Spawning bass at 50 degrees?

I was out on a lake last weekend and saw four different bass on spawn beds in 1-2 ft of water when the surface water temperature never made it above 51 degrees. I thought bass spawned at 62-68 degrees. It has been cold the last week, so it may have dropped the temps a few degrees.

I also found a few crappies very shallow with white bellies. After being in the livewell for a bit, they got their black spawning color. Though none were on beds.

Could the water temperature have really dropped 10-12 degrees and caught some fish halfway through the spawn?

There are many different factors that can bring bass onto beds,forage also beds are used as cover for ambush points,the bass most of the time will work beds and then pull-off,but I don’t beleive they are spawning,biology cannot permit it.
Some of my thoughts I hope others have imput.
I have been fishing and have found beds with no fish on them at 50 degrees.

The fish are in limbo down here….some have spawned already, some have not….The fluctuating water temps are driving me NUTS One week we’ll have high 50’s to low 60’s, then it’ll be 51 degrees ….

They might have been males who were up building the nests etc….but even then as DaveC said, it doesn’t seem like they would be actually spawning.

The bass were actually sitting on the nests and defending them from any sunfish that came close. No tail sweeping of any kind. They definitely were guarding the bed and were not making it.

The beds were not ambush points as they were on flats with no cover. Getting too close with the boat did not spook them until almost on top (though they knew I was there) and then they returned instantly after the boat retreated a little ways.