Spawn ‘facts’…
The female will usually stay on the bed only a short time after she lays. Females are seldom agressive in defending the nest, and usually only after the male has abandoned a particular intruder will the female, often after a good bit time, respond to it by moving it.
The male both builds the nest and defends it. He’ll stay with the eggs until they hatch, and spend some time ‘defending’ the fry. There is a point, no one knows exactly how the bass decides this, when the fry change from ‘beloved and protected progeny’ to ‘prey’. At this point, the bass will wil charge into the brood and eat as many as he can. This effectively scatters the brood, probably giveng more of them a chance to survive (nature does little to no purpose).
The only thing I have seen cause an agressive, fast, and often incredibly violent response from a big female on the bed is a waterdog. Something genetic there, probably, but they seem to really recognize these things as threat.
The males are VERY agressive in their nest defense, and are so easy to catch, often over and over again, that it’s not very sporting.
The females are hard to entice into striking, in most cases, and some bed fishermen will spend hours on a single nest trying to get the big female to bite. Not my idea of fun…
Many tournaments are won by this tactic, and just as many lost. It’s a gamble that often fails.
One misconception. If the female has already laid her eggs, then catching her doesn’t usually do harm to the nest. She’s on her way out anyway. Catching and releasing her immediately, if she hasn’t laid, won’t hurt anything either, as she’ll still lay her eggs.
Catching the male, however, can mean doom for the nest. If the eggs haven’t hatched, maruading predators will quickly clean them out if the male is removed. Even catching and releasing him can cause enough unprotected time to allow the nest to be raided.
Same thing if the fry have hatched. Until they can fend for themselves, they are very vulnerable, and removing the male, even for a short time, can spell their demise.
The ‘problem’ with bed fioshing is that it’s almost impossible to entice the female without first catching the male. Sometimes several times. At some point, the male ‘learns’ to avoid the lure/fly, but by then the damage is often done. Males don’t ‘eat’ during the spawn, and it’s very stressful for them. Being caught and released a few times can be enough to fatigue or kill the male, leaving him unable to defend the nest.
Personally, I find bed fishing either too easy and unchallenging (for he males) and too boring and time consuming, for the females. AND, it can cost the loss of a whole lot more fish than just the one you hook. You’ll have to decide if you can justify that yourself.
Not all bass spawn at the same time, so you can target pre or post spawn fish if you choose to, and not have to worry about disturbing the spawn.
Still, all of this being the case, there are no figures, studies, or information that angler harvest during the spawn is causing damage to overall bass populations. They are, in almost all areas, rising.
Personal choice, of course.
Good Luck!
Buddy
