Pete Ponds’ bed-fishing tips, tactics and techniques

Bassmaster Elite Series pro Pete Ponds of Gluckstadt has caught thousands of bass during the spawning seasons on lakes all around the country, and has made a good living catching and releasing those sows. As a result, Ponds has honed his bed-fishing skills to a fine edge.

Ponds said the catch-and-release ethic is an important to the emergence of Neshoba County Lake as a prolific trophy-producing lake.

“When it comes to bed fishing, we must protect our resource and practice strict catch and release,” Ponds said. “If we don’t, then you can really hurt the population and do the bass harm.”

And, thankfully, most anglers who bed fish do practice catch and release.

Regardless, Ponds said bed fishing is one of the best ways to catch a lunker bass.

He said his first rule is that this fishing is much more productive as the day ages.

“When it comes to catching bass on their beds, I don’t even get started until the afternoon,” Ponds said. “A lot of times you won’t see bass on beds during the morning hours, but when the sun warms the water and the temperature rises just a bit they’ll move up really quickly.”

And that’s when knowledgeable anglers can really take advantage of the situation.

“Temperature for spawning bass is relative to the particular lake you’re fishing, but here in Mississippi on a lake like Neshoba County, bass may start bedding when the water temperature reaches 54 degrees,” Ponds said. “Once the temperature hits the 50s the water really warms up fast on a shallow lake like this.

“After only five or six days of warm sunshine, the bass may move in and start the bedding process.”

The importance of water temperature to success cannot be stressed enough.

“A difference in temperature of only a couple of degrees can make a huge difference on a lake,” Ponds said. “I’ve seen one side of a lake at 56 degrees and the other at 59 degrees, and the difference in the bass activity is vastly different

“Anglers should always check out the surface temperatures around the lake, and then concentrate on fishing the warmest water in the lake first.”

And where might the warmest place on a lake be during the spawning months of February, or March you might ask? Well, Ponds has an answer for that question wherever you may be fishing.

“I’ll usually look for shallow-water coves and pockets on the north banks of the lake where there is the most protection from the wind and weather, and that’s where I usually find the warmest water in the lake,” he said. “Once you find a likely looking spot, check out the temperature gauge on your boat or bring a thermometer if you don’t have one on the boat.

“The importance of finding areas with the warmest water temperature just can’t be overstated. You can have the right depths, area and seemingly ideal conditions, but if the water temperature is not just right and conducive for bedding then you may as well be fishing somewhere else.”