Hello Hook’d on Bassiac’s. It is May and through out many places in the United States Bass are Bedding from February (Florida) all the way to June (Michigan). In Georgia our sweet spot is April/May. Bed fishing for bass can be lots of fun if you know what you are doing.
So let’s break this down into a couple of segments: Location, Lures, Line, and Light. The 4 L’s of Bass Fishing. How clever is that??!!
So the first thing we have to do is find these fish. The first thing you have to know about all Bass is that they do not want to bed on a soft mushy bottom. They much prefer a semi hard bottom. That is one of the main consistency’s between all three species of bass (largemouth, smallmouth, and spots).
So if I am fishing for Largemouth I am going to look near some type of grass or wood and up very shallow. I personally believe that out of the three of them they will get the shallowest for the spawn. 1 foot to 3 foot is where you can find a lot of your largemouth bass across the country.
When I am fishing for spotted bass like I do in Lake Lanier one of the best sweet spots to find them is in the back corners of docks. The back corner is where the walkway meets the dock. You will be able to find these bass also in the backs of pockets and they will relate to a lot of different things but I have the most luck finding them around the docks and rock. I also find them a tad deeper like 3 to 7 foot of water.
And last but not least the Smallmouth bass. These I typically find the deepest out of the 3 species. They also like to spawn near rock (small boulders) and grass. These fish you can find anywhere from 3 to 10 foot at times. You may be asking, “how do you fish for bedding bass in ten foot of water?” Well if the water clarity is great like it is in Lake St. Clair you will do just fine.
My favorite part is lures. Now I am going to show you guys some pictures of some of my favorites but I have to be honest these are my favorites for Lake Lanier. In other areas I would try different things. And the beauty of this time of year is not as much about lure choice as it is color and action. The brighter the color the better. I ALWAYS stick with the color white as a staple for my bed fishing arsenal.
You have to always remember that if you throw your lure right at the bed it will never fall in the bed. You always need to throw past the bed and bring it into the sweet spot. If the fish gets used to one lure and stops reacting try another. You will be amazed at what a little change can do to fire up the fish. And last but not least if you have used a bunch of different white lures and they stop reacting then try black. A lot of times the change is what gets them going. I also like to spray my stuff with Bang Garlic Spray because I feel it makes them hold on longer.
Let’s not make this line thing too hard. Its all about Fluorocarbon in my opinion. If I am fishing in Lake Lanier I am going to throw Trilene 100% in 10lb test. If I am fishing for Giant Largemouth in Florida I am going to throw 15lb test. If I am fishing for Smallmouth I am going to throw 8lb test. I love the Trilene because I just don’t have any unexplained breaks. That means this: Sometimes you know you need to retie but you think you can get one more fish out of your line and OOoops…it Breaks on your next bite. That is explainable. But… if you just retied and go to set the hook and it snaps than you can’t explain that. I trust this line and it is all I use.
So far we have a couple things to remember when bed fishing. White is Right! And the next one is the light has to be right. We need light to find these fish and fish for them properly. We also need a good pair of polarized sunglasses. I love the Costa sunglasses because they are stylish and I can see right through the water to those big bass on the beds
So back to the light!! We need it to see those bass. But with more light the bass can also see us. Here is one thing I do when I find a bass and the lighting is very good. Are you ready???? I get on my knees and pitch to them Try this the next time you fish for them. Start off standing and if you aren’t getting bites than disappear and get on your knees so they can’t see you and watch what happens. I have had this help me several times catch a stubborn bass on the bed. If you follow me on Instagram you will get a chance to see this in action. Allow me to finish with some of my favorite bed fishing set ups for my home lake on Lanier. Also my 10 tips for bed fishing success.
- If you catch the male put him in live well or release him far away from the bed so you can get the female to take guard of the bed and be caught.
- Cast Past the bed.
- Stay low so the fish does not see you.
- Be quiet
- Stay off your trolling motor as much as possible
- Turn off your electronics (They make lots of noise under the water. Don’t believe me?? Jump in the water this summer and listen while under the water.)
- Change up the lures often and colors.
- Watch for the bite don’t wait till you feel it.
- Have good polarized sunglasses
- Release the fish back where you caught them so they can spawn and you don’t mess up the process.
I hope this helped guys. Be sure to check me out on Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook.
