Bass Spawning Survey

[Ole the Guide]

Here's a little survey for everyone. It would really help if you've been out on the water and have first hand knowledge. Tell us what you've seen. This should be an interesting way to check out our favorite species reproduction habits considering our warm spring.

Do you think the Bass spawned earlier this year because of the nice weather or, did the past couple of weeks of cold and rainy weather shut them down.

Survey is:

1. Bass have already spawned.

2. Bass are starting to spawn now.

3. Bass haven't gone on there beds yet but will soon and be done by the opener.

4. Bass are going to wait till May 28th to go on their beds and we're going to have an unbelievable opener!!

This at least gives us something to do for the next 10 days.

CPR!

Ole

[bassn1]

How about choice 3 1/2, The bass will start to spawn soon but won't be completely done until after the opener. I was out on my home lake this weekend ( Wall ) and the small bucks were up shallow. No real sign of spawning yet. The water temp was 53. On a side note...the water temp was 52 the week after the ice went out!!!

[Mark Christianson]

3.5 for me too.

Was up at the cabin all last week on East Battle, and 3.5 is my guess based on what I saw.

Oh I cant wait!

[HawgTide]

I was out with the DNR doing the Electroshock Surveying on Tuesday night. On this particular west metro lake, we surveyed a lot of bass full of eggs(bulging belly's). They seemed to just be moving up. A lot of them were in the water just outside of the typical spawning areas. Some we're already in the real shallow areas. I don't recall seeing any that looked like they just dropped a load. But I'm hearing 80 degree temps this week, so it will happen pretty fast.

[go4carl]

I was on the east end of Minnetonka on Wednesday night, the bass are just moving in. Most of the bass I saw where in 7'-10' wherever there was emerging weeds. Because of the clarity of the water I could see up to the shore and there was nothing shallow in the typical bed areas. I was fishing with a crankbait looking for Pike, I caught few (plus a couple of small muskies) but the bass were also aggresive and were engulfing my crankbait. Which tells me they have not spawned yet, but are fattening up for the spawn.

[TimC]

So about how long does it take for the bass to get really active again after spawning? a week or 2?

[Ole the Guide]

Hey Biglakeba$$,

My sister has a home on East Battle. Shoot me an email.

[email protected]

This survey is going well. Thanks for everyone's input.

Ole

[Mark Christianson]

email sent Ole.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I was shore fishing a very small east metro lake yesterday evening and there was lots of bass activity shallow. Most bass appeared to be smaller males around one pound but did see a few big females cruising through occasionaly. There was no evidence of any nesting already occuring but with next weeks forecast Im betting the spawn will be in full force soon.

On a side note I did come upon someone putting a very big, easily 5 pound, bass on a stringer and told them to release it and stuck around until they did.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Did you get to see any piggies? i would love to do that once, just to see some hogs!!!

[sicheneder]

i was in wisc. last weekend up north by webster and two of the lakes i was on i saw some males by beds, but they where way to spooky like they where waiting to spawn. i wasn't like they were guarding. both lakes a caught a 4+ler female staging to come in they where full of spawn. i would guess that they must have made the beds last weekend and are waiting for the females to come in with better water temp.in little isolated lake was mostly 2-3 feet deep with pad stems with a little 18 foot hole. the fish were around the the hole and only caught and saw only one in the shallows. water temp wasn't working

[HawgTide]

We saw about 6-8 bass in the 4-5lb range, but no real pigs. That was Rock Lake near Maple Lake. It's fun to go out with them to see what's in a lake. There was so much pond weed and milfoil, that sometime you could see bass stuck down below and couldn't get to them in time. You generally have about 5 seconds to scoop it up before it's gone. Overall, it had pretty good numbers (above average for the lake class in the area). You should contact Smallie Hawgin sometime and he'll hook you up with opportunity to do that.

[OnTheWater]

just got in from fishing near duluth (where bass is now open, 100% legal; so don't follow back with a "you know that bass season isn't open" post). We had a pretty good night, over a dozen in the boat averaging around 2 1/4 lbs. I'd say that 3/4 of the fish were chunky females, full of eggs. We focused on isolated clusters of dead reeds, and had to drag it right in front of their face to get a bite. So to answer the question, there were some females starting to hit the beds, and others on the outside weedline making their way into the shallows. We had the best luck with sweet beavers, and some more off of tubes and comidas. From what I gathered, the fish were pretecting the bed and making defensive bites...nothing aggressive. Overall, the fishing was somewhat slow, but still pretty good. I think the spawn on this particular lake will hit right near opener.

[ricqik]

Went bassfishing today on mallalieu and some have already spawned out and some weren't. So I'd say #2 for the lake I was at.

[dan2957]

I have to say 3.5 too. From what I have seen the bass will be moving up any day now. New moon for opener so most will probably spawn around that time.

[Matt Johnson]

I saw a few bass on their beds yesterday while I was pitching for pannies. However, this particular lake is pretty small and shallow, and the water temps are above what the other surrounding lakes are at.

However, there were not many, so my guess is that they're still in the transition...

I haven't seen really any bass on their beds in the larger, deeper lakes...

[Ole the Guide]

I was out on Medicine yesterday and there was nothing going on on the beds I saw. I caught some crappies and a couple of 7-8 inch bass and that was it. No Northerns either. It was a great day to be out and I had a great time!

I'm going with #3.. May 27th--Bring it on!

Ole

[EatSleepFish]

up in aitkin, not even the panfish are on bed yet, then again i was fishing a VERY clear lake.

Bring it on!

[Wayne Ek]

Kinda mixed here in Alex. I was on a lake today and we had a great walleye bite going. The water temp. was 59. On my home lake (Lobster) all the large bass (some real piggies) have vanished from my dock area. Now all you see are hordes of small sunnies, dog fish, one muskie (40 plus ") and small bass (6" to 10") so I think Lobster may have bedding fish already.

[river rat316]

was out on a local lake this morning, and they were on beds, both males and females on some beds, with just males on the others. Was real fun to just troll around and watch em from a distance, they were still pretty spooky and would move off if you got to close, so I dont think its happened yet, but will be very soon. Hopefully they stay shallow for this weekend, could be real fun!!

[Daze Off]

Down in Pool 2 they have already spawned for the most part - 2 or 3 weeks ago we caught tons of good sized largemouth full of eggs in a backwater and now they appear to be gone. Water temps have been within a few degrees of 60 for several weeks already there.

There are some very nice crappies to be had though - right Hawgtide.....?

Daze Off

[Bobb-o]

was up in brainerd on sunday and they were just starting to get onto their beds it seemed

[HawgTide]

Quote:

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There are some very nice crappies to be had though - right Hawgtide.....?

Daze Off

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You mean like this 16.25"er?

[Mark Christianson]

Cripes almighty!

[Matt Johnson]

I thought bass season wasn't open yet... because that thing is a bucketmouth! Nice fish! Congrats!