Eric, I never got back up front last night, but the temp was 64 degrees down to 4' around 11 this morning. We were at 39 degrees air temp yesterday morning, and peaked at 75 that afternoon, and had southerly winds that peaked near 20 mph. This morning's temp was 60 degrees at 4 am, and has continued to warm up.
I know you didn't ask this, but my ADD is in full bloom, as these last few days have been a rare opportunity for me to actually witness the full spawning cycle. Almost daily, I fish a 2 acre flat to cull smaller LMB. This area historically refills with small LMB overnight, and I noticed that the LMB weren't refilling these areas for the last several days, and that's what got me to start looking for the beds. We always have CNBG and LMB spawns on the dam, and that's where I first found the LMB beds. Over an approximately 800' stretch, I saw unaccompanied males fanning nests, several pair of LMB nipping at CNBG to keep them away from the nests, and one bed where the female was actively rolling with her dorsal fins out of the water. Today I saw several beds where only the males that were guarding the nests remained.
I went out this morning, and caught four 2-3.5 pound LMB on that same flat. None were chasing the lure, all had set up near isolated brush piles, and only the largest male had milt. My WAG is that most or all of these fish were still pre-spawn.
Timing's everything, and I got lucky.
