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Started today off at about 9:30am at Bloedel Donovan Park and headed south along the west side throwing grubs, a crawdad colored crankbait, a jig and a spinnerbait. Worked all the way down to the rock island without a bite! Water temps were 54-56* and slightly stained with green alage remnants (the 50* bloom I'm sure)! Wind was out of the n.n.w. at about 5mph. I decided to run over to the windy east side in the n.e. corner. On my way I noticed several small fish busting the surface, they were chrome bright and small with a black/green back, kokanee or smolts?. No sooner did I drop the trolling motor in the n.e. corner when I saw a smallie spook out in front of me away from a rock, I looped around and saw him slowly swim back and get on his bed, it was windy on this side, but he was definately bedded...Now, knowing for sure fish were on beds, and since I don't bed fish, I decided to change tactics... First change, the entire bottom and all structure was covered in green slime (the next algae bloom I assume...60*) so if my crankbait hit the bottom and banged structure like I wanted it to, it got covered in slime. So, I switched to a Rapala DT4 in a shad color to match whatever I saw jumping and so I could still fish fairly shallow but keep it off the bottom. Second, I tied on a suspending jerk bait in chrome and black, also to try and match the baitfish I saw and because it's a deadly bait for prespawn smallies. Third, I hadn't had a single bite on my green grubs, so I swtched those to brown pepper thinking it would contrast better against the green stuff covering everthing. I was positioned in about 8-9' of water casting shallow trying to parralel docks and logs. 1st cast with the jerkbait, BAM 4.2lber, and I watched him follow it and when I stopped it in his face ten feet from the boat I saw the whole thing unfold, that's always cool! Made about 5 more casts with that, but I was turning into the wind at this point and the jerkbait was trying to backlash too much, so I picked up the DT4 and BOOM 3.4lber on the first cast! The next ten casts with the DT4 produced 3 more smallies the smallest being 2.8lbs! This would continue throughout the day, they wanted a slow and steady retrieve with the DT4. I alternated from DT4 into the wind and with the side wind, to the jerkbait when the wind was at my back, and when the wind got up around 10mph the bite improved! The brown grub even produced a couple off of pilings in 20' of water! All in all I caught 20 smallies today, the smallest 1.9lbs and the biggest 4.2lbs, and NEVER BOTHERED A BEDDED BASS!!! Yes, it is possible....Just find the spawning flats, and fish water that breaks off to about ten feet or more, or, anywhere there is grass adjacent to the flats, the fish that haven't spawned yet, and the females that have hang out here, and as today proved, when you give them what they want the results can be awesome!

swayner23

5/18/2011 7:31:00 AM

Great report 8! Very informative, great to see the bass are becoming active. Keep it up!

8theB8

5/18/2011 7:57:00 AM

A big giant P.S. here..... No offense if you personally choose to bed fish, I am just trying to point out alternatives and options! I bed fished for a few years in my 20's but challenged myself not to anymore and in the process learned a ton more about techniques and bass behavior, it was a great decision for me personally! I just figured if I didn't need to do it to feed my family on the tournament trail, what was the point?. I felt the fish were 'trapped' as they tried to enhance my favorite sport by making more bass and I should respect that not pound them in the face until they got mad and grabbed my lure. Not to mention the sheer number of dudes I have watched bed fish on local lakes over the years, I guess I wanted to make it 1 less. Just wanted to clarify that so no one gets all pissy pants. B8

fishingmachine

5/18/2011 11:39:00 AM

Very nice day man. Looks like you had a blast.

River Fishing Fool

5/18/2011 1:25:00 PM

Nice work!

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

5/19/2011 12:40:00 AM

wow, you completely killed it! great job! those are some beautiful fat smallies!

gonefishn

5/19/2011 9:01:00 AM

Great job 8! I agree with you about the bedding and won't take them off a bed, especially when the male is guarding the fry. I have seen tournament angler's do it and can't help believe the other fish eat the fry as soon as male is removed. We used to catch 20-30 bass a day on Sammamish and Lake Washington until they started tournaments during the Spawn. Just my personal opinion that they should not be pulled off their beds as in Northern climates there usually only one Spawn.

BassAddict

5/19/2011 10:36:00 AM

I have mixed feelings about catching bedding fish, but if you're catching and releasing right away when the fish are in the early stages of spawning (no fry yet), I don't believe it's problematic. You could even argue that catching cruising female SM that aren't on beds is more traumatic for a fish full of eggs than a male prepping a bed and waiting. I struggle more with the idea that during a tournament, the males are getting plucked off the beds and removed for weigh-in. That said, some of the tournament lakes (Banks, Potholes, Moses) have some of the best SM populations and they seem to be improving each year, regardless of the tournament impact.

8theB8

5/19/2011 11:05:00 AM

All very good points, again for me it's just a personal descision. I found myself more concerned with the amount of times during a spawning season those fish were yank! Catching a bedded bass, taking a picture and putting it right back on his bed is fine, but in 20-30 days time if 60 guys do the same thing that's a lot of trauma to the fish... However you are correct larger bodies of water with larger quantities of bass are probably less affected?.

I appreciate all the comments.

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