When we were working traps for steelhead most of the females melted right after spawning. The males more or less believed in "Spawn till you die" and kept looking for ladies. We even had some still in the creek in August having been isolated by the low flows.

The females, on the other hand, turned immediately to feeding. We had a few that, in May/June were plugged with Carpenter Ants. We had an emergence going on. I think most of the females go right to eating but are likely looking for adult bugs on the surface and (probably) fish.

If the female has not spawned or has retained eggs she likely will try to spawn.

If this is to work, at all, I think that only females that are fully spawned should be used. Not fully spawned females and males will have other things on their mind besides eating.