When do freshwater bass spawn

Once the fertilized eggs are deposited in the nest, the real work begins for the male. This self-imposed fasting has its drawbacks, such as exhaustion and even death. By harvesting the guarding male, you not only lose the individual, but also the offspring. Once a nest is abandoned, no other male will take over the task of protecting and fanning the eggs.

As well, the prime spawners are often the larger, older members of the population. Of course, many anglers are not interested in harvesting nesting bass—they just want to catch and release them. And the more predators there are, or the longer capture time, the greater the potential loss of offspring. Eventually, there comes a point when the male concedes enough is enough. Extreme exhaustion may even lead to his death. Is a few extra weeks of fishing worth the risk?

Let's take a look at their diet. Check out our guide for choosing live bait for bass. We recommend that you work the edges of cover like weeds, target nests carefully, and generally choose more bottom-oriented techniques and lures during the spawn. Slow your fall, use premium hooks, and match the hatch when possible. One of our favorite tools to trigger such a reaction strike is a Zoom Brush Hog.

Whether you rig this bad boy weedless to work heavy cover, or just rig it with a wide-gap hook and harass males protecting their nests, its irresistible action, flavor, and smell are really effective.

Another top choice is a good jerkbait, like the Rapala Shad Rap. Check out our recommended jerkbait rods for bass. The right way to fish this lure is, not your reel. Check out our top choices for bass fishing line. The trick is to avoid repeating a pattern.

I like to toss these at points near spawning beds, working 5 to 10 feet of water. But as summer brings the heat, I also twitch these down the edges of weedbeds, relatively snag-free cover, and any structure I think is holding hungry bass. A final option we love are plastic worms and senkos, whether you nose rig them and allow them to drop down the edges of weeds, pilings, and other cover, or drop shot rig them and work the edges of weed beds and nests. Go with bright color patterns in stained water and natural patterns in clear water.

The crankbait should run deep enough to bump bottom. A jig tipped with a plastic craw is another good option to slowly explore an area. Use black and blue in stained water and pumpkin or watermelon in clear water. Bass will begin looking for the warmest available water and start to move into the shallows as soon as these areas warm under the spring sun.

Shallow, stained lakes will warm the fastest, and bass in these waters will move shallow earlier than those in deeper, clear lakes. Look to the northern sections of a large lake, particularly south-facing shorelines that are exposed to the sun for long periods of the day and protected from cold northern winds. Protected, shallow coves will also retain water that warms quickly in the spring.

Avoid shaded areas and areas exposed to wind that will mix the water. Once the water temperature in spawning coves is above the degree mark, bass will move shallow and spawn.

However, water temperature in the shallows can change rapidly—literally overnight. A cold front can chase the bass off the beds and send them deep until the weather stabilizes. If you were catching them a foot off the bank before the cold front, try 5 to 10 feet off the bank and closer to the bottom after water temperatures drop.

You will see spawning beds on the warmest, most protected sections of the lake first. Bass spawn in shallow water on a hard bottom, preferably next to some sort of cover like a stump, dock piling, tree or bush, which helps protect them from wind and predators. Some bass are spawning while some are still moving up. So when shallow bass are unresponsive, target the bass that are staging in deeper water. Though bass in shallow water are often more aggressive, they also experience more angling pressure than bass holding in deeper water.

Shift your focus to the mid-range fish and you will be rewarded. Article: Jigging for Largemouth Bass. When you see the smaller male sitting on the bed, know that there may be a large female waiting somewhere nearby—fish the deeper water leading up to the spawning bed for a shot at this bigger fish.

When the time is right, the female will move up and spawn, only holding in the shallow water for a short period of time. If you choose to target bass on their spawning beds, it can be very easy at times. The less you are seen by the bass, the easier it will be to get them to bite. Low-light conditions and wind will help camouflage you.

The most basic way to fish for bedding fish is throwing a 4- or 5-inch Texas-rigged soft-plastic bait past the bed and slowly moving it into the bed. If the bass picks it up, wait a second and set the hook.

After the spawn, the larger female bass will move off to the outskirts of the spawning area to recuperate from the stresses of the spawn while the smaller male protects the eggs and fry.

After the bass spawn, bluegills move into the same areas and set up shop. This is a great time to catch big bass. Bass will wait at ambush points during bluegill spawning and readily eat lures worked past these points. The best spots are shoreline points on either side of a spawning cove, shoreline pockets, the front and sides of a downed tree, dock, or any kind of large structure near the bluegill beds. When you find early season bluegill beds, know the bass are somewhere close. Post-spawn bass hold in shoreline cover as the spring weather stabilizes.

Weed lines have not yet set up, so bass are keying in on trees and brush. Article: Jerk Shads for Spring Bass.

Summer bass fishing can be tough. The longer days, hotter temperatures and direct sunlight can send bass from the shoreline areas to deeper summer haunts. The best times to fish are early morning, the last two hours of daylight, cloudy days and nighttime.

While productive depths during the early summer are dependent on the lake, I like 6 to 12 feet of water. During the height of summer, bass may move as deep as 15 or 20 feet, especially in clear water.

Weeds have grown by summer and bass will relate to them. Weed edges that are well defined, like a wall of weeds, will hold the best fishing.

These edges are usually so defined because of a drop-off bordering the weeds. Early morning bass will be positioned toward the outside, so pull right up to the weed edge and fish parallel to it. Use crankbaits, spinnerbaits or jigs. Try slow-rolling the spinnerbait along the bottom as close to the weeds as possible.