Pre Spawn-Stacey King

Bass fishing legend, Stacey King identifies Pre Spawn as "the time between Winter patterns, such as deep off shore structure and the time the bass actually begin to spawn.  Its a migration and a transition which involves heavy feeding.  For my experience, warming water temperatures seem to signal to bass that it is time to go through one of the year's most important cycles."

Transition; a term that seems to appear and reappear in our discussions with the top bass pros in the nation.  Two things seems to be true; pre spawn definitely involves movement from one section or depth range to another and increased feeding.

"The bass can sense what is ahead, in terms of the stress it will go through during the spawning period of 7 to 10 days,"  states King in reference to what could be the cause of increased feeding during this pre spawn period.  The male bass will be on guard throughout the time that the nest is vulnerable and the female will dump thousands of eggs, causing both mates to endure a time of increased stress.  "I believe the increase in feeding is in total anticipation of the reproductive cycle that is ahead."

King is one who believes that bass continue to feed during the spawning period, however it is the nature of the feeding activity that changes.  "In pre spawn, bass will actually pursue food, chasing down shad on wind blown banks or rooting out rocks looking for crawdads.  When the spawn actually starts,  I believe that a bass will still eat, however it is not chasing down meals, it may eat something that wanders too close to the nest, sort of an opportunistic feeding situation."

King breaks his pre spawn lure selection down into two categories:  Highland lakes and Lowland lakes.  "A highland lake, or reservoir, is a man made impoundment, often with clear water.  I like to cast jigs and fish suspending jerk baits and deeper diving crank baits.  On lowland water ways, like river systems and deltas, I like to pitch jigs and throw spinner baits to obvious looking cover."  The key would seem to be covering water looking for groups of fish that may be holding a piece of cover waiting to move up.

When asked about a bass' diet during pre spawn, King believes that crawdads become more important than during the Winter.  "This is largely due to the fact that bass have moved into a depth range where there are more crawdads available and don't forget that the warming water is triggering a general increase in the entire food chain.  There simply are more crawdads available at this time.  Bass still eat shad during pre spawn. There is just a lot more going on within the entire ecosystem."