Solutions
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JHoss's post in Bed Fish Question. was marked as the answerThis was recently discussed by Dr Steven Bardin on the Serious Angler Podcast. He was reporting another study that examined this.
I may be off a bit on the exact numbers, but it was close to this:
A fish caught and released in under 2 minutes had a 75-100% chance to return to the bed. A fish kept in the boat for 2-5 minutes had a 50-60% chance to return. A fish kept in the boat for 5-30 minutes had a 25% chance. A fish kept over 30 minutes had an almost 0% chance. He did say that nest predation played a key role. Fish would often sit off their beds and examine how any predators were on it and if it was worth reclaiming. The example was a smallmouth coming back to find a dozen gobies going to town on it's eggs will probably abandon it. A bass that comes back and has one minnow messing around is probably going to run that minnow off and reclaim its bed.
He also discussed spawning frequency on that show. The general science says a fish will release about 1/4-1/3 of its eggs in a given spawn and most fish will spawn 3 or 4 times in a season. I don't know if there's evidence of fish using the same bed for all of those spawns, but I know that generally speaking I find beds in the same areas year after year. Could be the same fish going where they're comfortable or it could just be a prime spawning area.
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JHoss's post in Rod Line Up Help was marked as the answerI'd probably spool one with 15 lb fluoro, one with 20 lb fluoro, one with 50-65 braid, and one with mono.
The fluoro rods could be used as a second t-rig/jig rod or with baits like chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, or other single hook moving baits.
The braid rod would be primarily for buzzbaits, but you might be able to throw a frog as well.
The last one would be mono or another braid depending on what you usually fish. If you fish a lot of dense weeds, I'd go 40-50 lb braid for those single hook moving baits. If you don't fish a ton of cover, I'd go mono so you have a little bit more stretch if you wanted to throw cranks, spooks, traps, etc.