SOUTHERN-FRIED BEDDING BRONZE
UNDERSTANDING BRONZE
SPAWNS
Because the vast majority of bed-
fishing in the South is centered on
largemouths, you’re forgiven if you’re
not an expert in the ways of small-
mouth bass during the spawn. And
even if you are a Northern smallmouth
expert, there are some distinct differ-
ences in how brown fish in the two
regions do their thing.
“First off, smallmouth tend to spawn
earlier than largemouth,” says DeFoe.
“And they can often be a lot more pre-
dictable. For instance, around where I
live in Tennessee, they almost always
spawn the second week of April every
year. It’s like clockwork.”
If you’re not as dialed in calendar-
wise, water temperature is the best indi-
cator. The “magic” temperature, accord-
ing to Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit
angler Derrick Snavely, is 57 degrees.
“They’ll really start spawning around
60 degrees, but often the really big
ones move up first right when the
water temperature hits 57 degrees,”
says Snavely, who lived on Cherokee
for a decade. “That’s when you’ll see
those 5- and 6-pounders go to the bed.
Then, the rest go soon after that.” Once they decide to go to spawn,
they all seem to go at once.
“The big girls will all be out sus-
pended, waiting for the temperature
to get right, which is where that pres-
pawn swimbait and jerkbait bite can
be so good,” says Snavely. “The
smaller males might get on the bank
a bit earlier. But once it hits that num-
ber, I think the males go out and cor-
ral the females to the bank, and they
do it quick.”
There’s one other key caveat to the
smallmouth spawn compared to the
largemouth: Smallmouth bass spawn
deeper. They might be 5 feet or 15
feet, but it’s deeper than a largemouth
goes. Considering even the clearest
Southern reservoirs often pale in com-
parison to the clarity of Northern nat-
ural lakes (plus the constant water-
level fluctuations come spring), the
odds of you actually catching a
54 FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2020
glimpse of a smallmouth or even a
bed are remote. Instead, to bed-fish
for spawning smallmouths, you’ll be
doing it blind.
ROCK = GOOD
OK, you’re on a lake like Cherokee
or Dale Hollow and the water temp is
right around 60 degrees. What next?
The obvious and easiest answer is
to find rock, which really isn’t hard on
either fishery. But just like some sec-
tions of a weed bed can be better than
others, not every stretch of rock is the
same. You need to whittle down the
options.
First and foremost, smallmouths in
Southern reservoirs tend to seek out
spawning spots that are out of the cur-
rent and even out of wave action from
wind and/or boats. Look for these
areas first, and don’t worry so much
about depth to start.