I've been fishing a river that's new to me for a few hours everyday. The fishing spot is at a private marina that thouses approximately 100 boats. Starting out, I thought I had the bass figured out and they were in the full-blown spawn, but after fishing today, I'm a little confused and was hoping I could have some opinions and open some discussion on this. 

 

Day 1 - When I arrived I caught a half dozen or so LM on Texas rigged craws. The conditions were overcast with an 8-10 mph wind, 1- 1.5 feet water clarity, upper 60's water temp. It also rained heavily the week before, so the water was a little high. 

 

Day 2-4, I tuned a crankbait to run right under the main walkway of the docks while also banging off the numerous chunk rock just out a little from the docks. I started catching A LOT of fish about 2 dozen per outing. Most in the 2-3 lb range. Water clarity the same as day one, although we did get some pretty heavy wind which helped the bite, but on days with little wind and on sunny/overcast days, the bite was still on. Some bass, including big females were choking the cranks, and many were eaten head first. 

 

Day 5 (today), it was sunny, hot, no wind probably upper 60 water temps. The first thing I noticed were the carp causing all kinds of commotion under the docks, inside the boat bays, under jet ski docks, etc. The water was lower and a little more clear- maybe 2 feet visibility. 

I had one 2 lb bass that was barely hooked on my squarebill that I lost right off the bat, and then I caught one dink on a crankbait. I fished hard for the next hour with no bites on various square bills, finesse jig, and jerkbaits. I then switched to a swimbait and lost a good bass. I had about 30 minutes of fishing time left and landed another 2 lb bass on a spinnerbait. 

 

At this point, I'm not sure whether the bass were in the spawn or post-spawn. I'm guessing either the majority of fish finished spawning after day 4, and I'm experiencing finicky post spawn bass OR the bass were post-spawn but with the heavy rains and the water levels being up, it pulled the bass under the docks ultra shallow and now with the lowering water levels, the bass are out a little deeper.

 

Please share your thoughts with me on this. I thought I had these fish figured out, but I'm stumped today as to what affected the bite. Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

*EDIT: The more I think about it, I think it was probably the end of prespawn-early spawn for the fish that I was picking off. 

Spawning bass don't chase down lures, pre spawn females will. My simple question is; did you see any beds?

Tom

23 minutes ago, WRB said:

Spawning bass don't chase down lures, pre spawn females will. My simple question is; did you see any beds?

Tom

 

Tom,

 

The more I thought about it, they were probably late prespawn fish, especially the way they were choking the cranks. Yesterday and this morning they were just swatting at crankbaits and I was catching smaller male bass. 

 

I didnt see beds, but then again, I couldn't see much of anything. Most days it was a foot visibility. In the shallowest parts I could just see rocks, still no bottom. 

Carp spawning activity usually indicates the bass spawn is over or the carp were feeding on eggs and fry. 

Water temps may have been higher earlier and the rain run off cooled the shallow water and raising water levels turned on a crawdad bite. Can't determine the spawn cycle without seeing beds or males with milt, females with eggs, that clearly determine what is going on.

Tom

24 minutes ago, WRB said:

Carp spawning activity usually indicates the bass spawn is over or the carp were feeding on eggs and fry. 

Water temps may have been higher earlier and the rain run off cooled the shallow water and raising water levels turned on a crawdad bite. Can't determine the spawn cycle without seeing beds or males with milt, females with eggs, that clearly determine what is going on.

Tom

 

Someone from a local Ohio forum told me that the bass were spawning the same days I was fishing. I'm guessing I could have either stumbled on late pre spawn females or post spawn/ presummer bass? 

 

I learned a lot from this trip, I'm just trying to piece together the last bit of the trip. 

 

Also, in addition to the carp, I saw a lot of gar, sometimes swimming in small groups of 3-4. They were cruising right along the walkway of the docks closest to shore. Could they be after the bass eggs/fry? 

 

59 minutes ago, stk44 said:

 

Someone from a local Ohio forum told me that the bass were spawning the same days I was fishing. I'm guessing I could have either stumbled on late pre spawn females or post spawn/ presummer bass? 

 

I learned a lot from this trip, I'm just trying to piece together the last bit of the trip. 

 

Also, in addition to the carp, I saw a lot of gar, sometimes swimming in small groups of 3-4. They were cruising right along the walkway of the docks closest to shore. Could they be after the bass eggs/fry? 

 

Gar maybe hunting larger fish like the smaller male bass and any bluegills, depending on the size of the gar. Bass tend to spawn in waves, not all bass population spawns at the same time and not every bass spawns each year so there is a mix spawners in 3 stages and bass not spawning.

Tom

Thanks for the help! It's not often I get to fish for 5-6 consecutive days. I made a lot of observations and I learned a lot in the process. I've never experienced river largemouth during the spawn, nor have I targeted them.