Form past experience I have found that catching bass right after the span to be a challange. As I wont be able to go fishing in the next three weeks I think that I will not have much of a chance to do any sight fishing for the big girls. Do any of you have any sugestions for post spawn patterns for trophy bass? Are trout plugs effective at this time or would it be in my best intrest to stick to jigs and other baits that I can work slower at various depths?

Thanks

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

John

Post spawn can be a really good time to fish. Usually right after spawning the fish go and hunker down somewhere to recuperate for a few days. But pretty soon they start getting hungry and the fish start to transition into a summer time pattern. Post spawn is a great time to throw the trout baits, especially the surface running stuff. Other traditionally good post spawn baits are buzzbaits and crankbaits. If you're fishing somewhere with weedbeds, I would definitely look in the weeds. On some lakes you can start to get a good pop-r bite in the shallow coves in the evening. I've also done pretty well on post spawn fish using dropshot around weedbeds and outside of the spawning areas.

Remember, in every lake fish spawn and move shallow at different times. Some lakes will have bed fish in June. Other lakes will be post spawn by the end of April. If you read the reports from San Diego area it sounds like the fish are already out chasing bait and in post spawn. At Clear Lake, the main spawn hasn't even happened yet.

Anyway just some basic thoughts and techniques to try out.

Question,

So on Lake X we found that the bass were spawning during the last full moon. Did all of the bass spawn during this time or will some bass spawn early and other spawn later on the same lake? Let's say a lake the size of Coyote for example.

I picked up a few books at the library the past couple of weeks to refresh my memory on bass spawning habits, however none of the books covered this topic. Does anyone know of an indepth article/source on bass spawning habits that could help answer this question?

Thank,

Vince
vince@theblankslate.com

There is always going to be fish that spawn earlier and later than the "main" spawn. On a big lake like Clear Lake this is especially true because the water temp and conditions vary throughout the lake. On a small lake like Shadow Cliffs I would expect that most of the fish would spawn on the "main" spawn but even then you'll have plenty of fish before and after. I sometimes wonder if the same fish spawn more than once during the spring. I don't know the answer to this, does anyone know? If you have a lake that is pretty clear you can watch this unfold during the spring months. If the lake is muddier like San Pablo or Coyote it's harder to see what is going on.

Not sure if this answers your questions, but of the 3 books I found that covered bass spawning habits from the Sunnyvale library I received slightly varied results.

In one book published in 1964, it said that the males only guard one nest for the spawn. Females can have 30,000 - 50,000 eggs and usually will spawns at sometimes 3 or more nests depending on how big the male is and the size of nest that he can handle. Males can often have nests of 15,000 - 60,000+ eggs and will stay on that nest untill for up to a week after the eggs are hatched.


Another books published in 1983 or 1984 said that average females hold 60,000 - 100,000 eggs and will generally lay eggs at 4 and up nests depending on the number of male nests, size of water, etc. Most males will hold around 50,000 to 200,000 (meaning the big boys) and will stay 7 - 10 days after the fish have hatched.


Both books sited bibliographies to research and also talked in detail about small mouths, largemouths, spotted, Northern vs. Florida strains, cross breeding, etc.

I'm willing to bet that this data is a bit out of date, however it shows that the females will typically spawn with different partners and at different times.

BTW, both books mentioned that bigger bass spawned earlier than the average bass. Seeing as how water temp in the SF Bay Area lakes didn't reach the magic temp until this past full moon, I would assume that the bigger bass already spawned out.

Vince
vince@theblankslate.com

The bass in the Bay Area are not close to being done spawning, even they trophys, they are just begining. Last year I hooked a 17+ on it's nest in late May, and this winter has been later than last winter. Some will still be on beds in June for sure.

Vince - if you live in the San Jose area, maybe we could arrange to meet somewhere, if you'd be interested in borrowing my videotape. They have some awesome, *unforgettable* scenes, along with the great narration.

p.s. The full moon definitely seems to 'lock 'em on,' from what I remember of the video. And, yes, the spawn can spread over the course of several months on a given body of water. A female can also make more than one deposit of eggs in a given spawning season.

- jeff

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Every day Congress convenes, we lose a little more of our LIBERTY!!!

(-- Mark Levin, radio-show host/KSFO 3-6pm)

Yeah, I'd like that. I also have a handful of videos if you'd like to borrow them as well. I'm actually waiting for an order from Bass Pro tomorrow with a few new videos from their collection.

This weekend I have some friends coming in from out of town and we're going to be doing the "tourist" thing all weekend except for Sun morning when we go fishing (probably coyote). Let's meet up sometime early next week and we can swap videos if there's anything in my collection that you would like to borrow.

Feel free to email me at vince@theblankslate.com and should shoot for early next week after work or during lunch. BTW, I'm in Sunnyvale.

Thanks Jeff.

Vince
vince@theblankslate.com