Site fishing and "spawning fish" - Texas Fishing Forum

Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 02:19 PM

I have never really site fished for spawners before this last two years. I am equally frustrated and elated as I have had mixed
success (not to mention no power poles) I need to understand how much I suck vs the reality of site fishing. After my extensive
experience I have put "spawning" fish into 4 groups:

Group 1 - The cruisers.....swimming up and down the bank apparently with nowhere to go and nobody to go there with. If you cast
in front of them, they either give your bait the Heisman and keep on going or they spook the other way. Not catchable.

Group 2- Waiting for a date.....sitting in a spot that may or may not be near an apparent bed. You throw at them and they will circle
around or swim off but come right back but they will NOT engage the bait. Oh, they will look at it, swim over it, but they won't
bite it. They also won't leave, so if she is on the hefty side, you will spend an HOUR throwing everything you have in the boat
at her.....nothing! I assume the lack of power poles really hurts me here as if I could stay further away and off the motor, then
maybe she just needs more coaxing and it is really me spooking her that is causing her not to bite? I have run into a lot from this
group. Is this the "not locked on" fish that I have always heard about?

Group 3 - Dedicated..........Had a couple of fish that acted like this. Dedicated to a specific spot. Would not move at all from that spot, but
when you threw in, they would not budge and they would not bite. You could hit them with the bait and they would do nothing other
than a couple of times the crazy bass would roll over on its side against the bait! Are these the "fry guarders"?

Group 4 - Suckers.......You can almost see it in their eyes, "You throw that thing in here and I am going to kill it!" Takes less than 5 minutes to
get the this fish to annihilate the bait.

So far, lots of group 2 and group 1 but just like golf, just enough group 4 to keep me coming back.

How far off am I on my assessment? or do I just suck at it. Yes, I know......get some power poles!

Stay safe out there!

Tommy

Posted By: SteezMacQueen

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 02:30 PM

Throw a frog over them. It will let ya know what mood they’re in pretty quick.

Posted By: Sinkey

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 02:48 PM

I think most peoples problem with sight fishing is they immediately stop and start flipping. We normally watch the fish for a sec to see what she does. IF shes locked, or if she swims off and comes right back, you can catch her. If she swims off and takes for ever to come back, dont waste your time. You will spend way too much time and normally you can find a bed with one locked.

Posted By: Chris B

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 02:55 PM

We sight fished for years before power poles. If you have a partner use a push pole to hold and move the boat. With that said I love them two Talons on the back of my boat.

Posted By: Bass98

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:08 PM

I'm not as experienced on sight fishing as a lot of guys on here but I think your assessment is pretty accurate. You see a lot of what I you described as group 2 as the fish get more pressure. My experience is that you can make those fish lock on as long as they're coming back quick enough.

Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:22 PM

"most" fish can caught but that entirely depends on how long you want to wait combined with experience at catching them without actually seeing them from a long way off...

Posted By: Brent S

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:23 PM

The last 4 days I have seen tons of group 1 and 2. Very few of the others.

Posted By: Okie Poke

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by Sinkey

I think most peoples problem with sight fishing is they immediately stop and start flipping. We normally watch the fish for a sec to see what she does. IF shes locked, or if she swims off and comes right back, you can catch her. If she swims off and takes for ever to come back, dont waste your time. You will spend way too much time and normally you can find a bed with one locked.

Chris pretty much hit the nail on the head. I will add a few things. Like he said, giver her a second to see how she acts. Group 2 and group 3 fish must be pissed off before they bite, most of the time. Try different plastics and colors.....white, pink, black, GP.....from lizards to big jigs. Try weightless, mid-size, and heavy weighted plastics, too. A subtle fall may be the ticket. Steez is right about the frog. Most of the time a fish cannot resist a frog. That's like a kobe steak to humans. Make sure to get as far away as you can and still be able to see her if it's a big fish that is skiddish. You can always catch group 2 and group 3 fish if that is their reactions, no matter what. They will bite if you do it right, every time.

Good sightfishin', Okie

Posted By: Ken A.

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by Rockfisherman

I have never really site fished for spawners before this last two years. I am equally frustrated and elated as I have had mixed
success (not to mention no power poles) I need to understand how much I suck vs the reality of site fishing. After my extensive
experience I have put "spawning" fish into 4 groups:

Group 1 - The cruisers.....swimming up and down the bank apparently with nowhere to go and nobody to go there with. If you cast
in front of them, they either give your bait the Heisman and keep on going or they spook the other way. Not catchable.

Group 2- Waiting for a date.....sitting in a spot that may or may not be near an apparent bed. You throw at them and they will circle
around or swim off but come right back but they will NOT engage the bait. Keep changing baits. They may not look at a lizard, Yum Dingers, creature bait, but there is a bait they will react to. Oh, they will look at it, swim over it, but they won't
bite it. The bed may be 2 feet in diameter but there is a sweet spot on it about the size of your fist that is key. Also use a heavier weight than normal. You need to be able to get the bait in the right spot and then shake it in place until she bites. They also won't leave, so if she is on the hefty side, you will spend an HOUR throwing everything you have in the boat
at her.....nothing! I assume the lack of power poles really hurts me here as if I could stay further away and off the motor, then Yes this hurts you a lot. The faster the fish can settle down, the quicker you can make her bite. If you are having to hit the TM every 30 secs it will make her more skittish and will take longer than it should. I used to use a 20# anchor before PP came along.
maybe she just needs more coaxing and it is really me spooking her that is causing her not to bite? I have run into a lot from this
group. Is this the "not locked on" fish that I have always heard about? You are spooking her. If she is worth catching pull into place anchor down or tie off, stay off the TM and open a soft drink. Let her settle down and just watch her. Find the sweet spot.

Group 3 - Dedicated..........Had a couple of fish that acted like this. Dedicated to a specific spot. Would not move at all from that spot, but
when you threw in, they would not budge and they would not bite. You could hit them with the bait and they would do nothing other
than a couple of times the crazy bass would roll over on its side against the bait! Every fish behaves differently. Sometimes you literally have to hit the fish with the bait several times to agitate them into biting. Are these the "fry guarders"? If they were guarding fry you would see the cloud of fry. When they are in this mode nothing works better than a suspending jerkbait. But here is the catch- you have to have room to get the bait down right in front of their face.

Group 4 - Suckers.......You can almost see it in their eyes, "You throw that thing in here and I am going to kill it!" Takes less than 5 minutes to
get the this fish to annihilate the bait.

So far, lots of group 2 and group 1 but just like golf, just enough group 4 to keep me coming back.

How far off am I on my assessment? or do I just suck at it. Yes, I know......get some power poles!

Stay safe out there!

Tommy

Posted By: Mark Perry

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 03:51 PM

The more you sight fish the more you will pick up on little things. There is most always a "sweet" spot on the bed. Pitch around to all spots and not how the fish reacts. You will know when you hit that spot. If the water is clear you can also visually notice the fish getting darker in color. They usually will hit pretty quick after that. Same with flaring of the gills.

Sinkey nailed it though...watch them for a little bit before you start casting. You can learn the best way to approach them that way.

Posted By: i-Fish

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 04:05 PM

Found a male on a bed with the female just 5-6 feet away at all times on Texoma yesterday. He was glued to his spot. Worked on him for 15-20 minutes and he wouldn't budge. We fished the rest of the pocket for about 20 minutes and came back to him. After countless flips with a senko and a jig he finally starting to show some irritation so I continued to work on him and he continued to show more signs that he was about to get boat flipped. Unfortunately, he rolled on my jig and I set the hook but ended up snagging him in the gills. Was bleeding pretty bad so I hope he's ok. Ran out of time to wait for the female to take his place on the bed but the point is he was definitely group 3 and we forced his hand. If I see any fish locked on like that and he's worth catching I'm going to dedicate the time it takes to piss him or her off enough. Also, I don't have power poles and neither of them were bothered by it but I made it a point to be very gentle while on the TM.

Posted By: rxkid2001

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 05:03 PM

Sight fishing is so fickle. Too many variables for me.

Posted By: Rockfisherman

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 05:09 PM

All, this is great! Great feedback from all.

How long do they stay "up" - I have one fatty who I think I may have to take a social distancing
vacation this week to go back and reintroduce myself to. I made eye contact with her, and its
personal now!

Posted By: Mark Perry

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by Rockfisherman

All, this is great! Great feedback from all.

How long do they stay "up" - I have one fatty who I think I may have to take a social distancing
vacation this week to go back and reintroduce myself to. I made eye contact with her, and its
personal now!

I caught a 10lber on a bed in Lake Fork Marina cove.....took her 3 days before she locked on. I checked on her tge day after I caught her but did not fish for her again. She was still locked on.

Posted By: Ken A.

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by Rockfisherman

All, this is great! Great feedback from all.

How long do they stay "up" - I have one fatty who I think I may have to take a social distancing
vacation this week to go back and reintroduce myself to. I made eye contact with her, and its
personal now!

Females maybe a week at most if left alone. My theory is that if there is a lot of boat traffic they may dump their eggs & book it in the same day. Males may be up for 2-3 weeks. After the eggs hatch the male will guard them but they may be far from the actual bed.

Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 06:34 PM

And some females may come and go multiple times to spawn on multiple beds in a given spring.

Posted By: reeltexan

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 07:12 PM

I used to buy live crawfish at a Mexican grocery store near my work.

There's a method of tail hooking them.
Tail hook one of those boys and lob it in there..........power poles won't matter.

Posted By: Ken A.

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Jarrett Latta

And some females may come and go multiple times to spawn on multiple beds in a given spring.

+1

Posted By: fivebites

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 07:34 PM

Good points from all of these guys. The absolute best way I've found to "aggravate" them (which is what you're really doing) into biting is to pitch a fairly heavy bait past the bed, then wait for the fish to position itself between me and the bait. I then take my right hand off the reel and grab my line and try to slowly drag it over the fishes back or head. 50% of the time they will bite it right then. You have to be quick and get your hand on the reel cuz many times they'll just spit it out immediately. If they don't bite they will "wheel" around and get nose down on the bait. I call it draggin the fish. If you can drag em...you can catch em. You just have to make sure you don't foul hook them. Takes a little practice but it works!

Posted By: beartrap

Re: Site fishing and "spawning fish" - 03/30/20 08:36 PM

as mentioned already,a fish locked down on the bed is easy to catch but all bedding fish are much easier to catch if they can't see you and are unaware of your presence...this is especially true for big bass.....
next time you spot a bedding fish,keep going past her but mark the bed well so you can come back 30 minutes or so later and stop about 2/3 the distance of a long cast from the bed...I always found it worked better if I stopped up or down the bank from the fish instead of out in deep water also kept my boat as close to the bank as I could get it...I believe it helps to kneel down which makes it harder for the fish to see you or be aware you are there....
my favorite baits are to alternate between a 5-6 inch senko any color or junebug mag lizard.....