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The spawn

1K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  ppowell 
#1 ·
I live in Greensboro and wanted to know if i have missed the spawn. I work on days i would normally fish and when the warmer weather kicked up i wasnt able to scan my local ponds or lakes for spawning bass. Finally went out a week ago and saw small fry swimming along the bank at a local pond. Have I missed it all around? Or do I still have a chance to catch them at my area lakes?
 
#3 ·
I was at a private pond on Saturday. With the weather being cooler,so are the water temps. The water temps last weekend,in this pond, were 62 degrees. Bream typically start spawning at 65 degrees and Bass can start as low as 55 degrees. The Bream in this particular pond are just now bedding up and spawning. Some of the Bass have spawned and some are just moving onto the beds. I think later this week when the temps warm up and water temps do the same, the fish will be getting hungry..I HOPE!!
 
#4 ·
My take is that it has been a wacky spring and the bass in my pond (about 8 acres) have been very erratic with the spawn. We were catching 3-5 lb fatties, assuming full of eggs back in March. They were on supposed beds on the East, shaded side of the pond. Now, in May, I'm seeing 3-4 lbers on beds on the West, open side of the pond (which receives sun ALL Day). The Bluegill have just completed their spawn on the West bank, with fry everywhere. I have literally been bamboozled this spring with the local spawn, and i'm assuming it's all weather related. (there was another discussion on another forum about spawning variables).
My biggest problem is the Roach, or Golden Shiners.... They are brood parasites and spawn over other bedding fish. I see a ton of their fry (long thin thread-like) along with the short, tiny bream fry.
 
#5 ·
There are always exceptions to the rule - and in the case of the bass spawn - the "rules" are loose to begin with. I have been primarily fishing 2 lakes in the northern NC piedmont this spring. First spawners i'm sure showed up in early March - however I was limited to only fishing the upper part of my lake. The same day big full females were caught down lake - i was only able to catch smaller bucks on the upper end - this was March 21). Just 3 days later- the females showed up- fished all the same spots and it was 3-1 ratio of females to males - it happens that quick.

To peanut's point - different parts of the lake will have spawners at different times, and they definitely come in waves. Also to agree with Peanut - the weather has been extremely wacky and definitely impacted the spawn. My best wave of full females came the 1st 3 weeks of April. And water temps got up into the low 70s. Since then - with the cooler weather - water temps have been down the last 3 weeks - this past weekend water temps were back down to 65 on the lake. We also had the one huge rainfall that occurred (2-3" in places) a few weeks ago that had an impact as well. Having said all that - this past weekend - i was somewhat surprised to catch another big female still full of eggs. So overall - I think there was a lot of staging and moving back - and erratic movement and pausing of fish moving up - all weather and water temp related.

With all that being said - I think the chaos of it all actually led to better fishing overall with a mix of pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawners all mixed in and around the same areas more consistently and up shallow and aggressive. I only had 1 day that I caught some offshore bass schooled up and it was right before that big rain i mentioned - since the water muddied back up - no offshore for me.

Overall - Ponds are smaller and warm up much quicker (and fluctuate easier). IF i was to guess - if in Greensboro - in a pond - the spawn is more than likely over - but some possible stragglers - especially since we just had another full moon. In a reservoir - I think there's another wave of females - likely the last one.

Attached is the female (~5lbs) from this past Sunday (5/10/20). I actually hooked her the day before and she spit the hook after an acrobatic display - I was kind of shocked she bit the next day - for sure the same fish- on the same stump - just shows how aggressive they are in spawn.

I think my next time out i'll be focused solely on offshore post spawn fish - and with the projected heat coming - water temps will rise quickly.

Tight lines -

Dave
 

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#6 ·
Like others have said it depends on the body of water. I think the bass spawn is done for the most part. The bream have yet to spawn. Maybe they started in ponds but on Harris where I fish they aren't even on the beds yet. Catfish spawn about the same time or after bream, so they're getting ready to. Catfishing has been hot lately, but the other fish (bass, bluegill, crappie) are funky.

Looking forward to the bream spawn and the bass/crappie getting settled into the summer patterns.
 
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