Worst spawn ever?

Is it just me or has this been the worst spawn ever? Maybe it's all the rain? How do you guys feel?

dirty water makes it tuff,

Been tough for us.

The dirty water, the crazy weather, I think it's all a factor. The first day water hit 60° I started checking and saw nothing but empty beds, haven't been able to find them. I've seen 2 solid double digit fish but won't commit. It's different this year for sure!!

U mean worst sight fishing year. I think, at least in east texas,we are going to have one of the best spawns we have had in YEARS with all the new flooded cover. Few years from now I think a few lakes will be on the upswing.

Sure has been for me, not necessarily the spawn but the sight fishing. I've caught several fish that I believe were on beds, but 1 fish all year that I was actually looking at.

I've only seen a few good fish shallow and they were cruising. I've caught several big fish since the water warmed up but they were in 10-15 foot of water. The crazy part is some of them were spawned ouT and this was right when the water hit 60.

Sight fishing has been tough for sure. It was a sneaky early, deeper spawn at some lakes. I'm already seeing shad spawning activity, they are loving the warm rains and rising water levels. Agree, should be an awesome full on post spawn topwater/frog year and great blue gill spawn also.

I thought it has been fair so far, although it has been my worst year for a tx.rigged weightless and wacky rigged senko.. They were eating it up last year.

A lot of lakes have caught 3-12 feet of water since the end of Feb. That means the fish push way back in all the cover that has been growing for a couple years.

The downfall of rising water, fish go way back in the cover and are hard to find and catch.

As far as the actual spawn goes, should be one of the best for survival of fry in many years.

I thought last spring was a worse spawn. The weather didn't cooperate, just kept getting cool and slightly warmer then another cold snap. The weather was kind of head faking the bass.

This year, I think the temperature has been better but the rain has made it hard to sight fish.

I think alot of guys, myself included, missed alot of the spawn.

We were watching water temps and not what nature was doing despite the temps. The trees were right, the amount of daylight was right, and we watched low temp muddy water and said nope they wont spawn till First week of April.

#WRONG

By first week of April the spawn was done. Saw carp and buffalo shallow that means the spawn for bass is done.

Lannie told me that and I believe him.

Then my buddy asked Rick Clunn on his FB about if carp are spawning are the bass done and the GREAT RC himself said yes thats correct lol

Regardless of water temp.

It's great for the fish. We needed a good spawn like this.

its been my best year actually
10.6
7.6
6.0
dozens of 4's and 5's
my best trick has been use something bright that really stands out and pop the bait hard on the fishes tail or nose

Still a lot of fish left spawning. Its about 75% done in central Tx and about 60-70% in east Tx around Rayburn/Toledo. Even less as you go north towards Fork and Texoma. Neither of them are even half done

Great year for the lakes I fish.

I can tell you right now I saw with my
own eyes bass spawn before and after carp were in the same pool in a creek last month. The biggest bass was caught after about 25 of the 35 carp left. If the water wasn't so
clear I would of bet there was nothing but
carp in there cause it was the only fish breaking the surface.

Caught two 5s, and a 9 a few weeks back in the same pocket as a bunch of gar.

Lol I have watched carp and gar tearing up the shallows while I'm catching bed fish. Yes the carp and gar being shallow signals that the water has warmed up enough for them to get shallow. Bass on many lakes will be spawning through May. They will spawn in June also u would be suprised how late some bass spawn

Obviously they spawn at different times.

For the past week or so, I've caught nothing but male bass up shallow. This morning, though, I caught a female with a huge belly, again in about a foot of water.

Shoot w rising water and the cold fronts every 5th day for the past couple weeks has slowed them in my opinion! Fish are in all the phases

When I saw spawn I do mean sight fishing lol. Should have clarified

I've caught a lot of solid fish this spring, but I haven't found that 8+ lb bass yet.

Last year was the worst I've ever experienced. This year was a cake walk compared to last year for me.

Should be a good spawn for the fry on Conroe. Lots of places for the fry to hide.

It's great for the fish. We needed a good spawn like this.
_________________________
You are so right Mark

It's been tougher to see them, but I've had some good results on the local lakes. I chased a biggen for two days this week but she won out, done spawned and gone. GV has tons of fish up shallow right now. You need a sunny day to see 'em. Will tomorrow be sunny? Yes siree!

Seems like a normal spring to me.

^^^^ Agree

This being my first spawn in Texas it seems slow but somewhat consistent but the fish i've been catching are nothing to write home about. Where i'm from up north it's very distinctive what phase the fish are in during the pre spawn, spawn and post spawn. After moving down here and trying to fish I really gained a lot of respect for the pro anglers traveling all over the country.

WOW so many great theory`s of how it all works.That being said every year is different because of water levels, weather conditions and also the fish.On a local lake here in southwest Fort Worth,The fish will probably spawn up until June.I watched the spawn go on for 25 years at this local lake and every year has a different
wrinkle.This year there just hasn't been enough water for the bass to get back in some of these creeks. Some of them are going to wait, some of them have already spawned,And some of them will wait until May and June.Its amazing when I've actually caught bass on a bed in June.

Just you. Stay off the banks and make long casts to suspected spawning areas. This could be one of the best in years for fry and not so beat up spawners.

I have caught a few big females half way back in spawning pockets this year, but i have only caught a couple aggressive bucks. Usually this time of year you have small bucks trying to take the rod out of your hand, and when you catch them they have 2 or 3 other holes in their face where someone else has caught them. It has been an odd year to say the least.

Great spawn for the fish in ET .....I don't give a [censored] if it's tough on us!!

Can only speak for my home lake, but I would guess spawn is far from over. Last week before the front I had a great day. My pattern was on fire and I was not sight fishing. I was fishing new cover. I caught 3 or 4 I would concider large fish for my lake. 1 fish had spawned out, or was in the process with red tail and thinning belly. 1 fish had just started rubbing the tail and had the swelled belly about to pop. The others all had large bellies, but no red on the tail at all. I caught spots and LMBs, but I am only describing the LMBs.
Wendsday the wind blew in and my pattern was harder to fish, but worked some what.
Thursday the cold came in and completely shut them down on Friday.
The weekend had all the rain which brought in tons of run off from the highway construction and turned the lake to mud. I had 0 fish on Tuesday through thursday this week.
Friday I put in a couple of hours and about an hour before the storm my same pattern from the week before started to work. 2 fish in the 3-4 lb range. Neither fish had spawned yet, both females.
The lake rose well over 1 foot in about 3 days and is still on the rise. This coupled with very muddy water has stalled them. Steady weather like today and tomorrow will change this up. The water visability today was much better than yesterday, so the high winds from last week did as much damage as the drainage water.
I would guess that this week until just after the next full moon will be go time.