Hey guys! So I've been fishing a local lake and I've started to see some bass set up on what look like beds or areas that they have cleared all of the muck off of. They are only about 5 feet offshore and they are very visible. A few fish have been hanging out right by these same areas for days. Now, truth be told I'm not going to spend a TON of time trying to catch these fish... I'm having a bit of a dilemma internally on that one... but, I've casually thrown several presentations their way and they are not interested. At all. 

 

I've spent most of my time (90%) fishing around the rest of the lake without any bites the last 3 days. 

 

Up until this week I've had decent luck here on faster moving presentations and wacky rigs. Now everything seems to be shut down. Traditionally, do bass clam up as they start to get ready to spawn? I don't believe they have spawned yet... but there are a ton of little baitfish in the shallows around the perimeter of the lake finally. 

What have you all experienced? 

Thanks for helping me make a bit more sense of this! 

Lol, reading your post sounds like you were on lil lake I fish at, but you are not in my state. Same thing yesterday out on the Kayaks. Tons of beds,no sight of bass and zero bites anywhere else. I was quite frustrated. I fished shallow,deep and thru a assortment of baits/lures. So many factors to key in on and lately have not gotten out as early as I normally do which is sunrise. I'm not off to the spring I hoped for but weather as not helped either.

Heh, thanks @TcRoc I appreciate the feedback - and believe me, I'm not looking for an excuse... well maybe kinda... just wondering if seasonally guys fish hard during the pre-spawn and then back off a bit as the bite slows? I know there is no hard & fast rule but this is the earliest I have ever been able to get out so I've go no idea what those little buggers are doing below the surface... thanks!

Around here, I never catch any until after the spawn or when there is no spawn. I can hit the fish with lures and they usually still don’t care for a few more weeks.

 

Generally speaking, 'lockjaw' describes female bass during the actual spawn (not pre or post).

During the pre-spawn season, both sexes are feeding in prep for the stresses of spawning.

But, the pre-spawn period is highly affected by weather conditions, so it's often a mixed bag.

 

Roger

We act like we know that the males precede the females to the spawning areas, explains Cook, a six-time B.A.S.S. tournament winner. But I don't think that is true because both sexes seem to get very aggressive and very food-oriented during what we call the pre-spawn stage. The come out of the cold winter and the water warms up and their metabolism kicks in. Both sexes really become aggressive as feeders.

 

Then there seems to be a time frame in which the females become less interested in feeding, but the males continue to bite because they pick up the aggressiveness of the spawn. Both are focused on the spawn right on through the spawning period.

 

The females kind of back off of feeding and become less aggressive as the hormonal changes in their body take place as they prepare to actually lay their eggs.

 

GET A LOCK ON THE SPAWN By Tim Tucker

Hey thanks for the insight @CrankFate, I appreciate it. I've bumped 'em with my line and baits and they are not having it haha. @RoLo that makes sense, I've had some success in previous weeks but now everything has slowed to a crawl in terms of strikes - which again, could be my fault (and probably is) but things are definitely changing. I've never been out this early or even paid this any attention in the past... so it's really neat to kinda start to get an understanding of some seasonal movements. And finally, thank you @Catt for that info - that seems about right and again, I really appreciate all of you guys helping me make some sense of all this! I'll go back out this week and we if they're still there or what they're up to