how to catch bed fish??

[javelinbill]

went to james this morn and seen several beds with fish around them,, they were swimming back and forth and seemed pizzed we were there, piched everything at em,, they would swim away,, spooked several. but how do you get close enough to see the beds without spooking fish and what will catch them??????????

[catchinweeds]

tubes/beaver style baits have always worked for me. The trick is trying to stay away and not letting them know you're there. I usually spot the beds, then go back 30 minutes later and stay a ways away and cast through them. If you can see them, they can see you!

[Walkabout7781]

How to catch a unique bass? Unique up on 'em.

Funny thing is, that if you just stand still and don't move at all for 5 minutes, they think you're a tree. When they turn away, I'll throw a tube up on the bank/lawn and drag it into the nest. Once it's in their nest and if they don't know you're there, they try to clear the nest, and you set the hook.

Usually, SM spawn too deep for me to see their nest...8'-10', but if you come back later in stealth mode and drop a tube or jig into their nest, they'll pick it up to get it out of the nest. It's interesting to watch and see the changes in attitude. I once saw a LM come rocketing off a nest and drilled a passing carp right in the ribs. I don't think the carp knew the bass was there...and I think that hurt!

[stillina99ho]

sounds to me like you have fish that are not yet locked down. = (Not Ready) For the most part if your fish scoot after you troll bye em and they dont come back within 45 seconds or so then their gonna be tough to catch if they dont flat out just leave. Either look more for some early one that are locked down or dont bed or wait till the water temp bumps up a lil and or the next full moon. Hope this helps and remember the bigg'r ones will spawn sometimes a lil deeper so back your boat off a lil and look down if your water clarity allows you to.

[wildkat7]

If they dart off when you cast to them and don't come back soon, leave em be and don't waste your time....you'll be pulling your hair out messing with them.

Throw a flipping bait (tube beaver etc) that you can see well, white, pink, etc.

When they are good and locked on, they will a lot of the time stay right on the bed regardless of how close you are. Them's "caught fish"....

[timberland]

Cast net.

[ol man river]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by timberland &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Cast net. </td></tr></table>




bill, how deep are the beds ? if they are spooky, turn off ALL your electronics, including your trolling motor....anchor down as far away from the bed as you can and still cast to it ..you dont have to see the fish to catch him....

[Frogchunker]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by ol man river &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">




bill, how deep are the beds ? if they are spooky, turn off ALL your electronics, including your trolling motor....anchor down as far away from the bed as you can and still cast to it ..you dont have to see the fish to catch him.... </td></tr></table>

Well then technically....your not looking at them

[ol man river]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Frogchunker &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">

Well then technically....your not looking at them </td></tr></table>

, thats one mistake many people make in trying to catch skittish bedders, they always want to see the fish.....sometimes all you need to see is just enough of the bed to know where to cast.....

[FishnPicker]

I foul hooked one is Salt Run one time that was well over 10 lbs doing this. She was skittish so I backed way off. She apparently swam into my line and when I felt the bump, I set the hook hard. Problem was it hooked her in the stomach. I'm not particularly a big fan of bed fishing if I'm not looking at them, I don't ever want to do that to a fish again.

[knowphish]

Don't wake them up!!

[STEVE81]

I agree that the those fish were probably not ready to commit to a bed and those fish are always really hard, if not impossible to catch. The best thing I have found, as already mentioned, is to back away far enough that you can't see the bed anymore and fish something like a lightly wieghted senko or a drop shot through the area. I know during the Elite tournament on the ST. Johns, one of the guys would locate a bed and then stick something into the ground near the bed so he could spot it when he moved out of sight of the fish. May be worth a try.

[javelinbill]

bill, how deep are the beds ? if they are spooky, turn off ALL your electronics, including your trolling motor....anchor down as far away from the bed as you can and still cast to it ..you dont have to see the fish to catch him....

the beds i found are 2 ft down to 8-10 feet,,

[hizzah]

Just spent the week at Havasu doing the same thing. Heavy shaky heads with baby brush hog worked 95 percent of the time.

[Cain]

I'm just an amateur, so I'm not sure what the resident pros would say, but I've had some luck just rigging a 5" or 6" Yamamoto senko wacky-style through the middle, and just laying it right down in the bed and waiting, twitching it just a little bit every several seconds. The fish will stay at the edge of cover for a while looking at it, but sooner or later they get pissed that it's twitching around in the bed and they'll scoop it up and try to move it off. Hook set, fish-on.

[jlong341]

A good rule of thumb that I use is that if a fish swins off the bed and comes right back, the fish is usually catchable. Use small lures like a shaky head finesse worm or a Zoom little critter craw. Lasty year I caught more bedding fish than ever, and the advice about not letting them see you is correct. Also, you should be able to find one small spot in the bed that will really get the fish worked up. Once you find it, keep the lure in that area until he/she gets mad enough to bite.

[SSNCHIEF]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by jlong341 &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">A good rule of thumb that I use is that if a fish swins off the bed and comes right back, the fish is usually catchable. Use small lures like a shaky head finesse worm or a Zoom little critter craw. Lasty year I caught more bedding fish than ever, and the advice about not letting them see you is correct. Also, you should be able to find one small spot in the bed that will really get the fish worked up. Once you find it, keep the lure in that area until he/she gets mad enough to bite.</td></tr></table>

Everybit of this data is dead on. I even like to use crappie jigs. During the spawn, many bass get conditioned to seeing lots of lures. I crappie jig is very small and many times they don't think twice about inhaling it! I almost hate to give up this little secret.