Bass Questions

[FireFox]

Hey Guys,

Opening weekend has come and gone, and again I managed to catch 0 pickerel on the first weekend. My buddy and I did manage to catch an assortment of hammer handle pike out on the lakes we visited, but the fish seemed very sluggish out there. Most of the pike were caught on small bucktail or tube jigs when working areas that looked like walleye water. No fish seemed interested in chasing anything down.

Onto my real question here - we ended the day at Mississippi, and we were trying to jig up some walleye at dusk in 12-16 feet of water off one of the islands on the lake. We pulled in a couple small pike, and then I hooked into something that felt like a real nice walleye - well it turned out to be a bruiser of a largemouth bass. Would have gone 3 1/2 pounds easy. Quickly unhooked and returned to the water, I started wondering about that bass. I seem to recall reading somewhere that female fish grow larger than males, and male bass are the ones that guard the nest. Im wondering of that bass I caught was guarding a nest of eggs, or if it was a pre-spawn female ? Or even a post-spawn female. I would just be interested to know. I really dont want to be catching bass that are trying to guard future generations from underwater dangers.

Thanks

Fox.

[MichaelVandenberg]

Firefox,

Bass caught in 12 feet of water at this time of year would be a pre-spawn bass. The females are often bigger than the males during pre-spawn as they will have a stomach full of eggs.

There won't be any nest in 12 feet of water.

Bass don't even start to think about spawning till the water is 60 degrees. Pretty sure the water hasn't got there yet but it should be close.

Cheers,

Mike

[Big Bass Boy]

Hey Fox

It not your fault,You did your part and even better you were fishing deep.Keep up the good work. Yes female are bigger, I think the male was on it way to the shallow water. It still early for bass to spawn, the water is still cold. I give you one tip. If you hook another bass in the same spot, just move on to another spot.

Walleyes on Mississpi Lake love the shallow water there, Don't ask me why because i'm not a walleye fisherman.

[Cancatchbass]

Although I have never heard of largemouth spawning in waters more than 3-4 feet deep, in the case of smallmouth bass, they have been known to spawn as deep as 7 m. (over 20 feet).

As previously stated, it is highly likely the spawn is still a few weeks off in Mississippi, so no harm done.

CCB

[M.T. Livewell]

You know, this brings up and interesting topic.

Fishing the Baitcasters tourney yesterday, we hit waters in the 3' or less depth targetting pike. And of course, the bulk of the hits came from bass. So, we move deeper and fished where the fish weren't. Perhaps my consciense got the best of me and I move away from the prime fishing spots. Sad when I hear the biggest pike and WALLEYE were caught in 2' of water or less.

Sounds like I $crewed myself. So what are you supposed to do in a pike/walleye tourney of this nature?

M.T. Livewell

[Markus]

MT, I'm a bit opinionated regarding spawning bass in pike waters. But here's my 2 cents anyway...

If you're in a tourny and are targeting areas that you KNOW hold pike and you are consistantly getting bass hits....screw it and fish on. You are not breaking any laws and are honestly targeting pike. You are in a pike tourny....what benifit is there to targeting bass? Non. That's why you should fish on. If the waters you are fishing is so sensitive to bass populations being affected by incidental catches, then the area should be closed as a sanctuary. It's not, so fish on.

I am as concious as the next angler when it comes to pre spawn bass, but there are to many extremists with regards to this subject. Fish on and target your pike.

[Seaweed]

You know ..... I`m not so sure that the MNR is going to see things your way Markus. At least not up in this neck of the woods. I was fortunate enough to get a guided tour of Mississippi by Mike from Baitcasters yesterday..... great day but we didn`t tred into any shallow areas because quite frankly that would just be wrong... in many peoples eyes. The pike were everywhere on the weekend not just in shallow. We bagged a whole bunch of them in deep and near drop-offs ....

Personally I think you made the right call MT. We have to respect the fact that if the MNR are going to question our tactics of using a spinner bait or crankbait in shallow waters during the upcoming Bass spawn... then we better not go in there.... unless we want to get in trouble.

By the way..... six boats got charged yesterday fishing the sanctuary.... and I imagine maybe one or two got busted in the shallows too....

Work the shallow part of a lake for walleye then drag jigs and minnow or worm harness..... no problem. Throw Bassbait..... then take your chances. Personally not worth losing a boat over.

We all have to play by the rules.... or face the music.

Oh yeah.... another thing I learned yesterday is if you are ever working the big swamp near Grasshopper Point for bass or whatever... you better not have any lead in the boat. I found out that that whole area is a bird reserve and is now a Lead-Free area.... don`t go in unless you have no lead at all in your boat or you will be charged. Too many birds ingesting the lead and dying I guess. Pays to talk with the locals on all lakes... you can learn a lot about a body of water you are fishing that way.

[MichaelVandenberg]

While your statements do make sense you must remember that Pike are a very agressive fish. If you are catching more bass than pike in an area than that likely means the location is more suitable for bass than pike.

The general recommendation is that if you are catching more bass than pike, than simply move to another spot. The MNR also recommends that during late may and all of june you don't fish less than 6 feet of water in order to protect the spawning bass.

Just as a side, I would like state that on Saturday I caught well over 20 pike and not one bass. I was fishing with Spinnerbaits, Crankbaits, Jerkbaits and Jigs. Water depth ranged from 5 to 14 feet. Other than jigging techiques involved fast retrieves and trolling. Now I didn't catch any Walleye and that is probably why I didn't catch any bass.

Cheers,

Mike

[Markus]

I agree with you Seaweed, and on a regular day...I would have made the same call. However, my comments were geared towards a tournament day. If I knew 100% that area holds pike, the MNR might have something to say, but nothing to charge.

And Pro Bassing is correct. A lot of bass hook ups is an indicator of moving on. There may be a few small snot rockets hanging around, but the chances of a tournament fish being there are slim.

[SkeeterJohn]

It kinda brings up a question of what are you supposed to do stop fishing all together because you may catch a bass... From what i heard from many on mississippi the other day, if you didn't catch a bass you probably weren't fishing.. try not to catch one !!

MT my point exactly too... i know bass are held in such a high regard by many and that i'm sure very few people are targetting them intentionally but what are we really supposed to do??

And really if you're throwing a spinnerbait in the shallows for pike with a 50lb leader on then how can anyone say you're bassfishing ??

[Cancatchbass]

A touchy subject, it seems.

Although I can see the opposing view -if the spawn was on - I would have been hitting the spots on Mississippi that hold the most (and better quality) pike. And, in my personal opinion only, that would not be in the deeper water. Add to that the fact that many bass are currently staging in 6-12 feet of water waiting for conditions to reach optimum for the spawn, and you have a fairly good chance of hooking up with bass in those depths, too.

The bass are not spawning yet. So I'd be fishing shallow.

This protect the bass spawn at all costs mentality we have can be taken to extremes. I've heard the 'never fish in water less than 6 feet deep from May to mid-July' line over the years. I guess spring crappie and bullhead fishing would become a thing of the past, wouldn't it?

The word "targetting" is key. If you are actually targetting a species other than bass, with suitable baits, and suitable tactics, no C.O. is going to charge you with anything. And I don't think anyone should give you a hard time, either.

On the flip side, if you are pulling one bass after another from any area, deep or shallow, out of season, as has been suggested - it's time to move on.

CCB

[MichaelVandenberg]

Keep in mind you should not be trying to convince the CO you are not fishing for bass. If you are catching bass you should move based on the fact you want to protect the bass and not because some CO is going to think you are targeting bass. Respect the spawn all!

BTW, like CCB said they are not spawning yet. Probably in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,

Mike

[M.T. Livewell]

Thanks everyone. Some good points.

To be completely honest with you, had I been confident that the bass we PRE-spawn, I probably would have stuck it out a little longer. But as soon as we hooked even 1 bass, we moved.

Now, while I have no problem with that on a typical day, it kind of feels like I am playing with a handicap during a tournament. And the winners (who are reknown quality bass fisherman) had no issue throwing in the shallows, and I don't hold it against them at all.

I guess a little more research and some moral jousting should happen before I sign up for the tourney next year (which I will be doing of course).

M.T. Livewell

[eye-tracker]

Now, while I have no problem with that on a typical day, it kind of feels like I am playing with a handicap during a tournament. And the winners (who are reknown quality bass fisherman) had no issue throwing in the shallows, and I don't hold it against them at all.

Hey M.T.

Now you have a reason to Troll...
Only walleye and pike can be caught trolling

[Pepe]

Hi Seaweed (and others) - regarding the issue of lead in those areas designated as lead-free zones, we discussed this exact subject a couple of years ago with the MNR. Their response at the time was that they clarified to us that you can possess lead but not fish with it. He went on to say that it is impractical for anglers to empty their boats each time of all gear (jigs, split shots, spinnerbaits etc) - what about your anchor??? He also compared it to going to the beer store and putting a case in your back seat - are you drinking and driving just because you have the beer in the car???

Up until the MNR cleared that for us, it was a grey zone for us as well - after having it explained that way, it did make sense. I remember going to that spot years ago on Mississippi and was paranoid - we pulled up beside Toobinator and partner during that tournament and passed off all our lead just to leave no doubt.

Hope this helps.
Pepe