this is a pretty easy question but i dont really know the answer:

at what depth do bass usually spawn?

is water clarity anything to do with it? if so, then the water im referring to is pretty well stained.

i always see bluegills on their beds in the spring/summer and they are in about a foot or less of water, but its always bluegills i see spawning, i NEVER see any bass on beds, i've only seen two or three. so are they spawning deeper where i cant see them?

thanks guys.

I think the bass will spawn in water depths that range from 1 to 15 feet; 15 feet being a rare maximum (maybe like in tidal systems).

But I think the normal depth for bed is like 1 1/2 to 3 feet.

I think the water clarity has something to do with the hatching of the eggs.... And the hatching itself has something to do with water temperature, I think (not a 100% sure though)

Well stained waters are known to warm up kicker that gin-clear waters.

But in clear water and in like 3 feet of water, the bottom is also pretty exposed to the sun, which I guess helps the hatching too.

Temperature has more to do with it than anything.  (and yes they do spawn in about 1-15 ft. but normally about 1-3 or 4 ft.).  Clarity has a little to do with it, but it affects more whether you can see them on the bed or not.  You will often catch spawners that you can't even see, while others you can sight-cast to easily for hours... they can just see YOU more easily though.  Bass usually spawn once water gets up into the 60's, but at some point, no matter WHAT the temperature, the WILL SPAWN.  They have to and the instinct will just push them onto the beds.... many bass spawn at different times.  If you see a bunch of bucks in the area, those bass are early to prespawn.  If you see a female cruising and just a few or one buck, you're almost there, they might still be very skittish.  If the female doesn't move off the bed too far at your approach, GO FOR IT

Water clarity has the most to do with it. Its all about sunlight. The bass need the right amount of sunlight for the eggs, and the dirtier the water the shallower they have to lay eggs due to lack of sufficient sunlight at deeper depths. Bass pros like ish monroe have become masters at fishing deep bedding bass in super clear lakes out west. They spawn deeper out there due to water clarity.

lol. the right bottom has alot to do with it too. but a bass can spawn where it wants to really.  Sunlight should have nothing to do with it, it's all about water temperature when the bass start to spawn.  bass can spawn anywhere from 1 to 10 ft being the average depth.  if you think about it you only see a certain percentage of all the bass that are spawning.  in other words, if you see one bed there are probably 3-5 more you don't see.  maybe in your home lake that percentage is even lower

I find them from about 8 feet or shallower.  

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/bass_spawn.html

Hester, I see what you mean, but that pretty much ties into temp... sorta.  The sunlight can warm deeper waters if they are clearer so the bass will spawn deeper, sooner, when the water is clear.  I'm saying most of this from personal experience but I have read many articles about it... not many of them touch on water clarity though

i would have to say that its mostly water temperature that determines at what depth fish spawn

SHALLOW

Water temp and clarity go hand in hand. I don't worry about that when I'm sightfishing though. If they are spawning shallow they will be spawning deeper. I try to concentrate on the deepest fish and beds I can see. The deep ones are often times the largest ones because a larger fish doesn't particularly like to get to far out of their comfortable deep water. Last year or the year before that I was catching spawning fish 16ft deep on my lake. That was several weeks into the spawn and on a main lake island. I was the clearest water I could find.

With that said, you should never pass up a flat in the back of a protected pocket or creek that is 10ft or less. Toss in a spinnerbait or a C-Rigged lizard and fan cast the area. We only see a small percentage of spawning bass while we are sight fishing. There are many more that spawn just out of sight of us.

Bigger fish spawn deeper then 2-4ft generally.

But over all, you can find spawning fish in 8inches of water, and in 15ft of water on beds. Really just depends.

bass eggs need sunlight to mature; therefore, that being said, bass will spawn usually at the deepest depth that they can, but still get sunlight on their eggs

i would have to say that its mostly water temperature that determines at what depth fish spawn

Simple bass biology,

When bass lay eggs, they need some source of heat to incubate them, much like when a hen sits on her eggs. That source of heat is sunlight. They spawn in a part of the water column called the photic zone, which is the top layer of water that gets the most sunlight. When the water is dirtier then the sunlight does not penetrate deeper depths enough to adequately incubate the eggs. Thus, the dirtier the water the shallower the fish have to go to get the sunlight needed to incubate their eggs and have a successful nest. In clearer water the bass can go deeper or they can remain shallow, because a wide range of depths have adequate sunlight and the photic zone is larger.

So basically, the clearer the water the deeper this bass spawn. This does not necessarily mean they will all spawn deep, some will still spawn shallow, and those shallow spawners are typically most targeted. The deeper spawners are harder to see or impossible to see and thus harder to target and fish.

lol. the right bottom has alot to do with it too. but a bass can spawn where it wants to really.  Sunlight should have nothing to do with it,

huh?

Sunlight has everything to do with it.  Clarity vs penetration.

lol. the right bottom has alot to do with it too. but a bass can spawn where it wants to really. Sunlight should have nothing to do with it, it's all about water temperature when the bass start to spawn. bass can spawn anywhere from 1 to 10 ft being the average depth. if you think about it you only see a certain percentage of all the bass that are spawning. in other words, if you see one bed there are probably 3-5 more you don't see. maybe in your home lake that percentage is even lower

Please explain  "sunshine should have nothing to do with it." I would think it would had every thing to do with it.

lol. the right bottom has alot to do with it too. but a bass can spawn where it wants to really. Sunlight should have nothing to do with it,

huh?

Sunlight has everything to do with it. Clarity vs penetration.

Exactly

lol. the right bottom has alot to do with it too. but a bass can spawn where it wants to really. Sunlight should have nothing to do with it, it's all about water temperature when the bass start to spawn. bass can spawn anywhere from 1 to 10 ft being the average depth. if you think about it you only see a certain percentage of all the bass that are spawning. in other words, if you see one bed there are probably 3-5 more you don't see. maybe in your home lake that percentage is even lower

Please explain "sunshine should have nothing to do with it." I would think it would had every thing to do with it.

Exactly