We have had a ton of rain up here the last couple of months and therefore the places where i have been fishing have looked like chocolate milk. This combined with the colder temperatures (up until a couple of weeks ago), led me to beleive that the spawn would be set back. Last week I went out expecting to see the males making the beds or even the females to be protecting the beds. I caught four fish in the matter of an hour, two smaller ones and two over three pounds (which were pretty obvious to me, females). But the two bigger fish that I caught were not plump at all, in fact it looked like they had been stripped of their eggs and their stomachs were all sunken in.

Has anyone around this area seen anything similar to this or did I just catch a couple of early spawners, or big males?

We have had a ton of rain up here the last couple of months and therefore the places where i have been fishing have looked like chocolate milk. This combined with the colder temperatures (up until a couple of weeks ago), led me to beleive that the spawn would be set back. Last week I went out expecting to see the males making the beds or even the females to be protecting the beds. I caught four fish in the matter of an hour, two smaller ones and two over three pounds (which were pretty obvious to me, females). But the two bigger fish that I caught were not plump at all, in fact it looked like they had been stripped of their eggs and their stomachs were all sunken in.

Has anyone around this area seen anything similar to this or did I just catch a couple of early spawners, or big males?

I've had a few guys come in the store telling me that the Michigan spawn has already come and gone. I haven't had time to get out on the water so I can't say for myself if its true or not.

There were a few fish on beds on Conesus yesterday, but for the most part, the sunnies and bullhead have moved in, signifying the end.

ok thanks guys. yeah i was out on conesus yesterday too. I saw that there were a lot of sunfish and bullhead, but there was the occasional bass. But the bass that I saw and caught were all smallmouth. I'm guessing that the largemouth are already off the beds.

Yep, that's what I saw, too.

I was just chatting with a couple of friends, and we're all under the consensus that we may see a solid 2nd wave on Lake Ontario. Those fish were literally blown off beds in a matter of days. There's always a small 2nd wave of spawners, but I think this year will be stronger. I don't think many females actually had a chance to spawn. I remember a similar situation in the early 90s, where we had an unusually cold April and May. There were actually bass on beds on opening day.

The water around here (PA/NY/NJ border) is high and some of the beds I've seen are in less traditional spots and a little deeper making them harder to spot.

That makes sense. Do smallmouth always spawn that shallow? I am primarily a largemouth fisherman and I always thought that smallmouth spawned deeper that largemouth.

On Conesus? Yes.

On other lakes, it really depends. I've seen them as shallow as inches on Lake Ontario, and as deep as 12' or so.

Hmmmm this is intresting to read cuz ill be back to fishing finaly tomorrow after 3 weeks of training in ft drum. I mostly fish ontario shores and tributarys so ill give ya some input once I get out there I might buy a pole on my way home tomorrow so I can hit some waters around batavia

I do a lot fishing around batavia. Where do you go?

I don't fish batavia much because I don't know many areas besides that big quarry there across from lafarge construction. I fish albion and the alabama swamps mostly with both are 15min from batavia

Oh ok good deal. I fish that same quary, never have much luck though other than in the early spring and in the fall. I only fish there from the shore though. Would probably have more luck if I were fishing from a boat. I do a lot of my fishing at godfreys pond. Was just there this morning and even with that cold front that came in last night I got a four and a half and a three and a half. Decent fishing there if you ever wanna check it out.

Well iv been out a few times now sense iv been back home and I haven't seen to many bass on there beds iv seen some mostly smallmouth in the river. The large mouth iv seen em cruising and sitting in some weeds but they don't want anything to do with any lure closest iv got to a hit was on flukes weightless just dead sticking em. They would just push the bait with out even opening there mouth. One did strike it after 20 minutes of ticking it off it was like 1lb covered in black spots. So it almost seems like they spawned already but they sure don't want to eat that's for sure.