Jarin,
Here are a few pix of some recent tourney fish Jeremy and Put in the boat. of these fish, two were female in very shallow water. J.'s fish was sitting on her bed. Seems to me, most of the fish we are catching right now are the males, the are found near the beds, "Protecting" the females and guarding the beds, but we are also finding the males in 6-12 FOW on jigs and plastics.
The mama's are fat and i would guess the spawn is very close, if not in process on some lakes. i think the average water temps are still slightly cool, on three different lakes i have fished over the last two weeks varied slightly, roughly staying in the mid 60's. after this weather this weekend, id be willing to bet we will be seeing 70 degrees pretty quick.
The majority of the fish we have boated have been on jigs, but scum frogs are getting tons of strikes. because the females are fairly shallow, and kinda spooky, id toss the frog on the bank and slowly walk it into the water so you avoid the "PLOP" the frog/rat makes when it hits. many fish will come in consecutive casts and be ready!!
here are some recent pix from this week.....
Big fat Female..... the fish... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif This was a reaction strike
male caught near beds, but on a ledge adjacent to deeper water, reaction strike
female on right, feeding type bite, Crankin the dam
and the male on the left was caught in slop with scum frog also a reaction strike.
Good luck and take some photos!!!!