Bass Connection: Getting into bed with spawning bass

By Doug Monson
Free Press copy editor

May 18, 2008 01:28 am

— The Minnesota bass fishing opener (the real opener in my book) is a unique opener in that the purpose of the delayed start is to allow the bass to go through the spawn somewhat protected.
And while most seasons many bass are had during the walleye opener and the following two weeks thereafter, for the most part, unless someone is fishing out of season, bedding bass aren’t targeted all the often, and bass openers generally are in a post-spawn pattern.
But spring 2008 has been something of a doozy, locking the jaws of many a fish during the walleye/northern opener, and the delayed spring will have its affect on bass opener as well.
According to Bruce Gilbertson, area fisheries manager at the Department of Natural Resources field office in Spicer, the bass opener definitely will have a different flavor.
“The odds are we will have a vast majority of the largemouth spawning after opener,” he says.
Now, most true bass enthusiasts will foam at the mouth with the chance to get after bass during the spawn, but those same enthusiasts will debate the ethics of fishing bedding bass.
You might be asking yourself what difference it makes whether or not people catch bass during the spawn. Well, first you have to understand a little bit about the spawn.
Depending on who you talk to or where you read about it, bass start getting active when the water temps start to push into the upper 40s and the lower 50s, but the spawning period on northern lakes doesn’t actually take place until water temperatures reach the low 60s.
The male bass are the first to move into the shallow waters when temps rise; these bass are searching for prime bedding locations. Eventually the females will move in, lay eggs, and then the males will guard the beds.
Gilbertson says there is always a concern when the spawn pushes back toward the opener, mostly because he says the males guarding the eggs and eventual fry are a determining factor on whether or not the fry survive (although a good many of male bass will eat some of the fry).
“Even if they aren’t hungry,” he says, “they will strike anything, including lures.”
The fear, he says, is that in the time it takes for an angler to retrieve and unhook the bass, handle it and return the male to the water, bluegill or crappies or other fish may have moved in and consumed a good portion of the fry.
Furthermore, he says experts just don’t know how long it takes for the male bass to go back to the nest, though he says most eventually do.
Fortunately, Gilbertson assures, bass are a very resilient species, and as such, bounce back with even a small population of males and females in a lake.
To bed or not to bed
Another fear some bass fisherman have about fishing during the spawn is injuring a female full of eggs. Often times larger fish get so worn down during the fight, the chances of survival plummet as well.
Since the spawn occurs in anywhere from 2 feet to 6 feet of water, fanned-bass beds can typically be seen, though in our mud-clear lakes, this might be a bit difficult.
Truthfully, most people on our area lakes probably aren’t all that worried about sight fishing bass, but tournament fisherman and anyone fishing on clear lakes come across the situation every spring.
And the temptation to go after a fat female has to automatically go up anytime a fisherman sees that from the boat.
But Gilbertson says today, most bass anglers are aware of the spawn and what it means for bass reproduction. He says catch-and-release practices have also helped populations.
“A number of anglers will use restraint and not target too many of them.”
But then again, others won’t, simply because they’ve never stopped to think about something that occurs so little.
Thankfully, I think about these things too often, mostly while I’m whittling down the days until the start of the bass opener.
With that said, fish early, fish often, catch a hawg or two, and practice catch-and-release.
And above all, if you chose to go after bedding bass (I just may myself), handle with care and get ’em back in the water fast.

Doug Monson is a Free Press copy editor. He can be reached by e-mail at dmonson @mankatofreepress.com or called at (507) 344-6352.

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