmmmm.

[adamchasejones]

A lot of people are thinking that the spawn is occurring all at once. Spawning occurs in waves. I would have bet big money they were on the nest in march with some of the SM and LM I was catching with big guts and some had bloody tails. But lately I've had some with bloody tails again. I think the unpredicatable weather has spread the spawn out a lot more than usual. I think up until mid-late may you may still see fish on the nest in KY

[ranger42151]

I think that the weather doesn't have whole lot to do with when fish spawn. Fish spawn at different times and this has to do with egg development. Fish will only spawn when their eggs are ready not when the weather is right. As everyone knows not all fish spawn at the same time, that is why you will see bloody tails in March and in May and June because that is when their eggs are developed. Just my opinion. What do you all think.

[Stonewall2002]

I too was down at Rough and have to say that we cought a few fish, but none on the bed and none with bloody tails. Water temp has something to do with the spawning process, but not the only factors. From all of the research I have done on the process lenght of day and moon phase play a factor as well. Also, if a lake is usually clear and becomes murkey/muddy, the fish will hold their eggs and wait for the lake to clear up some, that way their eggs are not covered with silt. Its not uncommon to see spawning fish as late as the end of June. I cought a 6.5lb last year on Rough with a bloody tail in mid June. Also, a single lake may have numerous spawns, with several "waves" of fish taking their turn, the largest USUALLY going first. The warm March followed by the unseasonably cool April has definately affected the usual pattern.

Keep on chuckin'

[SuperSprint007]

I was down in Tenn fishing Douglas April 1 and had three big mamas close to 5lb and two of the three had bloody tails. We had 70+ water temps down there at that time. It was also a full moon around that time... not many of the fish seemed to be on the beds there though...

[R19]

On Green River Lake I saw 10 or more beds Monday. Only one of them had a big female locked on the bed. The other beds had males circling around the bed. There is a ton of buck bass up shallow. I agree with the statement that not all bass spawn at once. This is the second round for the largemouth on Green. A few nested in late March early April during the warm up we had. I have seen Largemouth locked on the nest in March April May June and July. I would bet that for evey nest I see at the lake there is 10 times that many more out deeper that what I can see.

I have spent countless hours trying to catch and release shallow bedded fish with little or no luck. I have had good sucess on targeting bedding fish in the 4-8 ft depth range. You can have the backs of the pockets I want the banks leading into the back.


R19

[MASBASS]

A local lake that I fish went on bed this week, we had not seen any until Sunday. According to what I have read the average water temp has to be right and in the lakes that have a big difference between summer and winter pool some studies seem to suggest that they will wait for the water to reach summer pool or very close before bedding. It takes a certain water temp for the eggs to hatch. That is what I have read anyway.