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Maximizing your prespawn time on water......learning from mine and maybe other's mistakes


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58 minutes ago, Catt said:

What I've noticed on this site & YouTube channels the "title" will read pre-spawn/spawn but the content is more about spawn.

 

Even though pre-spawn & spawn are part of the same "process" they fish totally different.

 

I divide pre-spawn in to 3 categories.

 

Early pre-spawn, individual or groups begin making short reconnaissance trips into "shallow" water. Only when conditions stabilize for a couple days will any appreciable number of bass remain there long. 

 

Mid pre-spawn, night temperatures or at or above the water's surface temperature. Now we are no longer loosing water temperatures gained during the daytime. The entire water column is warming up! 

 

This is when we see large fluctuations in fish movement.

 

Late pre-spawn, females are staging 1 or 2 breaklines off the nest waiting for conditions to get right.

 

 

 

Here in NC we had a 'false spring' in February.

 

We had daytime temps approaching 80 and night temps in the 60s for almost 3 weeks straight.

 

Wanna know what happened?

 

Pre spawn.  Spawn.  Post spawn.  Yep.  All of em.  I caught fish in all three stages in February and it confused the daylights out of me.

 

But I've done more reading since then and that plus this thread are helping bring it all into focus more clearly for me.

 

They do it when they can as much as they can.

 

Funny thing is this March here in NC winter came back with a vengeance (the boys at Redcrest got to see that fully!) and nighttime lows in the 20s have the water back in the low 40s and high 50s.

 

Bass that didn't spawn are pulling way back into their pre-spawn pattern again and I wouldn't be shocked if we see waves of the first spawners coming back for another round in 3-4 weeks when the shallow water hits 56+ again for a couple weeks straight.

 

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1 minute ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Here in NC we had a 'false spring' in February.

 

We had daytime temps approaching 80 and night temps in the 60s for almost 3 weeks straight.

 

Wanna know what happened?

 

Pre spawn.  Spawn.  Post spawn.  Yep.  All of em.  I caught fish in all three stages in February and it confused the daylights out of me.

 

But I've done more reading since then and that plus this thread are helping bring it all into focus more clearly for me.

 

They do it when they can as much as they can.

 

Funny thing is this March here in NC winter came back with a vengeance (the boys at Redcrest got to see that fully!) and nighttime lows in the 20s have the water back in the low 40s and high 50s.

 

Bass that didn't spawn are pulling way back into their pre-spawn pattern again and I wouldn't be shocked if we see waves of the first spawners coming back for another round in 3-4 weeks when the shallow water hits 56+ again for a couple weeks straight.

 

Spot on my situation.  

 

3/4ths of Feb was much warmer than March has been.   We've had half a dozen freezing nights including the last several.    

 

I've taken 3 days off which is marathon for me with rain then a big cold front, but I intend to fish the next 5 days in a row.  

 

Looking prime this week

mid-march.png

 

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21 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Spot on my situation.  

 

3/4ths of Feb was much warmer than March has been.   We've had half a dozen freezing nights including the last several.    

 

I've taken 3 days off which is marathon for me with rain then a big cold front, but I intend to fish the next 5 days in a row.  

 

Looking prime this week

mid-march.png

 

 

This tiny violin bow is so hard to rosin up...

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11 hours ago, Catt said:

What I've noticed on this site & YouTube channels the "title" will read pre-spawn/spawn but the content is more about spawn.

 

This particular post is about how many of us miss out on pre-spawn because we don't realize when it's happening.  In an effort to help others avoid this mistake, sharing our mistakes can possibly help others avoid the same.  The talk about spawn is more toward how we missed pre-spawn and didn't realize it until the bass were actually spawning. Of course, the thread took a quick left turn and headed straight to the spawn.

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On 3/17/2023 at 3:23 PM, gimruis said:

Haha.  The opportunity doesn't happen every year.  I feel like its about 1 out of 4 or so.  Late ice out and a cooler than average May usually presents the opportunity.

I am so close to Iowa that I head down there for pre-season warm up on pre spawners!!

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13 minutes ago, Fishin Dad said:

I am so close to Iowa that I head down there for pre-season warm up on pre spawners!!

Lakes in Iowa? That can’t be right. It’s all corn and bean fields. :dontknow:

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6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s funny bass spawn for a short period but it’s all bass anglers talk about nearly year round. 

 

IDK ?

 

Pre-spawn to post spawn is at least 4 months.

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8 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

Lol, I was kind of expecting that!!   ??

Yes, I live in Iowa too. No, I don't live on a farm ?

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2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

IDK ?

 

Pre-spawn to post spawn is at least 4 months.

And then the other 8 months the word spawn is still used at some capacity . Theoretically you could say pre spawn starts the moment they drop eggs because that is “pre” the next spawn. 360 days are pre or post spawn, it’s like saying we just got into the post st Patrick’s day portion of our year 

 

i have a lot better success when I think about a fish eating not spawning. But even then you hear people say feed up before the spawn or feed up after the spawn. Maybe bass just like to eat or maybe humans just like to say the word spawn 

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1 hour ago, Tom Orr said:

Yes, I live in Iowa too.

@DitchPanda lives in NW Iowa I believe.  Somewhere in between Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, IA. So there's at least two on here lol

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On 3/18/2023 at 5:57 AM, Catt said:

I've preached for years, pre-spawn starts long before most anglers believe.

 

Most sit around waiting on a magical number on a thermometer. Most believing 60-65 is that magical range. They fail to consider those numbers are surface temperatures. Bass do not lay eggs on the surface. 

 

Second they fail to consider those temperatures indicate the bass are already laying eggs. Once the female starts laying eggs they become more difficult to catch.

 

By this time frame most bass have been in pre-spawn for a month or more. 

This may be a silly question but.  

Has anyone noticed a difference in prespawn habits bass in the south vs the North?  Such as Florida strain vs Northern strain? 

 

Catt I quoted you as well because you fish on both TB and fish for marsh bass.  Have you noticed any major difference between tidal bass prespawn habits and lake bass?  I really only fish for tidal bass in the marsh 99% of time, other than the one or two trips a year I will take to TB or Gville, and  never during the prespawn.

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15 hours ago, gimruis said:

Lakes in Iowa? That can’t be right. It’s all corn and bean fields. :dontknow:

Lol.  We have a couple of lakes here but everything else is pretty much corn and soy beans. 

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On 3/17/2023 at 3:21 PM, WRB said:

 

Good point as the big bass usually spawn early and deeper then we tend to believe.

Tom

 

I can definitely agree to that. I've seen some giants in February at places like Murray, DVL, and Mission Viejo(RIP) in like 8 foot+. I've also observed big girls are also rarely on their bed/bed locked and tend to watch from even deeper, safer water. If you bug the male enough they cruise up but they don't stay exposed for long. 

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11 hours ago, gimruis said:

@DitchPanda lives in NW Iowa I believe.  Somewhere in between Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, IA. So there's at least two on here lol

That's is correct. Smack dab in between them to be exact. 

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12 hours ago, gimruis said:

@DitchPanda lives in NW Iowa I believe.  Somewhere in between Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, IA. So there's at least two on here lol

I'm about a half hour from Davenport in Muscatine. South East Iowa I guess they call it. About a half hour east of Iowa City.

49 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

That's is correct. Smack dab in between them to be exact. 

I'm about 30 miles east of Iowa City in Muscatine.

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This was a good read and something that was on my mind today, I'm in socal but it's still helpful. I have noticed the bite usually picks up around here in February and I have done really well with the lipless cranks, my best so far was 15 bass in one day all on the same crank. Lipless is about the only crank I throw now. I have not had much success on square bills or deep divers

On 3/20/2023 at 8:12 AM, Deleted account said:

..

 

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Super spots are super!

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On 3/20/2023 at 7:07 AM, Drew03cmc said:

Photoperiod is more important than temperature. The fish can't read a thermometer, but their biological clock can determine how long the days are and when their ideal time to spawn is. 

Photoperiod only affect water warming, length day only increases water warming if the air temps are warming.

Big Bear lake is located 100 miles south of where I live, slightly  longer photoperiod. Big Bear is still frozen over and has 6’ of snow today. 
The local lakes have a late spawn this year, it’s usually over by now but the bass are in pre spawn because of colder then average air temps keeping the water under 58 degree at the depth bass spawn.

Colder water impacts survival rate of the  fry from predators because it takes weeks for eggs to hatch in lieu of days.

Tom

 

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19 hours ago, Troy85 said:

Have you noticed any major difference between tidal bass prespawn habits and lake bass? 

 

Are we talking marsh bass or river bass?

 

Tidal waters here means brackish water.

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I like the theme of open mindedness in this thread. I've seen so many crazy things on the water, I can't ever really know exactly what the deal is. 

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