What water temp do bass start spawning

[booneangler]

Just wondering at what water temp do bass start to get on the beds. And what is a good water temp for topwater action to start up. Just wondering to what water temp i should be looking for. Thanks.

[Gatorbassman]

Spawning can start in water as cold as 55 degrees but is ideal in the 60's.

Topwater starts for me at around 70 degrees.

[Tin]

Up here we can find fish on beds in the mid 50's. But when the water hits 58 or so it seems like every fish on the lake pushes up shallow to make or find a bed. Chug-Bug and Spook time usually starts in the post spawn and the water temps then are usually low to mid 60's.

[fourbizz]

i will fish topwater when the water is in the mid 40's

[Guest avid]

Down here the water has to cool down to spawning temps.  Low 70's will see the beginning of the activity.

Today and tomorrow a major cold front is moving down the Penninsula.  This will no doubt jump start the spawn for the Florida boyz.

Get out the hog gear boyz,  The bigguns are a comin'

YEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAA  

[roadwarrior]

Down here the water has to cool down to spawning temps.

;D ;D

Definitely the right time of year to REALLY rub it in. 21 degrees here in Tennessee this morning and tonight's suppose to be colder!

[TI_Bassin]

Definitely the right time of year to REALLY rub it in. 21 degrees here in Tennessee this morning and tonight's suppose to be colder!

X2, it's 6 degrees right now up here in my part of New York.

[George Welcome]

How's this for a south Florida forecast:

Thursday

Partly cloudy. Still breezy and cool. A slight chance of flurries through late morning.

[Guest avid]

How's this for a south Florida forecast:

Thursday

Partly cloudy. Still breezy and cool. A slight chance of flurries through late morning.

wow, I glad I brought my ski's  ;D ;D ;D

[RoLo]

There are a few spring-fed waters in central Florida such as Rainbow Springs

that maintain year-round water temperature averaging 72 degrees.

Remarkably the bass in these waters spawn annually as they do anywhere else.

Bass are known to spawn in water between 55 to 75 degrees,

therefore temperature is not a major biological trigger but more of a coincidental symptom.

It could be that "photoperiod" plays the major role in spawn timing,

the same force that triggers reproduction in the vegetable kingdom.

Roger

[WRB]

Northern and florida strian largemouth bass start to make beds and spawn when the water temperature at the depth they are spawing (between 1' to 15' depending on water clarity) reaches 62 degrees F and continue the cycle until the water reaches about 67 degrees F. Smallmouth and spotted bass about 2 degrees less than LMB.

Bass move up and start to roam spawning flats about 15 days before the full moon and thats is a good indication the spawn is about to start. The larger female bass will be holding on staging areas near deep water, next to the spawing flats.

You can fish a top water lure any time you see surface activity or baitfish shallow.

WRB

[otto]

It matters where you live Where I live in New York it is around 45 to 55 degrees.

[tritz18]

Definitely the right time of year to REALLY rub it in. 21 degrees here in Tennessee this morning and tonight's suppose to be colder!

X2, it's 6 degrees right now up here in my part of New York.

You guys think thats bad in mass this past week in the morning it was 3 degrees. i just wanna fish but i gotta wait

[WRB]

It matters where you live Where I live in New York it is around 45 to 55 degrees.

Water temperature is the same around he world regardless where you live and bass relate to three factors when spawning; water temperature, length of day light and moon phase. Smallmouth will spawn in colder water than largemouth, but never witnessed, read of a smallie spawning in water less than 58 degrees. Doesn't mean it isn't possible, however the eggs may not survive.

WRB

[Bass_Akwards]

Spawning can start in water as cold as 55 degrees but is ideal in the 60's.

Topwater starts for me at around 70 degrees.

Guys, I have a question about this.  I live in Colorado and water temperature here doesn't hit the 60's until the middle of May or even later.  Traditionally in May it's 70's during the day and 40's at night here in boulder.

I've heard through the grapevine, however unreliable, that bass start spawning here in March, but that would mean the water temps would be pretty darn cold. I'm really confused.  

Does water temperature effect the spawn here in Colorado, or is it more of a seasonal thing?  

Does anyone know when they'll be spawning in a place like Boulder?

T

[Trevor in Burke]

DO NOT sleep on throwing a 'Devils Horse' on top of bedding bass, just let it sit there, they hate that Shlt

[WRB]

Please read the following;

http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/dbweb/outreach/aqua/200FS.pdf

I have taken the time to research  instead of factual data.several sources and above will standby my original statement, based on factual data.  

WRB

[WRB]

I have been posting a few years now and have learned that terminolgy can be misleading. What you maybe refering to as starting to spawn and spawning maybe be very different from what I call staging or pre spawn*. Spawning is when the bass makes a bed site and actually lay eggs into the bed. Bass stage and move up onto spawning sites periodically during the pre spawn cycle and cruise, about 2 weeks before the first full moon as the water temepratures rise. The male "buck" bass may stay up onto the flats, the females tend to move back into deeper water.

There is always a few bass that do whatever, whenever. I have caught big females with eggs spilling out in mid january in 55 degree water, 30 feet deep. Every year has little different weather cycles that can warm up the water early and cool it back down quickly. The majority of the bass population follow their internal clock and spawn.

Falcon lake, in Texas, is approaching 60's and the bass are starting to move up and spawn.

Tom

* coined the term "Pre Spawn" back in 1974 for bass seminars on bass behavior, been doing this for awile.

[Paul Roberts]

BassAkwards,

I'm in Boulder too. The bass begin to drop eggs about the first week in May. Males dig beds about a week prior, but may make premature beds even earlier. You will know eggs have been dropped when males are "locked on" to beds. These times vary with local climate by a week or so.

As to water temp, hatchery northern strain largemouth (unknown and mixed origins) eggs suffer high mortality at temps below 60F. The spawn (egg dropping) starts as temps stabilize above 60F. In our area this occurs the last week in April through May.

Not all females drop eggs at the same date, but the majority of spawning will occur close together and within these dates. Also, in shallower ponds spawning occurs earlier (late April/early May) than in deeper ponds (early to mid May).

If you catch this message and want to know more, PM me.

Paul

[alger319]

58-68 degrees

[Catt]

Please read the following to have your question answered

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1196339007/0

[Paul Roberts]

Catt,

Your observations are interesting, and I've heard anglers talk about "spawning" in 55F water.

I think we need to better define spawning and "prespawn" movements though. In my experience the first movements to the shoreline are two-fold in purpose: to follow heating water, and subsequent feeding. I do not call this the prespawn period, but the initial heat-up period. And it's primarily a feeding movement in terms of the bass' behavior. I view the shift to pre-spawn as a shift in focus from food to substrate, and it occurs after shallows warm further. This is first seen in males.

The definition of spawning is females actually dropping eggs. Males will make beds prematurely, and abandon them; I've seen this and hear about it every year, all over the country, as much as a month prior to actual spawning. Most anglers call this premature bed making spawning.

It's the movement of females that signals the start of spawning. And interestingly they too make inshore movements, in groups, well prior to actual spawning.

Research indicates that it's the stabilization of temperatures of the shallows that trigger egg-dropping. Photoperiod plays a role, but it's a large scale role, (and the zeitgeber is likely set the previous year, not as a direct response), with temperature stabilization being the immediate factor.

I've heard anglers mention seeing females dropping eggs in water as cold as 55F. From what I understand this is likely by accident of circumstances, and probably results in a nest with very poor survival. In large water bodies, with a large reservoir of cold water nearby, strong winds can roll up cold water, impacting spawning in progress. Also, severe cold fronts can kill eggs and cause bass to abandon.

It is possible, of course, that what you describe is a strain of bass that has eggs adapted to colder water. Also, many temperature studies (although not all) have been done with hatchery largemouths and these fish represent a select proportion of the overall diversity of largemouth bass throughout their range. Or, since this seems to be a southern phenomenon, it may be northern bass mal-adaption? Florida strain largemouths are supposed to be even more temperature sensitive and spawn at higher temps than northerns.

I'm not arguing, at all. I'm trying to figure out the spawn too.

I guess my question is: Are these bass you observe in 55F water, females dropping eggs? If so, would you say this a truly regular thing in your area?

[Gatorbassman]

I've personally witnessed bass dropping egs in 55 degree water. There is a group of 22 lakes that I fish. They are all on the same peice of property. I have been fishing there for 16 years. There is one lake that the bass start spawning nearly 3 weeks before the rest.  I can set my calander by their spawn. It is not the larges nore the smallest. It's down in a hole so it doesn't get near as much light as the rest. Last year I took a portable thormometer with me to see what the water temp was while they were spawing. The temp was 56 degrees and here were bass activly spawning all over the lake.

[HesterIsGod]

bass spawning has a lot less to do with water temp and more to do with moon phase. Bass will spawn anywhere from the mid fifties to the 70's, its mainly dependent on the prescence of a full moon.

Also remember, the further south you go the more drawn out the spawn is. In the deep south different waves of spawners keep coming in, and can be drawn out to as long as 4 months. In the north, like here in Chicago, the bass start bedding and one week later they are done.

[Catt]

Paul, there is another topic along these same lines that you should read on maybe so how the 2 could be combined.

Here's one portion about the various stages of pre-spawn, these are not just my beliefs but facts verified by studies done by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist Clarence Bowling and Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries biologist.

We are not talking spawn here but rather Pre-Spawn; with water temperatures on many East Texas and West Louisiana lakes in the 50-54 temperature range pre-spawn has already started. Now this is not to say the bass are ready to spawn; that is still a good two months off. Any adverse weather will move the bass immediately back to deeper water; that depth my be only a couple of feet depending on the severity of the weather.

There are no set reasons for pre-spawn as far as I know and water temp had very little if anything to do with it. I look at pre-spawn in no less than 3 stages which are listed below and early pre-spawn can start with water temperatures ranging any where from 35-40 if the weather is stable for a couple of day.

Early Pre-Spawn:

Individuals or groups of bass begin making short reconnaissance trips into coves. Only when the water temperature is stable for a couple of days will any appreciable number of bass remain for long. Look for bass on main lake and secondary points

Mid Pre-Spawn:

Bass leave deep water drop-offs and enter protected coves; the majority of these fish will be males. The weather and water temperatures will still be unstable. Look for bass on feeding flats adjacent to deeper water.

Pre-Spawn:

Weather and water temperatures have became stable and large fluctuations of bass are now present in shallow water. Start looking for a solid bottom, Bass avoids soft, muck bottoms; instead they prefer to spawn on hard sandy bottoms, gravel or rocky banks, large boulders or even a fallen log or lily pad root.

Keep in mind pre-spawn bass will be looking to feed before they start looking to spawn