so I went to fish a man made lake near des moines today. I picked up a 2lb bass when I was there last, on a T-rigged 7 inch worm last time, so I tried that again today, nothin. I ended up spotting what looked like an easy 6 pound bass just hangin out near a stump in really shallow water (about 8 inches deep) so I tried runnin the worm in front of it, then tried a spinner bait, then a rapala, then a weed weasel with a GULP minnow on it, and then a couple more random types of jigs and baits....NOTHING. he didnt even flinch. what was going on? he was chasing other bass away, and it looked like there was a female maybe that he was hangin out with and they kept pokin at the stump together, were they just busy makin a bed, and not really looking to feed? it was driving me crazy that I couldnt get this thing to react!

Sounds like those bass were preparing a bed for spawn. They were sitting in one spot and kept messing with the bottom of the lake right?

In this situation stick to lures that sit on the bottom. The best way to target these two bass would just be to harrass them and get them so mad they attack your bait out of anger. You can try plastics, jigs, chatterbaits, even flukes and senkos for these bass. Keep harrassing the area they are makeing the bed. Sometimes even nudgeing the bass with the lure will provoke them to hit it. Also keep in mind these bass will usually mouth the lure then spit it out instrantly the first few times they attack it. Wait for the bass to fully eat the bait then set the hook. You will most likely not have much time to set the hook even when he does eat it since he most likely just wants to move the bait 5 feet away from his nest then spit it out again. Hope this helps...

Was that your first encounter with bedding bass ? It can be pretty frustrating at times.

Usually there is one key spot in the bed that will turn them on. Find it and they usually will pick up your lure. notice I did not say they will bit it.You did the right thing by varying lures. sometimes when they are locked on they are a bit-h to catch. Anytime you are after a bedding bass it takes who knows what to make them bite. I have spent over an hour trying to tempt one, left, come back and catch it withing two or three flips.  Other times I just cut my losses and move on to another hoping to get the bite.Try to pitch the lure in the bed and let it sit. Occasionally twitching it without moving it and aggitate the fish into biting. Good luck. You may go back tommorrow and catch her on the first cast. Oh, about bumping the stump. At times the female will bump her belly to loosen the eggs before moving in to spawn.

thanks for the insight guys, that was killing me. last year was my first year of actual bass fishing, and I think I hit it at just the right time cause we were killin it. up until then it has been fly fishing for trout and salmon back home in alaska, so I am totally lost when it comes to all this.

I had similar luck tonight although I did finally get the female to strike my bait three times. She caried it a few feet away, I set the hook she fought a little and then threw the bait, a YUM crawfish. I have since remembered that the best bait to throw in the bed is a salamander.  I had to throw that craw repeatedly at the bed before the female got mad enough to strike.

I saw your post a little bit ago, and laughed, kinda glad its not just me who went through that today. I am goin back tomorrow when I am done with work. I am gonna get that thing.

I was fishing a bed today for a couple nice fish.  There was probably a 5-6 lb female and a 3 lb 2 oz. male.  I fish the bed for awhile, like 30 minutes, while I was looking at it and I could only get the bass to look at my bait.  I moved down the bank a little bit and I skipped my shakey head up under a log to the same place that bed was and the first cast I hooked the male and the female followed it in.  

It is pretty unusual to see a male that big but it was really fat, I have no clue why.  Too bad I didnt hook the female though that was a disappointment.  Next time you see that try something you can just put in the bed and shake it in place for awhile, usually that will annoy them enough to strike

allright, so I went back, spent an hour twitching a T-rigged senko in front of her face......right as I was about to call it, she looked at it, swam to it, then chomped it. she was big too, about 18 inches and fought hard, she was taking line off the reel (granted it is a lighter setup)....but it was all worth the time!!

Nice on the follow up effort.  ;D

I dont like gettin beat by fish...its a fault of mine. ;D

lol everyone hates it, but they do beat you sometimes.  I'll spend 20 mins on a bed if they dont show any interest I move on