MORE RELEVANT ON THIS THREAD
Posted 04 April 2011 - 08:16 PM
Bass Spawning Trigger
« on: March 01, 2010, 10:52:59 AM »
I posted this on another forum many years ago and it went over like a lead zeppelin. I don't know if this is the proper forum, if not, the mods can move it as requires.
Here goes:
LIGHT PENETRATION AND THE EFFECT ON LARGEMOUTH BASS SPAWNING
Experienced bass anglers accept the correlation between water temperature and the body processes and activity level of the largemouth bass. We know, for example as water temperatures increase, active feeding periods are extended. This continues until a balanced level is reached, somewhere in the 70°F - 75°F range. As the water temperatures climb above that point however, activity begins to decline until a near dormant state again occurs.
Spawning is another activity conventional wisdom has associated with warming water trends. It's believed bass begin their migration from wintering areas to shallow water to spawn as the result of the water temperature. It is ingrained into the mind of every angler I have met, read or heard. It is accepted as gospel to the exclusion of every other factor. Well, once in a while a nod is made to the effects of the wind but even that is considered to be negligible.
It’s important to remember bass are not slaves to their environment. Although conscious decisions aren’t made. Millions of years of response to specific stimuli cause the bass to react in a specific way. They don’t have the capacity to think but stupid as they are compared to humans, their species has been around a lot longer than ours.
Considering the amount of energy necessary to expend warm water at the depths the bass where believed to winter, it would take to raise the temperature. Upon further examination one would recognize that as a false premise. No single mechanism is so exclusive that others should be overlooked. There is one catalyst in particular, which I think is often disregarded too often for the anglers' good.
This dependence upon water temperature causes equally important factors to be disregarded.
I began to notice after a period of years, regardless of water temperature, bass seemed to be on the spawning beds about the same time every year. Then in the spring of 2000, it seemed the Northeastern U.S. had a remarkably cloudy winter, spring and summer
The mechanism is light penetration. Light penetration that causes the water to warm. Most anglers will agree that cold, muddy water is the most difficult to fish successfully. Unimpeded light penetration has two effects. The first is to stimulate the growth of subsurface vegetation by initiating the process of photosynthesis. The process releases oxygen into the water column and plants reduce turbidy by a filter effect. Light particles are diffused by suspended particles of sand, algae or other material, which gives/affects water clarity.
The second process is related to bass physiology. Bass, as most other vertebrates, possess a pineal gland. The pineal gland can be thought of as almost as vestigial eye. It is sensitive to the presence and concentration of light. As the pineal gland detects the additional and extended periods of light, stimulated the spawning cascade is initiated. Hormone production increases, longer feeding periods occur, eggs and milt begins to develop and start the spawning cycle.
I began researching spawning time, beginning with a review of my own fishing journals. I compared spawning times across the U.S. from south to north. It didn't surprise me to find that bass spawn in Florida than New Jersey or Wisconsin. That was simply reaffirmed. I began to notice something else, though. And to my mind, quite interesting: it appeared that bass begin spawning along latitudinal lines.
In other words, cities going east to west, Trenton, NJ, Columbus, OH and Topeka KS, are all aligned within one degree the 40th parallel. Bass in those areas would begin spawning at about the same time. There are climatic and other environmental differences between those cities, so what could be the common denominator between those locations to trigger spawning to occur at about the same time.
Why is that relevant?
I stopped thinking downward toward the water and started looking upward toward the Sun. After the winter solstice, December 22 two things occur. The amount of daylight increase and the position of the Sun begin getting higher on the horizon. That has the combined effect of light penetrating deeper into the water for a longer period of time.
This is significant for two reasons. The first is an increase in sub-surface vegetation growth, putting more oxygen into the water. The second is actually related to the Evidence linking the spawn to light rather that water temperature can be shown that even a minor drop in the water temperature for several days will extend the hatching period the bass eggs and the male will not abandon the spawning bed. But if there is a substantial decrease in water clarity as a result of rain, the male will abandon the nest. It appears to be the relation between egg maturation and water clarity could be consider almost photosynthetic. Linked.stimulats
There is a second effect that can be explained by the position of the sun and bass location. It's been a long held belief that bass are found more often on the north or northwestern shore of lakes early in the season because of protection from winds from that direction. If you take the time to observe areas of snowfall and how the snow melts, the first areas to melt are on the west, northwest, and north sides of a point. They are exposed for the longest periods of time and blowing winds have no effect on set snow.
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