SPAWN PERIOD

By the time the water temperature exceeds 50°F, blues start their gradual and inexorable progression to spawning sites. The spawn on the Missouri River encompasses nearly 7 weeks and, during this period, continuous waves of new participants invade the spawning grounds, he says. Some observers suspect that a few of the males that remain near spawning sites mate with more than one female.

Both males and females prepare the spawning bed, but after the female deposits her eggs and the male fertilizes them, it’s the male’s bailiwick to keep the nest clean, oxygenate the eggs, and protect the nest from creatures that seek to consume the eggs and fry. Traditionally, the last male leaves his spawning nest around July 15.

During the spawn, many of the fish become emaciated and are blemished with sores and scars. From Jamison’s perspective, this 7-week spell is the most difficult period of the year to consistently catch big blues. Nevertheless, he occasionally drives the barb of a Gamakatsu Octopus hook into the jowls of a blue cat of substantial proportions.

He attaches an 8-ounce egg sinker above an 18-inch leader of 80-pound Dacron, affixing the leader to a 10/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook with a snell knot. His choice of baits ranges from freshly cut shad, carp, or goldeye to live green sunfish and chubs.

When the river flows from normal to no more than 2 feet higher, he fishes outside riprap riverbends during daylight hours. Rather than probe the steep or nearly vertical sections of these bends, he focuses on gradually sloping areas, concentrating primarily on notches and depressions along these banks. Blues in these areas are searching for, preparing, or guarding a nesting site.

Jamison and a partner employ a total of four rod-and-reel combos, placing one over the drop-off and allowing the bait to settle into about 25 feet of water, while three other outfits work the gradually sloping topography of the riprap, plying water as shallow as 4 feet. At these riprap bends, he doesn’t fish a fruitless section for more than 30 minutes, he says.

These areas can be fished at night, but they usually are replete with snags, and getting snagged, breaking lines, and tying rigs compounds the inherent chores of night-fishing. Moreover, the necessity to move every 30 minutes is difficult to accomplish at night.

Therefore, at night, during the early stages of the spawning season and toward the end of it, Jamison prefers to fish the flats in 4 to 8 feet of water between wing dams, the same environs he works for blues during summer. During the early days of the spawn, he says, “some fish are still actively feeding and covering a lot of ground looking for spawning sites.

Also, near the end of the spawn, some fish have spawned and are once again actively feeding.”

At night, the flats are easier to fish than the riprap bends because of fewer snags. And if an angler is anchored at a bountiful flat, he can stay there all night and allow the blues to come to him.