A Second Spawn?

[Preytorien]

Tonight I fished a small pond near my house. The water is pretty clear, and it's got an abundance of small fish for the bass to feed on.

 

While fishing, I noticed a couple of bass that just sort of hovered in one area, sometimes patroling back and forth, the same movements I'd seen during spawn.

 

So, that begs the question, do bass spawn more than once a year? If not, what were these bass doing?

 

[BiteFiend]

Bass only spawn once a year to my knowledge. Were the baitfish along the bank? If so, my quess would be that the bass were patrolling back and forth like that to keep the bait pinnned along the bank.

[flyfisher]

Not all bass in a lake spawn at the same time so it is possible this was a second wave of bass that were spawning.  I fish a small pond that i have seen bass spawning over a period of about a month in the same areas.  I know they are not the same fish because i caught a few of them and they were different sizes.

 

It could also be them chasing baitfish like was already mentioned.

[BiteFiend]

That's a good point about the last wave of the spawn. It usually starts mid-May where I live and seems to wind down by mid-June on most lakes here. I assumed the spawn would be over in most of the country but then again it's been a weird year for weather this year and many places probably had a late spawn.

[Fish'N Impossible]

Being in central Indiana my bet's your spawn is over. They were most likely herding the baitfish like lambs to the slaughter.

[Bluebasser86]

Only one spawn in this part of the country. Sounds like they probably had an area they were feeding successfully and didn't want to leave it. They do the same thing all the time, patrolling edges, humps, rockpiles, points, difference is you usually can't see them doing it

[F14A-B]

When I lived in Florida, there were multiple spawns for a few months, we could find fish on beds in July , as far as indiana, I honestly am not sure, I believe there is a pecking order though, biggest fish bed first, followed by a additional spawn. I usually catch the females in March and April typically

[Preytorien]

There were quite a few bluegill all gathered on this bank, so as many of you have mentioned, they probably were keeping tabs on them for their next meal. Oddly enough though they wouldn't do much in the way of chasing the bluegill, but assaulted my Siebert jig that I dropped in front of them.

 

I guess they like to keep their food sources close......like me.....Wendy's is only a 1/4 mile from my house.

[gar-tracker]

Not all bass in a lake spawn at the same time so it is possible this was a second wave of bass that were spawning.  I fish a small pond that i have seen bass spawning over a period of about a month in the same areas.  I know they are not the same fish because i caught a few of them and they were different sizes.

 

It could also be them chasing baitfish like was already mentioned.

 

Exactly. the larger the concentration of fish the more this happens.

 

In Lake Okeechobee there are numerous waves of fish coming in for a period that could be from October to May and at times July depending on weather and water levels, fish are in all phases at times post spawn pre spawn etc.. If all the fish spawned at the same time it would be a disaster.

 

Of course this is the extreme due to its massive size and concentration of fish along with a very fast growing period, but it holds true in all bodies of water.

[fishballer06]

Water is likely around 80* in Indiana where you are. They're not spawning now, just likely feeding. 

 

I know here in PA, the catfish are spawning right now. But they're about the last fish to spawn.

[Josh Smith]

Being in central Indiana my bet's your spawn is over. They were most likely herding the baitfish like lambs to the slaughter.

 

This, but with a caveat.  I'm in North Central Indiana.

 

I just got back in from a much-needed fishing trip.  There was a massive cold front due to this weird weather pattern, and fishing should be pretty much shut down with bass suspended.  I wanted to run an experiment though.

 

Deep and suspending lures weren't doing jack.

 

I went shallow and started catching 'em.  OK, two, and I didn't try the traditional beds in this lake.  I've not caught much of anything over there since the spawn.

 

But they are shallow when they should be deep, and every bass critter was hitting the Mann's Jelly Worms I was using, and the fry were doing their level best to take down a Money Minnow I threw out there to challenge any territorial bass big enough to eat the thing.  They were also hitting spinnerbaits.

 

The bigger bass I caught, a male about 2lbs and a female that was 3lbs or 4lbs, were quite aggressive and seemed to be actively feeding.  The ol' girl took my medium-heavy Daiwa 5'6" spinnerbait rod and bent it much more than usual, trying to get down into cover.

 

(I was rather proud of myself on that last one.  Mr. Mann claimed to have made bass jump into his boat.  I tried this to get it on the bank, and sure 'nuff, dang ol' bass helped me out!)

 

I probably could have caught a few more, but I was doing some experimentation. 

 

But anyway, everything I know and all my experience tells me that these bass critters shouldn't have been there, but they were. 

 

I caught them the exact same way I do during the spawn.  It's the only thing that worked.

 

I looked at their tails and they showed no evidence of bedding, though.

 

Bass critters are weird.  I think that's why I like 'em.  They're weird and unpredictable.  That's why I like wimmins, after all!

 

Josh

[Jar11591]

Last year I witnessed 2 bass spawning in mid-July as water temps were right around 80.

[VAHunter]

 but assaulted my Siebert jig that I dropped in front of them.

 That is the part I find interesting.  Where I live in VA the majority of the fish spawn in April and another nice wave in May.  However, I've seen fish on beds on the main parts of the lakes here in July.  Your fish could have simply been late spawners.  Your line above about the jig is what leads me to believe they may have been protecting a bed or fry.  Hard to say, but that's part of what keeps us coming back.

[geo g]

In south Florida there is a wide band of time when bass will spawn.  As someone else said, weather fronts, water levels, moon phase,  will all have an effect  on when the spawn will start.  There can also be more then one spawn during the year.  Florida bass are much more sensitive to weather related fronts then there northern cousins.  The spawn can easily be put off by any of these conditions.

[Preytorien]

 That is the part I find interesting.  Where I live in VA the majority of the fish spawn in April and another nice wave in May.  However, I've seen fish on beds on the main parts of the lakes here in July.  Your fish could have simply been late spawners.  Your line above about the jig is what leads me to believe they may have been protecting a bed or fry.  Hard to say, but that's part of what keeps us coming back.

 

My thoughts exactly, when they wouldn't take anything but a jig, and in a certain spot no less, my immediate thought was that these bass were acting like nesting fish. I tried senkos and weightless craws dropped right on top of them, nothin'.....it was only when my jig entered into an area about the size of a dinner plate that they started getting real interested. That sounds like nesting fish to me.

 

Who knows, they may be spawning, I dunno. Bass are weird.....

 

On a side note, the ones I caught were on a Siebert Dredge Brush head, which has an Owner hook. The hook is so fine that it barely required a hookset, and stayed put. I love those jigs man, they're awesome.

[CDMeyer]

The bass could have been feeding on something there, but just because the spawn happened does not mean every single bass in the lake spawned then.

At Bass Fest hank Cherry caught a 10 pounder off a bed and that was just a little bit ago

[WRB]

The easiest way to tell is a bed with the male guarding it.

Nature isn't that precise, the majority of the bass will spawn as soon as weather conditions are stable after the water temperature at the depth the bass use to spawn reaches 62-65 degrees for largemouth. Bass spawns can and do last up to a 3 month period in larger reservoirs. The bluegill spawn after the bass, small pie plate size beds close together indicated Bluegill are spawning. Sometimes a few bass spawn in the fall as the water cools, nothing is set in stone and bass can't read a calendar.

The bass may have had young of the years bass or bluegill fry/fingerlings herded up that you didn't see and were reluctant to leave.

Tom

[notevenanibble]

There were quite a few bluegill all gathered on this bank, so as many of you have mentioned, they probably were keeping tabs on them for their next meal. Oddly enough though they wouldn't do much in the way of chasing the bluegill, but assaulted my Siebert jig that I dropped in front of them.

 

I guess they like to keep their food sources close......like me.....Wendy's is only a 1/4 mile from my house.

 

we still have some bream spawning around here.  the bass go wild during that time getting the easy meal.  i know i always fish around bream beds when i see them. ive landed some of my largest bass during that period.

[bighed]

I have seen spawing activity as early as feb. and as late as june locally.  I have also seen just a few times, fish that were clearly on beds in the fall.