If I may jump in the topic with my "not bass fisherman" background...
Where I live, in Western Europe, fishing is not a big thing as in the US.
It is more like "take everything you catch and put it in the freezer".
Therefore, the authorities had to find a way to go over that and protect the fishes during spawn.
Where I live actually, in Belgium, it is forbidden to use any artificial bait or any live bait that can (even unintentionally) catch a predator fish during a period that lasts from the 31st of December to the 1st of June. You do the math, 5 month without fishing!
The period is really long beacuse it is made to protect mostly 3 species (Pike, Perch and Walleye) but most of all because of that non-sportive behaviour of most fishermans.
I'm in SoCal for vacation this week, I will go fishing as much as I can.
I've already tryed bed fishing to satisfy my curiosity and it reminds me of the walleye's behaviour.
I have seen too many fishermans going around the laws and taking dozens of fishes from their nest using nightcrawlers.
No more bed fishing for me.
I can understand that people are attracted by the idea of a trophy fish (of course, I am too) but, to me, fishing is a challenge about outsmarting the fish and I just think there nothing to outsmart in that basic survival instinct when they are spawning.
You are pretty lucky to be allowed to fish during that period, just imagine that you could not during 5 month...