26 replies to this topic

[bigbasshunter]

With all this crazy weather these past few weeks its been quite a bit of work to find a pattern. Seems like the fish are lost and not in their normal staging areas. Last week they were moving in to bed up, this week few and far between. Water temps dropped almost 10f in less than 48hrs at the beggining of the week, and winds have been crazy until today. Went out at 7am and stayed till 2pm, one fish caught. Tried everything, cranking 2-15ft, spinner, jig, t-rigged flukes and numerous other plastics and the only fish was caught on a shakey head. I don't understand is going on

[Sam]

Big, have the dogwoods bloomed in NOVA?

If so, the bass are on their beds. Remember this rule for the future.

The smaller buck bass will be roaming around while the ladies guard their bed or are resting.

You need to either wait one or two weeks or try sight fishing now, looking for the beds.

If the water temperature dropped 10* they may have pulled back from bedding.

If so, the buck bass will be along the shoreline with the males staging off shore on flats and the big females staging further out waiting to move on their beds.

Feast or famine this time of year.

As for a pattern, you better throw the book at them. Lipless cranks; spinnerbaits if wind; C-rig; and wacky and drop shot plastics.

Fish the docks and piers, too.

Good luck.

[deep]

Sam, have you seen any bedding bass yet? As the OP says; I could find a few males making beds a fortnight back; and a few cruising females. Now I can't find them. Even the bluegills seem to be 15-20 feet offshore..

[bigbasshunter]

Thanks Sam yeah the dogwoods are blooming. Talked to a couple locals that fish the tourney here (occ rez) they said they were catching bedding bass last weekend. Looked all over for beds, only found 2 empty. I will have to search the flats, do you think the cold would send them to structure/cover in 30ft of water?

[Wayne P.]

Last week was the new moon, next week is the full moon. 3 days on either side of those days is when they are on beds.

[Bigbarge50]

Yeah as a fellow nova guy, the sutuation here has been a bit strange. The dogwoods bloomed (was eagerly waiting based on your advice last year on that Sam) but everything seemed to come out early (dogwoods and cherry blossums). I have not seen fish on beds and the fish seem to be moving a lot, and not necessarily in the typical staging areas between deep and shallow areas. I think a major factor that has come with the wind and temp changes has been massive pressure changes...... that barometer has been up and down nearly every day. I know this has confused me and think it has done the same thing to the fish.

Hopefully the weather gets a little more consistent and I love Wayne's advice about the full moon...... everyone I know is saying those should be some great days.

[quanjig]

A very minuscule number of fish on beds at the res. Fish caught in the tx on the res, people were catching staging fish, not bedders. Maybe next week you can find a better concentration of fish bedding but as of now, the fish out there are confused and not willing to do much unless you cover a lot of water and keep your bait in the water!

[basscrusher]

Dogwoods = bedding bass is NOT an absolute rule. It will probably hold true 8 out of 10 years in VA, but not always. case in point -- last spring dogwoods bloomed right after an inordinate amount of rainfall. That rainfall seriously muddied up most small lakes. Which, in turn, delayed the spawn by about a week and a half. I first heard the dogwood rule as an early teen, and have actually been "testing" the theory since college. It is not 100% accurate, but provides a good starting point and frame of reference.

[shimmy]

A very minuscule number of fish on beds at the res. Fish caught in the tx on the res, people were catching staging fish, not bedders. Maybe next week you can find a better concentration of fish bedding but as of now, the fish out there are confused and not willing to do much unless you cover a lot of water and keep your bait in the water!

Dead on. I also went out first time yesterday this year and hit my beaverdam and the dogwoods are wrong this year. They are off by about 2 weeks. A bunch of males on shore. Only caught 5 but all were under 2.5 pounds. No sign of females. I'm sure some will come up next week like Wayne is saying but again, not every fish loves that silly moon so the next couple weeks seem to be good for the pickins.

[bigbasshunter]

Caught 4 today, biggest went 4lbs 4oz all caught dragging plastics in 8-20ft of water on PW side. Water temp was pretty steady at 60.2f with about 3ft visibility. Chatted with a few tourney guys who are feeling the same way. Last tx 26lb bags, this weekend lucky to get 20lbs. Now I just need to find someone who knows the rez well enough to fish tourneys and that throws something besides crankbaits. Thanks guys for all help.

[VolFan]

The bass seem to be in all stages right now; some spawning, some staging, some have already spawned in the creeks. That could be the problem. We need some stable weather to put them all (or at least a significant amount) in the same stage.

[bigbasshunter]

Today was decent, got a few 2lbers in the boat. Stayed to watch the tourney weight in, only a couple of boats had limits and quite a few teams gave up and left early. One tram killed them with 27.?? Lbs and big fish which I wanna say went 6.45. Only 2 or 3 teams with 17+lbs, overall decent day for such crazy weather.

[quanjig]

Yep, guys that won had their second 27lb bag! They found a trick that happens out there from time to time and took full advantage of it!! My partner and I struggled and only weighed in 1 fish, at least it was 4lbs!

[shimmy]

Yep, guys that won had their second 27lb bag! They found a trick that happens out there from time to time and took full advantage of it!! My partner and I struggled and only weighed in 1 fish, at least it was 4lbs!

What is the deal? What are those guys doing? I mean do you have an idea how someone can consistently do this out there? Do they share any of their secrets with you or are you guys just left guessing tournament after tournament? Just amazing

[quanjig]

I've known these guys for a long time and I know exactly what and where! Good sticks and they did it last year as well! Big fish was chasing shad and they caught it right at the boat on a blade, right at the rod tip! 6+ pounder! Spring on the res is a magical time if you know the bite and are at the right place at the right time!