Favorite Spawn Lure

[WIUbassin]

I am trying to figure out what lures to use to pull in these spawning lunkers(for catch and release of course). What is your go to lure? What about if you were fishing a lake with only about 6inches of waterclarity?

[Rebbasser]

Depends. Pre-spawn a Trap or a spinnerbait is tough to beat. On the beds-can't help you there-every thing I have thrown has been ignored . I once spent an hour or so emptying the tackle box at a big girl on the bed-no luck. Post-spawn: A Trap, spinnerbait, or soft plastic.

[renagadebee34]

I have been smacking them with the reaction innovations beaver!!!! Black with Blue flake. I went down to lake fork when the spawn was on and caught 4 nine pounders with them. I also live in northern michigan where they are just starting and am smacking them like crazy!!

[carolina-rig-01]

if there are a lot of shallow fish that are cruising but not locked on beds a really like a bubble gum trick worm. it's kinda hard to put your ego aside long enough to fish a pink worm but they have caught a lot of fish over the years. if i am fishing beds i like tubes in a perch color. another good bait i like on beds is a salt craw. there are lots of different variations of this bait out there and they all will catch fish. but keep in mind that bed fishing isn't as easy as seeing the fish and catching the fish. you can spend hours on one bed and never get bit no matter what you are throwing. other times you will go through several bags of soft plastics and still never get the fish hooked. but when you put in the time and have patience you can hook really good quality fish. i am glad to hear you say you will be releasing the bedding fish. i am for taking a few fish here and there to eat, but deffinatley not this time of year. there is a lot of damage over the course of a year done to the fish population, and these fish are trying to repair it in a few short weeks. we owe it to ourselves to take care of them and release them healthy and quickly. good luck and i hope this helps.

[Bubbah]

At the risk of being called a goody two shoes" or worse, why not leave spawning bass alone and let them do their thing. Even though it's the law of the land in most states, I personally think going after Bass on their beds is counter productive to maintaining a healthy breeding stock. Keeping the pressure on the bass during their spawning season is one way to decrease the bass population along side of the (in)famous B.A.S.S. approach of catching fish for the weigh-in and releasing these fish many miles from their "home" territory.

[renagadebee34]

I dont know about you but every big fish i catch, I release!!!!!!!!!! You dont think us fellow bass fisherman are smart enouph to know to let the big females go. I dont know about you but i fish for the sport and catching these amazing fish!! I havent kept a bass in i dont know how many years. And most of the time i watch them swim right back to their beds. If you can show me a statistic that shows that bass #s are decreasing I would be glad to aplolagize!! So dont make us feel guilty for enjoying this sport!!

[bamabassin21]

Catch and fillet man

[renagadebee34]

Well in places where i live. It is catch and release until the spawn is over so i we dont have to worry about people catching them and keeping them around here! We do it for the sport

[BassMoJo]

Jerkbait. 20+ on it every day for the last week

[zooker]

Originally Posted by Bubbah

At the risk of being called a goody two shoes" or worse, why not leave spawning bass alone and let them do their thing. Even though it's the law of the land in most states, I personally think going after Bass on their beds is counter productive to maintaining a healthy breeding stock. Keeping the pressure on the bass during their spawning season is one way to decrease the bass population along side of the (in)famous B.A.S.S. approach of catching fish for the weigh-in and releasing these fish many miles from their "home" territory.

i personally loath bed fishing.. bass don't all spawn at the same time.. sunday i caught a number of beer bellied bass and only ONE that had a torn up tail.

i belive some one on this board was in on a radio tracking of bass -potomic river area- bass caught up to 30+ miles away. where found to return home in less than 3 days..i don't remember the details or the person who told me this..

i also belive that removal of a few 1-2 pound bass is a good thing.. all this catch and release is ok. but it also makes over crowding of a year class of fish a reality.. thus making the fish smaller or stunted..

zooker

[Rebbasser]

it's kinda hard to put your ego aside long enough to fish a pink worm but they have caught a lot of fish over the years.

C-rig, that is the first color I reach for when fishing a floating worm rig. People will kid you about it unil you catch the first fish on it. I'll keep that one in mind-thanks for the tip!

[mymomisbecky]

grandads noodle every day before and after.

[I<3LrgMouthsOnMyPole]

weightless super fluke baby bass color get it right on em it will drop so slow they have to take it

[hackattack]

STICKBAIT!
black/blue
or green pumpkin, depending on water clarity
white if sight fishing

[3dkicker]

Just a comment on Zookers response on stunted fish. I used to fish a private pond that held a lot of small bass (6-10") and many schools of small bluegill. One spring we released over 50 Potomac river keepers (over 15") into the pond. By the next year we were catching bass in the 12-15" range and the schools of bluegill were gone. Also the size of crappie improved too. We realized that the small bluegill were eating the baitfish fry. The small bass weren't big enough to eat the bluegill. Once the population of bluegill was reduced the baitfish grew larger and became a better food source for the small bass and crappie.

Best bait....Stick bait (MMIB brand of course)

[WIUbassin]

Originally Posted by zooker

i personally loath bed fishing.. bass don't all spawn at the same time.. sunday i caught a number of beer bellied bass and only ONE that had a torn up tail.

i belive some one on this board was in on a radio tracking of bass -potomic river area- bass caught up to 30+ miles away. where found to return home in less than 3 days..i don't remember the details or the person who told me this..

i also belive that removal of a few 1-2 pound bass is a good thing.. all this catch and release is ok. but it also makes over crowding of a year class of fish a reality.. thus making the fish smaller or stunted..

zooker

you mentioned a torn up tail... I caught one the other day that had alittle blood coming from its tail whats the deal with that?

[senko]

Wiu it is from making there beds since they dont have hands they have to use their tails...

[zooker]

Originally Posted by senko

Wiu it is from making there beds since they dont have hands they have to use their tails...

yep

so far though i did not say it bed fishing i like 3 differant lures. as i posted above not all bass spawn at the same time..

i like a baby paca craw.


a horny toad.

or a tiny bushhog on a shakey head ..

early during the spawn the baby paca walked into the bed will get a response. i like to work the shallows with a froggy if i do see a bed i kill the frog and let it drop into the bed.-i notice the females will readily hit the frog more often- if the bass are locked on the bed.. as in the eggs are laid.. they rarely will touch either of the aboved mentioned baits. so the spinning rod comes out and the tiny bush hog is applied till they bite..a key note here. if the bass remove the bush hog from the bed. they will NOT touch that color bush hog again.. i use 4-5 differant colors of tiny bush hog..

zooker

[OUTLAW]

I have had luck using a Texas rigged lizards in the past,If you can see them on thier bed ,creep it up on thier bed and keep it on the bed,shake it,They usually get peed off and gobble it,I have seen bass just pick it up and move it off the bed.

[chas29]

a senko or a shakey head

[OUTLAW]

A Senko Chas

[bubba bass bigfoot]

Tubes work well for me, and jerkbaits.

[senko]

i like spinnerbaits and senkos

[ILfishinman]

baby paca craws and white tubes all the way baby!!!

[DadofJolly]

Man, I guess My Son and I are the only ones who fish drop shots this time of year. We will use a HEAVY weight - 1/2 to 3/4 with a long leader. We can put the weight just outside the bed but keep the lure right in the sweet spot and give it all the action we want without moving it out. We usually start with a 4 in. white / silver flake senko style bait. Then either downsize to a tiny craw or go huge with a big creature bait - depending on the fishes mood. But the drop shot is awesome for the beds. That heavy weight really helps with the strong spring winds we see here.
God Bless.