This is my first year of bass fishing. So, I don't know where Lg mouth bass are spawning in my lake. I have found other small fish spawning. Should I bee looking in those areas? I also know that blue gill spawn after Lg mouth bass. What about black crappies? I was fishing with my son & found a huge school of black crappies on their beds. :-?

This is my first year of bass fishing. So, I don't know where Lg mouth bass are spawning in my lake. I have found other small fish spawning. Should I bee looking in those areas? I also know that blue gill spawn after Lg mouth bass. What about black crappies? I was fishing with my son & found a huge school of black crappies on their beds. :-?

Crappie and smallmouth bass spawn when the water is about 58 to 60 degrees. Largemouth bass about 62 to 65 degrees and bluegill/sunfish about 65 to 70 degrees.

The difference in water temperature is important as it is one of mother natures way of keeping the close relatives separated so they don't hybridize.

Look in wind protected areas where the sun is on the water for the longest time periods. Spawning areas for LMB should have easy deep water access and something that protects the bed; wood or rock on one side to help the bass protect it's bed site and firm bottom without mud.

Pan fish like bluegill and crappie tend to bed in colonies for group protection and bass tend to have separation between bed sights, so the male bass can ward off intruders.

WRB

I like to look for spawning bass in the standing timber of a lake. Shallow flats at the head of creeks are also a good place. As for smallmouth they nest deeper. They like gravel flats and rocky points. I have not found and caught may smallmouth on nest but I experienced something at my home lake this year. Fish went on bed overnight seemed like because of the crazy wheather we had in Kentucky. Well the water level shot down in a hury. This left the smallmout exposed because of the falling water level and I spotted and caught a few. This fish were mostly in timber and on steped rocky points.

Thanks for the help guys! Last year my first day out fishing for LMB was memorial day week end. I didn't catch my first bass til July 14 & I fished at least once a week. My knowledge of LMB then, is not even close to what I have learned over the past year (thanks to websites like this one). But, again I'm struggling. My last 2 trips out I got skunked . I've tried lizards, senkos, jigs, top water Popper, buzz baits, spinner baits & crank baits. Not sure what I'm doing wrong or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Don't get me wrong its great just to get out of the house & I know not everyone catches fish ever time they go fishing. I guess my confidence is a little low.

90% of the fish are in 10% of the lake. It's your job to find them.

Don't over load yourself with too many different types of lures and presentations. Try to learn 2 different lures; 1 for active bass and 1 for inactive bass. My suggestion would be either a spinnerbait or a jerk bait for the active bass and a drop shot with soft plastic worms or Senko for the inactive.

During the spawn; the bass are not eating and lures need to be in there face near the bottom to get a strike. Same for the inactive bass, near the bottom and in there face.

The seasonal periods help you to locate the bass.

Go out and enjoy your day on the water and take fewer lures. A 3/8 oz double willow; gold/silver blades, white chartreuse spinnerbait is good nearly everywhere. Green with black/red flake 6" Senko or Oxblood red flake 6" Roboworm works nearly everywhere. High% colors and quality products, learn those and slowly add lures and presentations.

Good luck.

WRB

I I did is try to find a bait that you have confidence in and fish it a lot and learn the right way to fish it. Im not saying to find this bait and only fish it, but after you build confidence in one bait you can then go to another bait and learn it. You will always have your confidence bait to fall back on. Use this bait all over the lake until you find the fish. Try to have fun when you fish, dont get down because you're not catching they may not be hungry.