i used to not fish for spawning fish, but with all the tournies and clubs on tonka the first two weeks after opener and it seems to not have a great effect, i have changed my stance. also, anyone that fishes shallow from opener to the end of june will be catching some spawning or guarding fish if they are looking at them or not. but, everyone has their own opinion.

Hey Guy! No problem, oppinions always welcome. Besides there is a lot of MN in me yet.

The issue with taking bass off beds is twofold (at least.) First you worry about exhausting or hurting them, then you have to consider predation on eggs/fry that are left unguarded for however long it takes for the bass to get back on the nest, if they do at all.

I've fished for them in Michigan on the beds a lot, in the lake my cabin is on. I've noticed that 90% of the bass make it back to the nests pretty quick. Usually I'll fish a bed if I see it, but I'll get the fish back as soon as possible.

Fishing beds before season is a huge no-no for me though...

Oh no,here are my 2 cents worth
1.I think the bass will be on the beds this year for the May 24th opener.
2.Many,many will be caught and taken home to end up in a frying pan by those who want an easy meal. [Grrrrr]
3.I think that there is a 50/50 chance the Mn. record will fall with all of the big fish shallow because of the late spring warm up,and the females heavy with eggs.

This tears me up for two reasons,I am a huge bass fisherman but I truely care more about the resource than just catching the fish on a given day.So will I fish bass if they are bedding?Yes most likely, but I will quickly get them back in the water and hope they get back to the beds.I just hope and wish many fisherman will also respect the resource and do what they can to minimize the disruption of the spawning process this year.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, Bassphish. Catch em and return right away. Unhook, snap a photo, put em as close to the bed as possible

I wont lie it is alot of fun to fish beds and you can catch some very big fish. Many people will keep bass but they wont really be doing anything wrong at least legally. I will also likely fish bed bass this opener but will do my best to get them back fast.

I'm with you guys, I have to fish them, but will be returning them immediately. I know so many are going to get taken home. In my area the crappies are going to be up shallow still when bass season opens and some of the crappie fisherman will be keeping the bass they catch too.

from what I saw last year getting to fish earlier in WI, a male guarding a nest will pretty much pick up anything you put on the nest if you give it long enough, and personally I find it kind of unsportsman like to fish a bass guarding its nest because of that.

However, from what I have heard the prespawn females right before they spawn are tough bites and its more of an issue if you would rather risk some eggs to potentially get a pic of a huge bass. But like it was mentioned above, I'm sure I have accidently caught bass guarding nests and females right about to spawn by accident.

The other thing to remember is not all the bass will be doing the same thing, so while there may be a lot of males on beds and females right around them, targeting elsewhere may prove to be a good alternative for bass that are still staging before the spawn yet, or at the other end, the postspawners that are already done. Should be an interesting opener this year.