from what I have seen since 1983 when bass showed up in the spring for the first time since I started fishing the salt,it seems they spawn in places[rivers] that biologists don't even know about or maybe want to admit.
before the year mentioned above there were only gators and I didn't start catching bass until that year.
I would always fish late march/early april at night for tommycod[up to 12 inches] and do very well too.
along with them I would catch a few hake too.
then one night in 1983 just after thanksgiving I was getting pickups that were behaving odd.
the line would bounce then go slack,my not knowing what the deal was I would pick up the rod and take up the slack and there would be nothing there.
this went on a for almost an hour and then I decided to set the hook right away when the line went slack.
it was then that I found out what was up.
they were small bass all around 12-16 inches.
after that lesson I caught 40 some odd fish the next night and then 64 the night after that with tommies and hake mixed in.
since that first night of strange hits,I have been hooked!