The spawn is winding down in a few areas around the country. As the first waves of bass come off bed though, several things start to happen. Shad and bluegill, two of the main forages for bass on many fisheries, begin their spawning process as well; the shad typically first and the bluegill shortly after. Both of these food sources are extremely important for bass coming off the bed as they are as exhausted and malnourished as they will likely be all year.

Prior to bass gorging on the main course of their recovery buffet, however, many will actually turn to their offspring for a bite to eat; the females in particular. In a rather bizarre turn of events, the very bass who protects her bed and her eggs will turn around and try to eat the baby bass, or fry, as soon as they hatch. The Lord’s way of combating this is to instill a protective trait into the male bass and the males will actually guard the fry for weeks after they hatch.

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