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Photos by Mike Johnson
I am a 225-pound largemouth bass, guarding a bed on the edge of Lake Jennings. Looking up through 10 feet of slightly hazy water, I see the silhouette of a boat. From its deck, John Kerr, one of the premier big-bass chasers in America, pitches a white jig and lets it settle on the lake bottom 3 feet in front of me. He gives it an annoying twitch. I watch the bait shake and shimmy for another 20 seconds. Finally, a small male bass finning nearby cannot stand the provocation anymore; he angles over and crushes the bait. "He couldn't help himself," I say after resurfacing and pulling the mask onto my forehead. "If you'd wiggled that thing any longer, I'd have bit it myself." Kerr smiles and releases the fish he just caught. In yet another "be the fish" scuba experiment (see fieldandstream.com/troutresearch), we prowled the bottom of one of the classic trophy bass lakes near San Diego. Our goal was to watch largemouth bass in spawn and postspawn modes to pinpoint some practical lessons for better fishing. Here's what we learned.
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Spawning dates vary by region, but they are always closely tied to water temperature. Find out from your local fisheries manager when you can expect the following temps, and plan your days accordingly. PRESPAWN: Right around when the water reaches 60 degrees Fahrenheit, males move to shallows and start making beds. Females are bulking up. Use crankbaits, jerkbaits, and ¿¿¿¿swimbaits. PRIME SPAWN: When the water hits 62 degrees, especially around the full moon phase, it¿¿¿¿¿¿¿s prime sight-fishing time (assuming the water is clear). Soft-plastic worms and jigs can elicit angry strikes. POSTSPAWN: As the water warms into the high 60s and low 70s, the females move away from the beds, and the males stick around to guard the fry. Males are susceptible to the same jig or soft-plastic annoying baits. Females get selective¿¿¿¿¿¿¿try soft plastics in natural colors and hard-bodied jerkbaits in slightly deeper water. POST-POSTSPAWN: The fish are eating, getting themselves back into form. Soft plastics and swimbaits work well on dropoffs and in deeper water. --K.D. |
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