I texted my buddy and asked him what the water temp has been lately. He said from 64-68 degrees surface temp. We have a couple nice days with temps in the low 80s and full sun so I knew the temp was rising. There was a front coming with three days of moderate to heavy rain to follow so last night was my window of opportunity. In the afternoon, it got mostly cloudy, which I like, but pretty windy. I launched the kayak just as a nice cloud rolled over. I made a couple casts with a Pop R to areas where I could see some beds. About halfway back to the boat on the second cast BOOM! an explosion as this 6 pounder annihilated my Pop R. I've caught a bunch of 6 pound bass on this lake, and this one was exactly 6.0, but the topwater strike was such a jolt my hands were shaking. After that, it was pretty much a struggle to hold the kayak in the wind. I managed one dink on the Plopper and lost a dink on the jig. But it only takes one to make the trip worthwhile. I also saw a big female either making a bed or laying eggs in one. I couldn't see a male, but it was in some lilies and she was disturbing the water clarity. She was head-down and tail-up.

Oh, the best part, I caught it on an ancient el cheapo 6'0" Mitchell "100% graphite" rod that an old roommate left with me when he moved out. I'm certain it's no better than a $15 rod from the 80's. I was really taking it easy with her because she was having her way with that combo.

Awesome, I got out today and caught a few in the 2lb range. I did find some that were fanning pretty good. It is definitely getting close.

The spawn is on in some of the lagoons I fish here in SC. I was bank fishing today at the end of a point casting back towards shore with a buzzbait and landed a nice 5.5 pounder. I released her then worked my way down the bank towards where I caught her and sure enough there she was with her man doing the bass nasty. I felt bad that she "got out of bed" to feast on my buzzbait, but at least she went right back it it

 

I fished for 3 hours today in 4 or 5 different lagoons and that was the only thing I caught. After the on and off rain this week most of the lagoons are stained and I can't see any beds, but after seeing those two go at it my guess is the spawn is picking up steam in most of the lagoons right now.

30 minutes ago, Koz said:

The spawn is on in some of the lagoons I fish here in SC. I was bank fishing today at the end of a point casting back towards shore with a buzzbait and landed a nice 5.5 pounder. I released her then worked my way down the bank towards where I caught her and sure enough there she was with her man doing the bass nasty. I felt bad that she "got out of bed" to feast on my buzzbait, but at least she went right back it it

 

I fished for 3 hours today in 4 or 5 different lagoons and that was the only thing I caught. After the on and off rain this week most of the lagoons are stained and I can't see any beds, but after seeing those two go at it my guess is the spawn is picking up steam in most of the lagoons right now.

3

I went back today and saw a lot of big females cruising. But they had no intentions of eating. I missed one on the Pop R. They just weren't chasing anything. I caught several dinks on the jig and frog. I even caught a warmouth on the frog. I decided to return to the area I caught the 6 pounder and give it another try. I spotted some beds with fish on them. The big ones disappeared when I got close enough to cast. But I saw a decent one that refused to leave the bed even when I was close. I pitched the jig in the bed about 30 times before the fish picked it up by the trailer and moved it. A few pitches later it bit and I set the hook, landed it and returned it in less than 10 seconds. I left then on a good note because it started to rain.

4 hours ago, the reel ess said:

 I pitched the jig in the bed about 30 times before the fish picked it up by the trailer and moved it. A few pitches later it bit and I set the hook, landed it and returned it in less than 10 seconds.

 

I've had bedded bass move jigs and even had one carry off a 110 Whopper Plopper (impressive that the trebles did snag him). But for some reason most will just crush a buzzbait.

 

Now that the spawn seems to be underway I'm debating whether or not to fish tomorrow. The pre-spawn here was OK, but not great. That was probably due to the up and down temperatures we had in March and the first part of April.