So, as is the case with spring and crazy north Texas weather, we have had weeks that have had rain nearly every day and some of the temperature lows are in the 30s, and we have had some weeks where it doesn’t rain at all and the highs are in the 80s. Right now for most of my local lakes the water temperature ranges from 59-67 degrees. Most of the water is a little dirty(which is normal for most of these lakes) with about 1-1.5 feet of visibility, though there are some slightly more clean areas.

On lakes with water levels constantly rising and dropping, how do the bass respond to the constant fluctuation?

Will the bass still spawn shallow when the water level is 4+ feet above normal level?

 

The spawn success isn't garenteed year to year, it's called recruitment success. Some years are a total loss.

LMB tend to spawn in stages over several weeks or even months, Mother Nature doesn't like putting all the eggs in 1 nest. Spawning deep usually results in higher success then spawning shallower. Eggs will hatch in colder water just takes longer, they can't servive out of water if the lake level drops.

Tom

Just look for fry gaurders or any fry pods. Thats a obvious sign of success. If it's 1.5 feet vis my guess is they can spawn a few feet out of that range putting max spawn depth around maybe 4-6 foot. Thats probably enough depth to safely spawn even if the water rises some. I don't know how much your water has changed so hard to tell. Bass have been known to spawn into July even in the midwest so likely a bunch will successfully spawn at some point. Fluctuating water and cold is nothing new to bass.

We have had a similar issue here. One lake that I went to the water was down and you could see where bass had made beds before the water dropped and they were nearly out of the water. Hopefully the major wave still be able to spawn successfully. There is also other lakes where the water is up about 4 feet and you can't really see any beds but I have seen fry so should be fine there.