Except for briefly stalling in upper Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last week, the spawn band has pushed to or north of the U.S.-Canada border across most of the country. The spawn happened in the Columbia River reservoirs, in the Missouri River reservoirs, and in the numerous prairie and glacial lakes of the prairie states. The spawn happened in the rocky lakes of Wisconsin and Michigan and the pools of the upper Mississippi River. And in the east, the bass have spawned on the bays on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes There are undoubtedly some small lakes and reservoirs in the highlands that have not reached spawning temperature. These bass populations are on the bubble. A warm summer may help these populations develop a successful year class. For late-spawning bass, the question is whether the young bass can establish enough body mass by the end of the growing season to make it through the winter. That is a tough assignment for northern bass, because they spawn later, have a shorter growing season, and a longer “rest-of-the-year” over which to stretch their energy reserves while obtaining some nutrition and avoiding becoming prey. Nevertheless, every year, some of the "on-the-bubble" bass populations produce years classes, but others do not. Indeed, the northern distribution of largemouth and smallmouth bass is primarily controlled by the number of feeding days between the spawn—when water temperature reached 65 degrees--and ice-up the following fall.

Although anglers in the northern tier of states may still get a shot or two at 50+ bass days fishing bedding fish, pre-spawn, spawn, or post-spawn are minor issues now because they are so transient. My focus shifts to consistently catching "fair numbers" of large bass. So rather than completely cut off the information, and to give you the same post-spawn edge provided to southern bassers, here are a few thoughts that will help you ignore whatever the last little phase of the spawn is and get some good ol’ fish-catching going on. For largemouth, look for inside weedlines. This will probably not be the 2-foot wide band of aquatic vegetation growing in 7-8 feet if water, but it may be the 4-6-foot wide inside edge of a weed bed that forms in water 4 feet deep and continues to 14 feet deep. It may also be the inside bends in outer edge of a grassline that grows out to 17 feet.

For smallmouth, look for rock and gravel—the bigger the rock the better. Flats with rock. Ridges with rock. Underwater islands (or above-water islands) with rock. Steep banks with rock.

Action baits will work, but I suggest you fish these patterns slowly with soft plastics—Yum Dingers, Zoom Baby Brush Hogs or lizards—to locate fish. After you have fish located, start refining the presentation, and soon a clear pattern—depth, cover, bottom type and structure, and presentation—will emerge. You may be fortunate to establish several productive patterns. By noting the changes in these patterns as the summer moves forward, you are on the fast track to building that essential local knowledge.

Good fishing!