SPAWNING IS STRENUOUS and, just like human mothers, female largemouth need two things after they’re done: rest and food. We know the fish “slide off the beds and chill out for a while,” but what specifically does that mean? Elite Series anglers offered a look at what they expect from postspawners and how they approach this transitional time.
For starters, Bryan New describes a two-part postspawn stage. The initial “don’t bother me” phase followed by the “I’m eatin’ everything” phase.
“A lot of times the postspawn fish are kinda funky. They don’t want to bite; they just want to rest,” New said. “But there is a point — and when they reach that point, it’s game on. It’s like, ‘We haven’t eaten in a while,’ so they’re ready to eat.”
Predicting those dramatic mood swings is guesswork at best. Unlike the prespawn, when weather and moon watching often provide logical guidance, postspawners follow their internal clocks.
“There is a window of a few days or a week where it’s tough,” New notes. “But it’s per
