Early Spawn?

[ShoreGuy1984]

Will all of this warm weather bring an early spawn? Since the bass opener is a week later then usual, will we get a chance to fish the spawn and postspawn?

[Cecil]

I think openener will be spawn or post depending where you are fishing. Im just hoping it will mean a better summer more than anything. NORMAL weed growth! Something we havent had in a couple years.

[Fever]

I'd say by bass opener, the majority of our fish will be in post spawn. I agree with ya cecil, I'm also hoping for some normal deep weed growth. It has been off / differerent these past couple summers. Hard to say if this slightly early spring will help in that reguard though.

[Craigums]

Weather stay warm like this, those fish should be spawing by the time the full moon hits at the end of the month

[TonkaBass]

Last year was cold and windy overall... I would like some nice calm heat this year

[Nick Kuhn]

Last year was cold and windy overall... I would like some nice calm heat this year

It was windy just about every time I went out. We had 3 or 4 good weekends in September, but over the course of the summer I can only recall a few other times where the weather was angler friendly.

[ShoreGuy1984]

I hope I get to fish the spawn, since they will be shallow and I fish from shore.

[matthothand]

I think it's too soon to speculate. Fun to guess though. If it cools down we could wind up with a late spawn instead. Just because the ice melted earlier than average doesn't mean the spawn will be sooner. The photoperiod and water temp determine when it happens and the water temps will be determined by the future weather. I'm hoping for 40 degrees straight through til june.

[jalberg]

I saw two bass beds this weekend with bass nearby. Water temp in that area was 56 degrees.

[Deitz Dittrich]

there really is no way to predict how quickly the lakes will warm up.. but they are getting a great 2-4 week head start for sure over most years.. It would be very nice to not have newly post spawn fish for opener this year.

[Cecil]

channel on coon at 55 at 10am tdy. thats pretty warm for 10am April 5th...

[TonkaBass]

I saw 59 degrees yesterday...

[Craigums]

What do you guys this the "magic" number is for fish starting to move up and hitting beds?

[Cecil]

Is 7 an option?

[Craigums]

Temp wise brent

[st.crioxfishin]

From my experience I've found about 58-62 degrees to be ideal. Last week in AR we marked 55-62 degree water in the areas where we caught pre-spawn fish as well as some fish that had bloody tails already.

Its amazing how warm the water surface temps are in MN already. We'll have to keep an eye on the weather to see if it holds up.

[Craigums]

thanks bob

[Deitz Dittrich]

them numbers seem pretty close.. it really depends on lake to lake it seems, and usually has to be steady at those numbers.. you can get early warm readings that are just surface, you really need those numbers down a foot or two..

[jdkeehl]

Around 62 give or take a little. There is a lot more that goes into when they spawn then just water temp. Moon phase, length of day, changing water levels and so on. They will sometimes pull up and pull back for a few weeks and sometimes the males are a lot more ready than the females. If the female is a deep fish the warmer water needs to get to her to trigger her to come up and spawn. Just because you find water in the 60s in the shallows doesnt mean there will be fish spawning. I have also seen the same male on a bed on mille lacs for 6 weeks. Caught it 5 times (blind in the left eye). Seen at least 4 differant females with him. But if i had to say a temp it would be 62!

[RK]

Hiya -

Yay for El Nino, that's all I gotta say.

A few years back I was a speaker at a symposium on muskie biology in Indianapolis, and while I was there I got to sit in on a bunch of paper presentations being given by biologists from all over the country.

One of the most interesting ones was an analysis of year class strength and spring weather. On the line graph, there were HUGE spikes that coincided with every El Nino year. Early spring, early ice out and early spawn meant a longer first growing season and higher survival rates going into fall.

Based on what I know about bass, I'd have to guess the same applies, especially to SMB. They HAVE to be about an inch and a half long by winter or they don't make it.

So an early spring might not only be good this year, but make things better in years to come too.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Deitz Dittrich]

Interesting stuff RK.. thanks!