Picky Bedding Bass

[randerson52]

Okay the pond i fish, Deer Path, the bass are on beds, about 2 weeks ago i went there and slayed them on a wacky rigged gulp sinking minnows and the turtleback worm. Okay now just last saturday may 6, the bass were right there on beds! Air temp was around 72 degrees. These bass would not strike anything. Heres what i tried. First, i tried a rapala jointed minnow in the firetiger pattern on an ultralight rig. Then that didnt work i switched over to a popper, nothing again. Then i figured i would try some gulp! turtlebacks wacky style, got one to move it from its bed and drop it, it didnt have its lips around the hook so i coulnt set it. Then I switched to probably the best spawn bait the LIZARD. Well i worked this thing all differnet ways. NOTHING. This was 2 hours of learning about the spawn, but not catching a single fish. MY question is what types of retrieves should i use and what lures should i use. Since this is the time of year when I make money again, I can buy baits!!! IM thinking of buying bulk plastics but not sure what kind, im looking for bulk black lizards, and bulk red shad powerworms. Thanks for reading the post and any answers will be appreciated

[macgyver]

Well if you got one to move it off the nest, that's pretty good in many instances. I would try White as a clolor, or a bluegill pattern Storm swim bait. Just leave them on the nest until they move them again, put 2 hooks in the bait, odds are she'll pickup one of the hooks. As for bulk, well you can buy bulk from lots of places, but just remember that if it's not something you use a lot (like I do black lizards and pulse worms), they will sit for a long time. If you haven't got a true confidence bait, don't waste your money until it is your confidence bait. Trust me I learned from experience on this one

By the way sometimes you just can't catch some bedding females, ask any pro it's happened to all of them.

Lizards

[sabass]

seems like your problem was lure selection, not lock jaw. Most of the lures you picked are designed to mimic injured or fleeing baitfish. When on bed, the bass are concerned with protecting the fry, an injured baitfish isn't much of a threat. The lizard was a step in the right direction. What type of retrieve did you use?

My personal favorite bed lure is a crawdad on a rattleback, leadheaded jig along with an additional rattle inside the craw as well. I'll cast just pass the bed. Being on the leadheaded jig, the crawdad will be positioned with pinchers in the air. Give the lure a tug to get it to sit just on the edge of the bed. Now slowly tighten the line without moving the lure and shake the rod as much as you can without moving the lure from its spot. Get those rattles rattling, the male is usually the one you'll see on the bed post spawn and the female usually stays outta site, but withen 10 feet of the bed. When she hears this rattling, she'll come to investigate. When you see her or the male showing interest,slowly, no slower, slow down, I SAID SLOWLY drag that lure across the bed. By the time the lure is in the middle of the bed, if the bass hasn't swallowed it, try to hop the lure a couple inches without pulling it off the bed. When the female comes to investigate, she'll see the crawdad smack dab in the middle of her nest with its pinchers waving in her face. It won't take long for her to gulp that up. It may take a few tries. Sometimes the male will try pushing the lure off the bed with his nose and sometimes they'll pick it up and move it off the bed before dropping it.

Now that I think about it, I remember seeing some crawdad crankbaits that are designed to dive and drag on the bottom. The angle of the lip is extreme enough where the lure is almost straight up off the bottom, but at a slight angle. On a sandy bed, the lip can dig into the sand a little. I bet if a bass saw something digging up the sand on the bed, it would see it as a direct threat to the fry and attack it.

Do you have any swim baits that resemble bluegill? If so, try to expierment with weights to have the bluegill at a slight angle to appear as if it were feeding off the fry.

Any bait that makes the head apear to be in the bed eating fry should get some action. After a bedding fish has been caught a few times, they get keen on things and a little tougher to catch each time. There is one male I've caught about 6-8 times this spring. Each time it gets harder and harder to catch, but the longer you do it (drag and shake a lure across the bed), the more irritated it makes them, eventually they'll give in and take the bait.

[Bassin_Dude]

tiki dip stik in any color. rig them weightless and slowly pull them across the bed. stopping on the bed is a good idea. like rob said, your lure selection was way off, and the lizards was the right thing to do. also, a jig with a craw trailor is a good idea, castit way past the bed and reel it unto the bed and shake it. if the bass picks the bait up, SET THE HOOK. dont worry if you think its not on their lips. also, a tube jigged on their bed works, and so does a spinnerbait slowly rooled by the bed, SLOWLY. people say it works to put an alkaseltzer in a tube to give the tube that fizzing appeal. never have tried it, but it wouldnt hurt to. remember, go for the deeper beds, those are the big hawgs' beds.

[sabass]

unfortunately most of the big fish lakes I fish don't have the clearest waters. Sure a bed in 1-2 feet of water is clearly visible and with polarized I can see the 3 foot beds, the 4 footers are just too deep to spot unless you're RIGHT ON TOP of it.

To resolve this problem, next year I I'm gonna do some pre-spawn snorkling so when they're on the beds, I know where every bed over 3 feet is. I would love to do this in rodman near the original river channel cuts through the stump fields, prolly some huge ones bedding there with all the cover and being close to deep water, problem is they throw all the nuisance/aggressive/hand fed gators into rodamn. once in the water, those gators become a little too friendly.

[Bassin_Dude]

haaa, snorkleing, thats crazy. you wouldnt be able to see more then 3 feet in those murky waters. i swim in lakes in florida, but its for recreation, i wouldnt imagine you would be able to see to far. unless these lakes are clearer.

[fool4bassin]

you know snorkeling is fun bassfisher aint nothin like seeing bass in their enviroment espically "big momma" ofcourse your gonna have to watch out for weird logs that are for some reason getting very close to you

[Bassin_Dude]

i know snorkling is fun, just not in murky water. i dont see the point of snorkling unless you can see more then 3 feet in front of you. i snorkle down in the keys and love to go to the reefs and watch all the fish do what they do, and i have gone to springs where there are bass all over the place and i just swim in there for hours watching them, very interesting. im not worried about gators, unless you bother it, it wont bother you, they may be curious, but i dont think they will bite you just because you are swimming. im not saying that if a gator started swimming at me i would just stay there, i would move, or get out of the water if it kept comeing, but i dont think it would do anything. with all the time i have swam in florida i have never ran into a problem with a gator. i think they just have a bad reputation because a few of the millions of them haveattacked people, and more then half of the people were messing or intruding their space. thats also not saying that i would go swim in lake jesup, gators are only 1 of the hundreds of reasons i wouldnt swim in that lake ;D ;D ;D

[sabass]

most of the lakes up here somewhat clear. On a sunny day with the sun straight overhead, I shouldn't have a problem with visibility.

I haven't had too many problems with gators either. The ones you need to watch for are the big bull males, and the ones that have been hand fed in the past. The hand fed gators are the ones that will swim right up and bite an arm or leg off without being provoked, gator just thinks you're giving him a meal, technically you are giving him a meal, just not willingly. Gators aren't something to be scared of, but definately something that needs respect.

[quote author=bassfisher02 link=board=news;num=1115763075;start=0#7 date=05/10/05 at 20:23:55]i know snorkling is fun, just not in murky water. i dont see the point of snorkling unless you can see more then 3 feet in front of you. i snorkle down in the keys and love to go to the reefs and watch all the fish do what they do, and i have gone to springs where there are bass all over the place and i just swim in there for hours watching them, very interesting. im not worried about gators, unless you bother it, it wont bother you, they may be curious, but i dont think they will bite you just because you are swimming. im not saying that if a gator started swimming at Â*me i would just stay there, i would move, or get out of the water if it kept comeing, but i dont think it would do anything. with all the time i have swam in florida i have never ran into a problem with a gator. i think they just have a bad reputation because a few of the millions of them haveattacked people, and more then half of the people were messing or intruding their space. thats also not saying that i would go swim in lake jesup, gators are only 1 of the hundreds of reasons i wouldnt swim in that lake ;D ;D ;D[/quote]

[ryan7261]

http://home.comcast.net/~rkrz/infoarch/fyi10tips.htm

Robby.

[big_mouth]

:-/......................how do we go from telling this guy how to catch bedding bass to SNORKLING.. haha we have too much time on your hands. Anyways where does an idea like that come from? Just never thought of that being an option for looking for bass. Learn something everyday i guess. Thanks for the laugh......Snorkling....HA

[Bassin_Dude]

bayou, HE brought it up. and it is actually a good idea. when snorkling and you happen to come across a nice bass, it is great to watch.

[madmarty]

Try using live bait. (waterdog, shiner, nigtcrawler,or crawdad) Live bait sometimes triggers strikes when all else fails.

[fool4bassin]

live bait ruins the thrill of knowing U fooled a fish into biting something completly fake

[Bassin_Dude]

ya, but the fight is just as good.

[basscatcher]

lizards are great. if they move it off of the bed just be persistent. i've noticed that sometimes they'll get pissed after moving it a few times and just eat it.