THE SPAWN IS ON : AND THERE'S NOTHING QUITE LIKE WATCHING A BIG BASS BITE BAIT.

Byline: BRETT PAULY

Some call it ``robbing the cradle'' and scoff at the notion of luring bass from the spawning grounds they are programmed to safeguard.

Dangling a bit of plastic and a camouflaged hook before the snout of a largemouth five feet away is far too easy, they say.

Sacrilege, they cry; let the fish do their thing in private, without interference.

For others, it's a ritual that offers rare and immediate satisfaction - witnessing what they cast to slam the bait.

This is bed-fishing or nest-fishing, and when the spawn is on, like it is at many area reservoirs, bass anglers who have no qualms sight-fishing are overcome by spring fever.

``It's bedmania out there,'' said Aaron Martens, a West Hills angling guide who has enjoyed great success nest-fishing on professional bass circuits. ``Bass are everywhere on beds.''

There have been reports of bucketmouths on spawning nests at Casitas, Piru, Castaic, Cachuma and Perris lakes - considered by many the top bodies of water for sight-casting.

As a member of the bed-fishing camp, I can think of no better thrill than eyeballing up close a feisty black bass take a tube jig in its shallow nest.

Play it, boat it, photo it and release it right away so the bass has the easiest time returning to its nest, and you should be OK.

The Department of Fish and Game seems to agree.

``At this point, we do not believe that (bed) fishing effort is causing a decline in spawning success in largemouth bass fisheries,'' said DFG associate fishery biologist Mike Giusti. ``That goes back to the large number of fish that are spawning at one time versus the actual number you get to see and may catch in any given day.''

After shunning the activity for much of his career, Mission Viejo bass guide and pro angler Troy Folkestad become a believer in bed-fishing four years ago.

``My opinion used to be that it was unsportsmanlike,'' he said. ``I thought it was an easy way to fish. But I changed my attitude when I found out how difficult it can be. The challenging aspect is catching the female bass.''

Folkestad doesn't even pitch a lure until he spots a bass he guesses to be eight pounds or larger, which is usually a female.

While even biologists have trouble differentiating the sexes, females are larger and less aggressive, therefore tougher to hook. They are also tougher to locate, instead preferring to hang out in deeper water - 20 to 25 feet - and search for a suitor under the cloak of darkness in early morning or late evening. Yet there are some exceptions to the rule, and those bass - the ones that are actually feeding when not reserving energy for egg production - are the ones that make anglers drool.

Most often, however, the male is in the spotlight. In one of nature's classic ``Mr. Mom'' scenarios, it tends to the spawning bed and protects the fry for their first month of life.

``The female produces the egg but has no parental care,'' Giusti said. ``There is no long-term commitment. It's basically a one-night stand.''

Males defend the nest zealously and will munch on a twitching lure thinking it is a predator in what is called a reaction bite, not because they are hungry. Bass don't forage much during spawning season, which usually takes place from mid-March through April (though some spawn through June or later) in water temperatures of 58 to 65 degrees (though 62 or warmer is considered optimal).

A bait with less movement might still get hit, but usually because the fastidious male considers anything that falls into its lair debris and deftly moves it off the nest with its large mouth. Swing the rod quickly and you've hooked a bass.

Martens took me on a recent nest-fishing jaunt to Ventura County's Lake Casitas, dubbed by Fishing & Hunting News ``king of the big bass lakes.''

Here's what I learned from my 24-year-old nest-fishing mentor (when I wasn't babbling on about the bobcat we saw take a mallard from the tules on the lake's west shore):

Don't cast to bass that aren't on the nest; they don't have territory to guard and generally won't hit.

``Some fish have been pressured too much or have been caught before. Some are really spooky,'' Martens warned. ``They are the ones that move off the nest quickly.''

Practice your casting, pitching and flipping marksmanship. Tossing the bait in line with and behind the nest is absolutely critical to enable it to float down and finessed directly onto the bed.

Study the nest to find the sweet spot - where the bass hovers most. Let the bait settle and twitch the line slightly to irritate the bass into striking. If it loses interest, move it - but always keep the lure in that strike zone. When it strays, recast.

Select a lure color that is easiest for you to detect, like a light red or a chartreuse. Don't worry about what the bass might prefer; they are less reactive to color.

When you do spot a female, pitch larger baits.

``Smaller baits aren't threatening to the females like they would be to a little male,'' he said.

Have two setups handy, each armed with 8- to 12-pound line. One should be a 6-1/2- to 7-foot medium-action spinning rod and matching reel and the other should be a like-length, medium-heavy bait-casting outfit.

Select an assortment of artificial baits - 4- to 6-inch plastic worms that can be retrieved from thick cover easily for hard-to-get-at nests; 3-inch grubs, curl-tailed and flat-tailed, which, if Texas rigged, can be fished weedless; and 2- to 4-inch tube jigs that can be cast accurately, sink well and grab the fish's attention fast.

Practice catch and release; a bass is too pretty and sporting a fish to kill.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) When largemouth bass are spawning, anglers target the area's hot sight-fishing lakes - Casitas, Piru, Castaic, Cachuma and Perris.

Merlyn Hilmoe / Special to the Daily News

(2--color) ``It's bedmania out there,'' said Aaron Martens of West Hills, who recently caught a burly bass while bed-fishing at Lake Casitas.

Brett Pauly / Daily News