3-2-16 Looking for Position Forcasting the Weather

[Old plug]

From my own experience and that of many others I know. It is a combination of both water temperature and sun that make unique conditions. In fact I have seen bass on beds earier when the water was still to cold to spawn. By the  same token I have seen them on beds deeper and later than most people think. The length of daylight ( not just sunlight) sets set off their time clock just as it does all things in nature. I know that many bass in Loz will spawn under a dock where the light factor may be geeatly reduced besides. So the truth seems to be daylight call the season and water temperature call the spawn. MOST OF THE TIME. 

[m&m]

My scientific response is the pre-spawn feeding frenzy starts when the Forsythia are in bloom.  Well I don't really know when it starts but as long as the bass know, I will follow their lead.  When I go fishing on Saturday, if the fish are biting, then it must be pre-spawn feeding.  If they are not biting, it must still be wintertime fishing.  I may be totally wrong but at least I keep my sanity and my ego that way.

Mike

[Hunter53]

Looking forward to what anyone finds out from MO biologists.

Here is the response I got from the biologist up here......

"Are the largemouth bass in Florida the same as the largemouth bass in Nebraska?

I am not referring to northern-strain versus Florida-strain bass. Are the bass in Oklahoma or Kansas the same as the bass in Nebraska?

Largemouth bass from each geographic region can and usually do have their "own genetics". Those bass in Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, or Nebraska are best-adapted for survival in that area and part of that adaptation is that they spawn at the time when they are most likely to be successful. Obviously, southern-most largemouth bass spawn first each year and the progression of spawning activity then moves north as the year passes.

There are a number of cues that can influence spawning activity. For many of our freshwater fish, I believe that the amount of daylight or photoperiod is one of the most important cues. Because of that, spawning will tend to occur about the same time each year with some variability based on weather conditions, temperatures and maybe a host of other factors. In most years there is a lot less variability in the timing than many folks think.

I should point out that there is a progression of spawning times for largemouth bass and other warm-water fish across Nebraska. Small waters in southeast Nebraska will have spawning activity first and then it progresses across the state to the north and west over a period of weeks. There may be bass spawning in northwest Nebraska a full month after they started in southeast Nebraska.

While we are on this topic, let me make a few other comments about spawning behavior. For most species of fish, the males come early and stay late.  You may see male largemouth bass exhibiting spawning behavior like territoriality, nest-building, trying to "herd" females, etc. a couple of weeks before any real spawning takes place. Every spring there are pronouncements that the bass are spawning that are often at least a couple of weeks ahead of any real spawning behavior.

Never forget early spring is a seasonal peak for big bass, one of the best times of the year to catch big bass, because those females do quite a bit of feeding before the actual spawn."

[edwin]

17 hours ago, Champ188 said:

March is a good month for an old junk fisherman who isn't smart enough to put together a real pattern. One here on this, another here on that ... etc.

...and an even better time to tee it up 

[Champ188]

On 3/3/2016 at 4:01 PM, edwin said:

...and an even better time to tee it up 

There is NEVER a bad time to tee it up, unless it's raining and then that's a fishing day.