Regardless of the extra boat wake, this should be an all-out slugfest of a tournament, where bass will be caught in all stages of the spawn, and targeting a mix of largemouths and smallmouths will likely be necessary for a shot at winning. Notice how varying groups of fish will be at various stages in each of the sections of a lake. No matter which zip code you call home, there are bound to be bass in some stage of spawning at your local hot spot. In colder states this could differ a bit, but when the water is right, the bass will move in. Lake Havasu City, Ariz. March 12-14, 2020 Not all the bass are using the same playbook. There are generally 4 stages of the spawn season, and it starts when the water starts to warm up to about 60 degrees, which is usually early to mid-spring in most areas. Spring into Action There are three stages to a bass’s life cycle in the spring: pre-spawn, spawning, and post-spawn. Bass spawning season is very predictable, because bass do the same thing every year in three basic stages. Those stages, in order, are: Building a nest. As Stephen notes, most anglers can easily define the general shoreward movement of prespawn bass, but understanding how various groups of bass in various stages react to bad weather is the tricky part. And the northern portions are just thawing getting ready to hit the prespawn. The early stages of pre spawn will have our big female bass staging in areas with available holding cover and a migration route close by. The bass spawn is one of the pillars of bass fishing and it comes in 3 phases. This means we can break down spring into three separate periods; pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn. Toyota Series Western Division. Actual spawning takes place as the water temperatures approach 59F or 15C, and most egg deposition takes place when the … In addition, keep in mind that one group of bass could be entirely done with the spawn while another is just beginning to stage. The temps have been climbing and most of us in the South will have bass in all stages of the spawn. Some bass are heading to the bank to spawn while others are headed out offshore and are very much post spawners. – Yes, finding a mate is after the fish have built their nests. Female largemouth bass will stage for the spawn usually at the first good drop from the shallows. Each stage has its own available forage. Much like largemouth when smallmouth bass spawn depends on water temperature, daylight, lunar phases and other varying conditions. As the water temp... Geographical Location. By far the biggest factor in the spawning process for bass is water temperature. Prespawn, spawn, and postspawn. Remember, deeper is relative depending on the nature of the water body. The smallmouth bass spawn generally starts at the end of March and goes until June depending on where you live. Once temperatures exceed 50 degrees, bass begin swimming towards shallower areas in search of the ideal location to spawn. Post-spawn bass can be tough to catch — but not all the bass in the lake spawn at the same time. The water temperature will now be 58 degrees or higher and this is when the bigger females will move into the freshly built beds. This increased growth and subsequent size means the bass will also mature earlier, sometimes spawning in the first year allowing for faster population establishment of the pond. Yes. There’s a general prespawn stage and then, to me, there are stages of the prespawn. Spawn Stage. When you are trying to target the females that are on the bed, I like to use big worms or creature baits li… For a few weeks each spring, we’re able to interact with spawning bass in a unique way. The Bottom Line For VanDam, being a successful tournament angler at times requires targeting spawning fish. By: NAFC Staff Online Rating: (8.5/10) Spawning activity of largemouth bass can be broken into three distinct stages. When winter ends and the water warms back up, bass feel the urge to spawn. Second they will gather in pairs and head for the likely holding spots, near the lake’s shallow spawning grounds. The spawn and post spawn stages of bass fishing are already happening in the southern tier of the country while the prespawn bite is just ramping up in the middle of the country. Then the male bass circles the humble home slowly and waits for a mate. The males fan out a nest, females lay their eggs, and then males guard the eggs and fry. Smallmouth Bass spawn starts with the nest building process and is triggered with water temperatures near 55F or 12.8C. When bass are in various stages of the spawn, Dean Lewis suggests targeting pre-spawn fish simply because they weigh the most. You can locate this drop by moving out of the shallows and watching your fish finder. Now that we have established that bass will move to shallow warm water to spawn. First, these bass will continue feeding and putting on the needed fat reserves to make it through the actual spawning process. Sight-fishing and spawning-bass fishing is my favorite thing to do and with the exception of some Florida reservoirs, this is the most spawning bass I’ve seen in my entire life. Water Temperature. Bass, crappie and panfish move up to spawning beds they previously constructed by creating depressions in the sand during the latter part of the pre-spawn stage. The angler’s task is to focus on places where the fish are temporarily holding or passing through. If a section is big enough, bass will also be at different stages within that section. And just before spawning… The tournament tides seem to be turning toward more thoughtful catch-and-release practices that could mitigate their impact on bass in all stages of the spawn. So there is still a lot of prespawn fishing to be had over the next month or two. Different areas of the lake warm up at different times, and there are usually several waves of spawning fish over many weeks in the spring. Bass Spawning Habits Spawning activity of largemouth bass can be broken into three distinct stages. When a female has chosen to join the male in the nest, they waste little time getting to know one another. Lake Havasu. Depending on the stage of the prespawn, they may position closer to where they winter or they may stage 50 yards from where they’re going to spawn. The spring sun is powerful and quickly warms shallow water. Unlike bass, crappie and panfish, the pike and walleye are known as broadcast spawners and don’t have a specific spawning bed to drop their eggs in. When the temperatures begin to rise, a bass’s metabolism speeds up and it needs more food to survive. During the late pre-spawn, the fish will set up from the mouth of these coves to about two thirds of the way back most of the time. The peak of this spawning period often starts in late May or early June, and can last a couple of weeks. Hungry bass are on the move at this time of the year. Another major factor, as far as timing is concerned, is geography. In the pre-spawn phase, bass don’t swim from deeper water to the shallows in a straight line or all at once; rather, they … This stage can last anywhere from 1 or 2 days to 1 to 2 weeks depending on the water and the area you are in. When water temps reach 60 degrees for a couple of days, most smallmouths in a given body of water start spawning in earnest. … The annual bedding activity of largemouth bass referred to collectively as ‘ the spawn ’ is perhaps the most exciting time of the year to bass fish. Where Do Bass Spawn. Although bass will stage and spawn in nearly every type of bank angle in the lake, the flatter ones that feature banks with a slope of less than 45 degrees are the prime locations. It actually comes in five stages. Pre-Spawn, which begins when water temperature reaches into the upper 40's, finds bass moving near to spawning grounds but still mostly in deeper water. When Do Bass Spawn? "Many people think there's just one stage of fish, but there are many stages of fish," Stephen says. THE SPAWN PHASE. The first stage is called the pre-spawn stage, when bass … Will bass spawn at temperatures above 68? – The nest-building commences when the waters reach 60F. This could be a depth change of just a couple feet. Moon Phase. So for me, at this time of the year, I want to put myself in a position to catch spawning fish as well as post-spawn fish. Tournament details. The larger size also reduces predation, as smaller largemouth bass are more vulnerable to predation than larger individuals. • Pre-Spawn. Bass are constantly moving in … The Bass Spawning Season. This means two things: big bass and shallow water. Where you find the fish and how they behave depends on what stage of the spawn they are in. The spawn seems to last longer in the southern United States then it does in the northern states. If there is a creek channel look there for staging pre-spawn bass. 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