Westernbass Magazine February 2012, Page 6

Westernbass Magazine February 2012, Page 6

SPRING INTO THE SPAWN

BY ANDY MANAHL

101

Sight Fishing

Damiki Hydra Bait 4 inch, pear white

- a must for fishing beds.

A

re you

ready to fish your

upcoming spawn? Do you have all

the tools, gear and know where to look? The littlest things are overlooked when preparing to

fish during the spawn. My goal for this article is to

arm you with some new information on how, what,

where, when and why you fish the spawn.Spring

time is rapidly approaching and the fish are going to

be moving up faster than you think. Everyone has

their own philosophy when it comes to the spawn.

Some think there is a magical number for water

temperature, others think it is after the first full

moon in the spring, still others may say only look on

long flats, etc.

I’m calling B.S. First of all, throw the book out the

window and go with your gut feeling.

After fishing several lakes like Havasu, Roosevelt, California Delta, Canyon Lake, Saguaro Lake, Mohave, Mead, I have seen a ton of different fish on a variety of

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beds. No spawning area that I find seems to amaze me anymore. I’ve seen them bed on bridge pilings, stumps, the “y” of a tree, cinder blocks, rock, mud, grass, sloped rock, in the middle of tulles and more.

Getting equipped to see the fish is the most important thing. I choose Costa Del Mar sunglasses with amber lenses for morning and dark smoke lenses for the afternoon with a polarized lens.

Get the biggest, widest, ugliest straw hat that you can find and throw that on. I found mine in the garden center at Home Depot for about $15. A wide-brimmed hat is not only important for blocking the refraction of the light produced on the top of the water, it is important to have your whole head en- cased in a shaded brim hat for best possible setup.

The different types of line I use can be anywhere from 8- to 20 lb fluorocarbon and 30- to 50 lb braid. Think about your location and cover you are targeting when choosing your line. Are you fishing open areas at Havasu where there are no obstructions? Are you fishing the Salt end at Roosevelt where they call “the jungle”? Use your head and equip yourself with the proper line. Daiwa Samurai braid and Seaguar line are my lines of choice for fishing the spawn. There is no specific rod that is really used to fish the spawn; so just grab whatever you like as long as it has an extra fast tip for powerful hook sets and the ability to flip that fish on the deck.

Everyone has their own favorite lures that they