The Spawn and its seemingly endless transition to the coveted summer fishing patterns.

“Spawn” verb
1. (of a fish, frog, mollusk, crustacean, etc.) release or deposit eggs.
“the fish spawn among fine-leaved plants

Commonly there are 3 stages of the Spawn and they are summed up as follows:

Pre Spawn

We are going to avoid the Pre Spawn topic and only touch briefly on the spawning topic and really only in an opinionated form as to why you should Dropshot for Bedfishing. The reason I want to touch briefly on this is for the environmental impact Bedfishing could pose when using other techniques.

SPAWN

Look, not only is a drop shot going to flat out catch a bedding fish, the bait isn’t in the middle of the fish’s spawn. Have you ever noticed when using a jig, or texas rigged bait the fish very gently pick it up and carry it away? Of course! You protect your children, don’t you? The fish’s natural instinct is for survival. To do that they must reproduce. If a bass violently attacks a jig in the middle of its spawning bed it is harming its own broodstock. This is why having a suspended bait like a drop shot tends to get a bit faster. The fish know they aren’t inflicting harm if that bait is not on the bottom.

So for less of an environmental impact, if you must bedfish please consider the drop shot technique over others.

Post Spawn

Now let’s move onto that funky Post Spawn transition and decipher what happens. So many of us think that right after the spawn bass tend to gather in one place.
It’s not as if there is some magical airport terminal where they are waiting to go to their summer homes.

We as anglers sometimes think “Well, they’re done spawning so they must be deep” and it’s just not the case. Number one, we need to know what’s happening from more of a biological standpoint. ( Thank you Bill Wassmann for the terminology.)

So what is happening? To put it simply it’s a culmination of the spawn. The shallows are teeming with newfound life. All of these years fry are flowing about trying to figure out their role in the chain of life. Everything from Perch, Pike, and Bluegill (Bream for those further south) has just added an abundance of baitfish to the food supply.

Learn more tips on fishing here.

Yes, even the Toothy Pike is Baitfish for quite some time in its life cycle. So before we start racing to those offshore hotspots let’s investigate the shallower flats a bit longer. This may help keep the Skunk away if we delve deeper into the Biology rather than make assumptions as to what the fish should be doing. Number 2, never tell a fish what it should be doing.

Now that we know what’s taking place under the water let’s look at a few presentations or bait options that will put more fish in the boat. Have you figured it out? That’s right! You should be doing most anything that resembles baitfish. Moreover, the Bluegill are typically the last to spawn with maybe the exception of shad themselves. With this knowledge, it should help you know where to start looking for game fish.

Now let’s take a look at s few bait options. One of the first to come to my mind is a paddle tail swimbait. Not just any swimbait, but a smaller one much like that of the BassReaper baits Sinister Shad 3.5 inch. I choose this size for the obvious reasons that the spawn recently ended and the baitfish are focused on is small. Also, I prefer to keep a bait moving as the baitfish are constantly on the move. My second option is a swim jig. I will pair it with s trailer that has a lot of movements like a twin tail grub or a Coffin Craw with swimming action. Green Pumpkin is my first option as it replicates bluegill fry fairly well. Side note, I always dip the tips in chartreuse dye whenever I have this combination. This brings me to what others may have had for their first option, The Spinnerbait. Here I’m choosing willow blades and more than likely a white chartreuse skirt. I opt for Willow blades because I feel it matches the profile of the fry better than a Colorado Blade. Choosing spinnerbaits with two or more blades will trick some big fish into thinking it’s a bait ball and absolutely crush it.

So for some time, the post-spawn pattern should keep you fishing shallow longer than you would expect. This is a time of year when game fish of all types are occupying the shallows and you can hook into multiple species.

I hope this article helps someone somewhere catch more fish because it’s always fun but catching is still better than fishing.

Greg Werner
BassReaper Bait Co