Bed fishing help

[Joe daddy]

You guys got any ideas for catching Lake Oroville bed fish. Just been using robo worms and baby brush hogs so far. Tried my other go to rap crank with no luck.

[WRB]

Are you sight fishing?
To "bed" fish requires seeing the bass on a bed. Consider the fact male bass protect their bed site and the larger femal bass only visit the bed to lay eggs then leave. Each bass is a individual animal that behave differently. So let's say the male bass is on the nest for 10 days, the female maybe 1 day, the odds are you catch a small size male 90% of the time. To improve that ratio you need to sight fish looking for beds with larger (longer) bass. Bed bass are not feeding bass, they strike to kill intruders. Since the bass isn't eating your lure, you must hook set instantly before the bass rejects it. Use smaller size soft plastics that are easy to see disappear into the basses mouth and hook set before you feel the strike.
Tom

[ash]

Try fishing the outside ledge blind vs sight fishing the beds. Lots of factors go into sight fishing, boat position, fish behavior etc... try backing way off the nest and blind casting to the bed. But as said its all a fish behaviors each one wants something different but most anglers blow it with bad boat position and spooking the fish

[Joe daddy]

I’m just fishing the banks right now. Which I do probably 70 percent of the time. So I’m not really site fishing. I’ve been throwing soft plastics and doing great. I was just wondering if I’m missing something I could try to get the bigger momas to bite. Or just ween through the males or smaller fish and hope you get that good pull with one running with it. On the same token though I noticed some of those bigger fish are sneaky. Won’t pull down at all move it just to drop it before you realize what just happened. Also where most of these fish are moving up to is in shallow stained water.

[WRB]

There is a lot going on during the spawn cycles. It starts with the initial pre spawn before the bass move and leave staging areas moving up to scout spawning areas. The bed cycle when males select bed site and clean out a bed then wait for the females to show up. During this initial pre spawn bass are still eating preparing for the spawn. This is your best time to catch big bass. Bed fish egg laying and fry protection during is the spawn cycle.The spawn is followed by post spawn a period of recovery for big females and fry protection for the males. Post spawn bass are catchable.
Sounds simple until you factor in the females don't lay all thier eggs at ounce, they return over a few weeks period to lay eggs in different beds becoming post and spawner a few times, returning to deeper water breaks. These femal bass are not feeding like they did during pre spawn but have bed protection instincts to kill egg eaters.
Use your eyes to locate breaks, beds and become a line watcher for any sign of movement...set the hook. Wide brim hat to shade your face and good polarized sunglasses will help.
Tom

[Hogbassing]

I like the one two punch for going after the big girls. A big glide baits for two reasons. The big girls will eat it or show themselves. Then a small jig (1/15 oz) hair jig black or lime green. If they breath on the jig it's in there mouth. Once again this can all go out the window some days. I like starting hear though
Tight lines

[NICNITRO]

Try a 2 inch drop shot (2 inches between hook and weight) and tiny brush hog or Jackall clone fry if you can still find some.