PRACTICE STRATEGIES
PRACTICE STRATEGIES
Assess the Situation
Tournament results , public fishing reports and weather forecasts can all help when assessing the status of the spawn , but simply looking and fishing is the best bet . Each fish ’ s physical appearance tells part of the story .
“ Are they beat up from the rigors of spawning ?” asks FLW Tour pro Brandon Cobb . “ Do they look like summertime fish that are skinny and already spawned out , or are they just getting ready to bed and are full of eggs ?
“ Are you seeing pairs or just bucks [ around beds ]? If you ’ re seeing primarily bucks , and they ’ re not paired up , then it ’ s still early . If it ’ s just bucks , the females might be around , but they ’ ll be hard to catch . If there are a lot of beds with three or four fish around one bed , the spawn is at its peak . If they ’ re rolling in the beds , they ’ re hard to catch , but that ’ s a good sign the spawn is at its peak .”
Don ’ t be fooled into thinking you know the status of the spawn after checking just one area .
“ It depends on the lake , but there are times when they ’ re on beds better in certain areas than others , and there are times they ’ ll be up all over the lake ,” notes Tracy Adams , who ’ s considered one of the Tour ’ s top sight-fishermen . “ If you ’ re there when it [ the spawn ] first starts , it ’ s probably going to be better in one area of the lake . If you ’ re there in the middle , they ’ re going to be up all over , but one area could still be better . You just have to feel that one out as you go .”
Two Search Methods
If you decide the spawn is on and commit to searching for beds , ideally you want to locate as many quality bass as possible . The biggest decision to make is whether or not you test the fish while you look . Opinions vary .
“ I ’ m looking from the time the sun gets up until the sun gets down ,” Adams says of his practice approach .
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FLWFISHING . COM I APRIL 2017