Well..... i am going to try to fish the spawn this year with the bass, and i have not done that before. Being as that the spawn is going to be early this year due to mild winter and very warm begining of spring... i need to get out soon. Anyways, i wanted to know what to be throwing and whether or not to throw it on the rip-rap, wooded areas, ...etc..
   -Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated... thanks for your time
                                                                                                                              -Clay

I usually drag a spinnerbait through the shallows during spawn...but Alton Jones just won the latest Elite series event by teasing bedding bass with a Yum Dinger.
                                    

Carolina rigged or Texas rigged lizards tossed past the bed and dragged into it will get an anger strike. Tube baits work well too, as will a jig. Largemough won't be near rip rap during the spawn, look for shallow flats with sandy bottoms they can fan out into their nest site. This could be near timber.

BEFORE YOU POST ANY THING NEGATIVE CONSIDER THIS
IF IT IS LEGAL WERE HE FISHES THEN PERHAPS THE DNR SEES IT FIT AND IS USING IT AS A MANAGING TOOL

 But number one thing you will want is a pair of polarized glasses to help see the fish , then like mentioned lizards,sunfish swim baits , a wacky worm and drop shot rigs .

I use 3" and 4" YUM Dingers wacky hooked weightless and have been successful.

Just make sure its legal to keep them, if ur keeping them. large mouth bass get aggressive. Just put pretty much anything into the nest and u should get 1. I usually fish smallmouth when they make their run. IMO their a little bit harder to catch. Worms, minns(live or gulp), crayfish, plastics(tubes or curly tails), lures(raps)

Thank you all for your responces i will be sure to try these techniques given

River2Sea offers a really nice lookin bait meant to be used on beds during the spawn called the Water Dog I think, it's just a salamander but it looks like it'd do the trick pretty well, really detailed and lifelike

yep lizards, water dogs basically the same thing they eat the eggs ,but like i said get a good pair of polarized glasses because spawn fishing is mostly sight fishing . See the fish cast past it and bring the bait through the nest .

Posted By skewl on 20 Mar 2012 08:26 PM
River2Sea offers a really nice lookin bait meant to be used on beds during the spawn called the Water Dog I think, it's just a salamander but it looks like it'd do the trick pretty well, really detailed and lifelike

I bought some of those last year after the spawn so I'm looking forward to using them next weekend. They are very realistic and my local bait and tackle shop closed so live waterdogs aren't available to me anymore.

carolina or texas rigged craws work great for me in cali

Swimbaits work VERY GOOD , ( money minnow ) and ZOOM brushhogs are also a very good creature bait

I like fishin jigs or texas rigged worms when you seem em on the beds. Sometimes the male wont bite so I can sometimes drop a jig right on its head and the bass will bite. I WILL NOT fish any bass if I see the it guarding newborn bass- its just a moral thing I guess.