Have the bass spawned out? I think Not!

I have heard alot of guys saying that the bass are spawned out. I dont belive it. I havent seen a bed yet and just cause the water may be warm enough in some spots, I dont think it has been stable enough. Keep in mind this rain has cooled the water down Big Time! I also dont think they will spawn before this moon is full. What do you guys think? Am I full of it or do you agree?

I am seeing beds getting started but the major push isn’t even close yet. I think the water level changes and odd weather patterns have these fish still just thinking about it. A few smallies in the pool 9 and 10 area are starting in good numbers but all the fish I have caught are still full of eggs. Things sure are odd this year. I just hope some of my fish are home this weekend. -grin-
jc

I just hope they bite good this weekend no matter what they are doing, Are you fishing the BFL?

Everything I’ve caught up here on Pool 4, including a couple real whopper momma smallmouth bass the last couple days, has been full of eggs and hanging in deeper water in areas I doubt will be or could be used to nest. Water temps on Pepin yesterday were in the low to mid 50’s.

I will be on prarie fishing with my father. I always pick a tourney for his fathersday gift. I don’t really care how I do. I just enjoy watching the excitement he has and remember the first few times I experienced the same feeling. It’s pretty cool.
jc

My opinion is that the spawn started and stopped again. I fished a couple of my favorite post spawn spots in pool 4 Saturday and caught several post spawn females in the 3-4 lb range. These fish were hollow bellied, and would produce small amounts of spawn with a little coaxing, but had dropped their spawn for the year. I did however find a few bedding males, and know that many people caught pre spawn fish last weekend as well. I have yet to find concentrations of bass in the Lake this year, so my current theory goes: River temps ran high in our last warm spell, and the fish started to move in with some limited spawning occuring. When the water dropped and cooled off the spawn halted, the fish backed off. The lake either hasn’t started or the fish just plain descided to hide better than I can find them. James’s comment make me think they just haven’t had the trending they needed to get comfortable. Last year in 50-55 degree water I could go out and catch 30+ bass per day in the 3-5 lb range in lake pepin. This year Nada. I can’t seem to muster more than 1 fish per hour in my favorite spots. The river fish were set up and ready to go. They almost completely abandoned some areas where they ALWAYS spawn, and have yet to move back in. This is what keeps fishing interesting. Every time I think I have the fish figured out, mother nature throws a new twist into the equation. If the “Big push” is yet to come, look for it to happen in the next 7-10 days. More stable weather, and rising water levels, temperatures and the calendar ( full moon is Friday ) are going to make the fish realize they are LATE… My 2 bits.

Jim.

Monitoring the bass forum the last could days got me motivated to go chase the smallies enough to go with Dustin and Steve Vick down on Pepin this afternoon and give it a whirl. It was slower than normal but we did manage a decent number of 16″ – 18″ fish on weedless jigs and plastics tossed into the now flooded willows to make it worth the time spent. All the larger fish were spawned out that we caught. Water temps were in the mid 50’s.

Well I think most have around pool 9 by now. Yesterday I boated well over 30 postspawn females with a couple that had small abounts of spawn left in them. I am not sure when all heck broke loose but they were definately empty. The odd thing I found was there eagerness to bite after the festivities.
No complaints here. I will say that judging from the carp activity thigs are sure ripe.
jc

With the water making such a rapid rise in level ( and Temp) over the past week, do you think they already had beds dug and used these areas that were just deeper now, or they abondoned these spots with the increased flow, went up into the newly formed shallows and spawned there quickly?

Kind of scary if they all spawned up in the flooded bottoms. I hope the little fry have enough instinctual fortitude to make for the deeper water as the river receeds!! Otherwise we could have alot of this year’s year class trapped in dry places.

I fished the Gander Mountain Tournament on Saturday and We caught all of our fish, all smallies, in about 6 feet of water. They started their beds about a week ago I belive. They just related to the banks as if the water was at normal level. You had to think where the bank usually was and throw right there, Wham! Takes Patience and a hell of an imagination, Maybe thats why I only had 11lbs!

Good question. We will be able to tell by all the fry in the backwaters in the near future. I would assume the water will take a couple weeks to get back to normal which shouls be ample time for the fry to make adjustments.
jc