Fry Guarders

[boostr]

Do female Largemouth guard their fry?Yesterday when I was doing some bank fishing I noticed fry by the hundreds floating at shade lines and laydowns. I would see big female bass in the 4 to 5lb range coming up from deeper water  not to eat them, but to chase away bluegill or investigate my jig when it was near the fry. It was always the same fish. Started throwing a Rage Tail Swimmer, and a bluegill swim jig by the fry from different angles to see if one of these chunkers would rage attack it, but no dice.

[Team9nine]

Usually it's the males that do the nest and fry guarding...

-T9

[boostr]

Hmm, then those are some chunky males for up here. Not impossible. They sure weren't interested in anything I was throwing though.

[2tall79]

4 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Usually it's the males that do the nest and fry guarding...

-T9

And fry eating.     Hence my preference for baby bass cranks after the spawn.

[Paul Roberts]

Never seen that. Here the males do the guarding. Some waters have bigger males than others but, here, they're never over 17inches.

However I do see big females chase bluegills.

[2tall79]

If you ever have the opportunity, watch a video called "Bigmouth"  Filmed in 1974 by underwater photographer Glenn Lau in conjunction with Homer Circle and narrated by Rod (Twilight Zone) Serling. This video was and still remains the definitive documentary of the life of the largemouth bass.  It will answer most of your questions.

[lo n slo]

a weightless/floating worm or lizard can get the job done. toss the intuder right up in there with the babies and witness the carnage.

[Red Bear]

i've seen females eating their own fry by the mouth-full...

[Scott F]

1 hour ago, Red Bear said:

i've seen females eating their own fry by the mouth-full...

How can you tell they were female? Aside from during the spawn when females are full of eggs, how is it possible to tell the sexes apart, especially if they are still under water?

[Red Bear]

8 minutes ago, Scott F said:

How can you tell they were female? Aside from during the spawn when females are full of eggs, how is it possible to tell the sexes apart, especially if they are still under water?

shallow clear pond ive fished a ton at on my uncles farm. you kind of get to know the fish. i caught her when she was full of eggs. shes also the biggest bass in the pond...

[WRB]

The first lesson baby bass learn is eat or be eaten, both male and female bass eat bass fry and everything else they can. Looking at a school of fry it's hard to tell what type of fish they are, several choices from catfish, carp, bluegill, crappie, bass, etc, etc. To bass fry is food.

Tom

[Red Bear]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

The first lesson baby bass learn is eat or be eaten, both male and female bass eat bass fry and everything else they can. Looking at a school of fry it's hard to tell what type of fish they are, several choices from catfish, carp, bluegill, crappie, bass, etc, etc. To bass fry is food.

Tom

to clarify on my post in specific, the bass was definitely eating bass fry, as the only other fish in the pond are bluegill and they had yet to spawn...though i dont disagree with you, youre absolutely right...

[boostr]

On 6/23/2016 at 11:46 AM, Scott F said:

How can you tell they were female? Aside from during the spawn when females are full of eggs, how is it possible to tell the sexes apart, especially if they are still under water?

Just speculating I guess. I never seen male lmb that large up here or in this lake, but I could be wrong.