# Best Technique For Spawning?



## Be one with the fish! (May 21, 2006)

What is the best technique to catch those stubborn spawning bass? I spent a good half hour on 2 bass spawning throwing 2 different colored senkos,2 different color and sized tubes,lizards and swimbaits. But my buddy comes over with a wooly bugger on a fly rod and gets them in 5 minutes. I'm assuming finesse is the better way to go?


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## dKilla (May 1, 2007)

Keep you lure in the strike zone for as long as possible...in this case that means within a foot or two of the bed. These fish are not in eating mode so you basically will have to annoy them until the strike basically out of anger or defense of the bed. 

If I had to guess I'd say that the fly guy was able to keep his streamer right on top of the fish for quite sometime. 

I pulled a 6lb LM off of a bed one time when I was a kid. She was only about 3 feet off the bank. I stood there with the tiniest rattle trap I had and just shook it in her face for 25 mins until she got ticked off enough to strike. 

Honestly tho....it's best to leave these fish alone. With all the fishing pressure around here we should do what we can to keep from disturbing fish on beds. Sounds crazy but this is one of those instances where the less we catch now, the more we'll catch later.


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## young-gun21 (Mar 14, 2006)

I use this tactic when fishing with soft plastic...

insert a nail or some type of cylindrical weight in the tail end of your bait of choice (mine is typically a 4" senko/ginger). You can cast a little farther away from the bed, because when you twitch it, it darts away from you and glides toward the bed. I think it appears to be more intimidating than the typical "weightless" approach.

Hope this helps.


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## young-gun21 (Mar 14, 2006)

I almost forgot...

It's time to change that signature! AD is with my Vikings now!!!


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

small finnese craws, if they dont bite just move 20ft to the next bed. make sure they dont see you first and its alot easier. if the fish are swimming back and forth throw it when they are looking the other way and dont move it until they come back around, looks alot more natural than a crawfish falling out of the sky right onto thier eggs


but i just fish for somthing else in the spring, everything is biting so i just leave the spawners alone....unless its a tourney


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## mischif (Jul 14, 2006)

yes magic i do seem to have more finesse than u dont i


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## Be one with the fish! (May 21, 2006)

Yeah I know I need to change my sig, I was dissapointed  when they passed on AD but I was thrilled when they got Quinn to go along with Joe Thomas.


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## young-gun21 (Mar 14, 2006)

HAHA!!! I would be too if I were a Browns fan!!

I like the edit though!


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## CARP 104 (Apr 19, 2004)

if they are locked onto their beds then your chances of catching them are greater. If they hang in their nest but often swim off several feet in different directions and are not locked on, they are very hard to catch.

First try a senko or french fry worm and they usually bite the end of it trying to kill it. Then rip the end off up to the hook and throw it back. If that doesn't work, a shaky head does well too.

Just be careful when fising for bedding bass. Always release them where they bit, I found that every time within 10 minutes of catching them they are back on their beds if you release them right there. Sometimes though that is enough time for something to do a whole lot of damage to their eggs. Don't try to catch the same fish twice!


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## WINNER (Apr 7, 2004)

Wait a few weeks and catch them post spawn. 

Fishing spawning bass is NOT cool. It only takes a minute for the bed to be raided and boom-no YOY fish.  

Winner


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## TheSonicMarauder (Mar 9, 2006)

i agree with winner on this.... sight fishing spawning beds maybe easier to do, but bluegill waste NO time at all to raid that nest when its protector isnt there.... let the bass protect their space so that more bass just like it have a good chance to survive

plus post spawners can be pretty fun and aggressive too..  infact i get more senkos torn apart after the spawn then i do during the spawn  i love fishin them senkos lol


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

Warning: rant ahead

Just my opinion.

The funny thing about this issue is that catching fish is all relative, some people would say that catching a fish at anytime if you don't plan on eating it is cruel and unnessecary. My father in law actually feels this way.

you know everyone has fished for bedding bass at some point in their lives. Im sure even you guys who are saying its not cool used to before you decided you didn't want to for ethical, or whatever kind of reason. I don't think you need to make people feel bad for wanting to legaly catch a fish. In time I think most people tend to learn what is good for bass and what is bad. As far as the eggs getting eaten goes, males make a bed long before a female lays their eggs, so your not nessecarily dooming the young of the year fish if you catch a male off a bed. Besides the type of people who dont know how to catch bedding bass aren't the type of people who are going to decimate a population. Its the tournament fishermen who catch the females, put them in the livewell and release them miles away, telling themselves that they will find their way back. They could and probably in some cases do cause problems.

I first learned how to catch bedding bass at lake fork in texas when I was 14.
I caught alot of nice fish but by the end of the trip I realized that catching a bedding bass wasn't near as fun as catching one that I couldn't see that was actually hungry. I also got to see a 6lb female up close under a boardwalk out to dock. She was actually laying her eggs. It was really cool to watch. I also watched a guy catch an 8lber off a bed and promptly put it in the livewell. Probably just so he could get it weighed and get a picture at the local tackle shop. Just to release it later. It made me think.

So i guess im just trying to say there will always be people who want to catch fish off their beds. But there is enough info out there now that real bass fishermen who are actually good enough to hurt the population have already made up their minds as far as if they want to fish for bedding bass or not.

Heres how I approach the matter. If I see a bass I want to catch on a bed I will try for a very short time to catch it. 
With these rules, 

Make sure your line is heavy enough that you wont leave a hook in its mouth. and that you dont have any knicks in your line.

Only catch the fish once.

Land it quickly and release it even quicker, always as close to the bed as possible.

Don't make the mistake of teaching the local meat fishermen how to catch it!
its his right to catch it but its my right to scilence.


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

Best tip I can give is leave them alone


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## krustydawg (Apr 26, 2004)

Orlando said:


> Best tip I can give is leave them alone


Don't you fish for smallies off Ruggles Reef this time of year ? Maybe you should leave them alone also.....


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

Ther is a big big difference in fishing for smallmouth in the spring and sight bed fishing for largemouth. A largemeouth taken off its bed has to be coaxed into biting.(I'm not going into detail to how it can be done) The bed will have its eggs eaten and destroyed by blugill etc. A smallmouth is not going to come off its bed when a tube, grub, jerkbait etc goes floting by. Kinda hard to sight fish for smallies in 20 -12 FOW


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## ThunderHawk7 (May 3, 2004)

> A smallmouth is not going to come off its bed when a tube, grub, jerkbait etc goes floting by.


With all due respect, if this were true...We would not have a fishing "season" on Lake Erie for Bass. I do believe a large part of the reason for the "closed" season was because of nest destruction by gobies when Smallmouth were "removed" by anglers....If I am wrong, I apologize, but that sure was the impression I took from it back then...

Thus far I have stayed out of these posts but this stuff really drives me crazy...A gentleman asks for advice on a technique, which by law is legal and a part of springtime fishing, and personal agendas get shoved right into his face...yet another spring fishing thread is hijacked. If enough people agree with you in principle....then you are balancing out those that choose to "bed" fish....

Myself, I am an admitted hypocrite...I personaly do NOT target bedding fish...Most lakes around here are large enough that there are fish in Pre or Post Spawn while others are on the nest...Besides, I get the willy's if there is less than 6 feet of water under me when I bass fish...LOL. However, in a team event where I may have $100 or more total dollars invested...I am going to do what I can to be competetive, and I will do so until such a time that a "season" is established in Ohio or "bed" fishing becomes illegal. There are soooo many sides to this arguement, Pro's and Con's that it becomes exhausting....

Do I believe that it harms a fishery...Of course it does, as there is one possible nesting site that won't produce...But then again, the harm is no more prominent than the fisher-person that happens to be stocking the freezer or keeping that "trophy" to mount on the wall. Which by the way is also legal. Its time to stop confusing personal ethics and beliefs with what is the law....Thats the easiest way to loose sympathizers to what may be considered sound conservation principles....

On that note, I suggest that May 1, of every year...a sticky be placed at the top of each section pertaining to Bass Fishing and both sides can battle this issue out to their hearts content without hijacking the threads of those who feel differently than they do...In continuing with my "hypocritical" ways. I do wish to apologize to the person that started this thread for my part in the hijacking....

Try a texas rigged BPS Tendertube Chartruese in color with a small split shot on it....Shake it until you anger them enough to bite....


Hawk


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## buckdawg (Feb 7, 2007)

I don't know my butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to bass fishing. I only started this spring. but in my opinion the two guys that suggested staying off the beds did it in a fairly unoffensive manner. i actually hadn't considered the ramifications of bed fishing and their comments have given me something to comtemplate. it seems the ones who are ratcheting the debate up a notch are the ones who are pro-bed fishing.


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## ThunderHawk7 (May 3, 2004)

Buckdawg, your point is well taken, however, the fact that it even shows up in a "how to" thread ratchet's up a debate. A "how to" question was asked, not a Should I bedfish or not...You will see the same thing when somebody holds up a picture of a nice fish in a Parking Lot....a C @ R arguement is bound to happen...and it doesn't have to be offensive...lol.

I really did like your response though.....It was a great reminder that sometimes I take myself and this stuff way too seriously....and also reminds me that I am way too wordy...


Hawk


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

yes smallmouth will readily hit lures when on their beds at ruggles on erie. But..
with the water temp at 50 degrees they are still in prespawn. Correct me if im wrong but I think the spawn around 60 degrees. 
Ive put down a camera and looked at smallmouth at ruggles on erie at this time of year, They were roaming around, not on beds at all.


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

Well we can agree to disagree. I personally don't believe a smallmouth will come off their beds to chase a lure if they are locked down protecting it. Besides drifting a tube or grub across a large bodie of water is not even close to the same thing as purposly targeting a bedding bass. I beleive the season was put on smallmouth because of all the tournaments going on dragging fish many miles from their area to be released at a marina and putting undue stress on them before and after the spawn. Thats what can hurt the fish population. I personally don't fish for smallies during the closed season, I'm after eyes then. My 2 cents and my opinion and it won't be changed.


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## ThunderHawk7 (May 3, 2004)

Thats cool Orlando,

Best of luck catching them 'eyes......


Hawk


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## buckdawg (Feb 7, 2007)

ThunderHawk7 said:


> Buckdawg, your point is well taken, however, the fact that it even shows up in a "how to" thread ratchet's up a debate. A "how to" question was asked, not a Should I bedfish or not...You will see the same thing when somebody holds up a picture of a nice fish in a Parking Lot....a C @ R arguement is bound to happen...and it doesn't have to be offensive...lol.
> 
> I really did like your response though.....It was a great reminder that sometimes I take myself and this stuff way too seriously....and also reminds me that I am way too wordy...
> 
> ...


This seems like one of those circular debates where there are definitely strong opinions on both sides. As a newbie I'm just taking in both sides of the argument and seeing where I fall. And trust me, there's nothing wrong with having opinions and defending them strongly. Sometimes we run into trouble when we start to take things personally. Trust me, I'm as guilty as anyone around on that! But you've been very respectful in your posts and I appreciate that. Thanks for giving me something to think about.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

This is one of many emotional debates that no one ever wins.

Both sides of these issues are passionate in their views.

In the free society we live in we have the right to express our views on any subject. There is however a line many cross, in my opinion, when expressing their opinion evolves into dictating how others should feel and act towards any one particular controversial subject.

Tell me your opinions but please don't tell me what to do and I promise I won't tell you what to do.

Kim


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