Largemouth Habitat

[Largemouth21]

This summer I found a place with a lot of bass. I know they move around in the fall and winter. I am wondering if they will come back to the same spot or will I have to find different structure that they are in?

[A-Jay]

Just now, Largemouth21 said:

This summer I found a place with a lot of bass. I know they move around in the fall and winter. I am wondering if they will come back to the same spot or will I have to find different structure that they are in?

 

There's really only one way to find out  ..  ..  ..  ..  .. and that's the fun part.

 

A-Jay

[Largemouth21]

Just now, A-Jay said:

 

There's really only one way to find out  ..  ..  ..  ..  .. and that's the fun part.

 

A-Jay

Haha true. I am really looking forward to spring/summer bass fishing... I think everyone is!

[lonnie g]

interesting question. I know my grandsons caught a 3 to 4 lb bass with bent or broken tail 3 times this summer. always in the same corner of the lake we were fishing, and with in feet of each catch.

[Paul Roberts]

Two points I guess:

 

-When there is enough food in a specific spot, bass can be tight homebodies. If food is sparser bass can be travelers. 

 

-Then... bass are also individuals, so some are more mobile, others more sedentary than others.

 

Now way to know for sure, so I defer to A-Jay's post.

[12poundbass]

I just read an article in Bassmaster last night about if the fish released after weigh-ins if they return to the area they were caught. In a nutshell it depends how far away they were released from where they were caught. Some do some don't. To answer your question...it's quite possible they will be there in the spring. If you're targeting one particular fish or a couple they might they might not be there, but if you've found good habitat I'm almost certain if it held fish last year it will probably hold fish this year.

[scaleface]

It depends on the spot . One of my favorite places is a slight depression in a major cove  , the remnants of a shallow silted in creek , that drops from 6 foot to 8 foot at normal pool   with four stumps lining  the edge . It holds good fish spring , summer and fall . I dont fish there in the winter .

[Jacob Phelps]

Every spring I go back to the same lake, the same stretch of shoreline, during the same time period, under the same weather conditions, and always catch fish doing the same presentation. I came across it just out of a sheer guess and it turned out to produce. Every year for a few weeks in the spring it produces.

[TnRiver46]

I got my degree in wildlife and fisheries management and the one thing that the professors constantly stressed when referring to "habitat" was the importance of food. In reality you could probably use the terms "habitat" and "food" interchangeably. Mammals, birds, fish, and pretty much everything make food their #1 priority. Sure they need shelter and reproduction as well, but they look for those in place near available food. The only exceptions I can come up with are maybe a buck during the rut or a salmon in freshwater, they forget about food temporarily 

[WRB]

LMB tend to spawn close to the area where they came from if possible. 

Habitate depends on the ecosystem system, lake, pond or river type they live in and they are very adaptable. 

Home areas or roaming bass are 2 different groups of LMB, some are school fish, some are not, but they all need to eat regularly. If you want know more about bass location study their prey sources where you fish and start reading about bass behavior as it may take a lifetime to learn.

Tom

[gim]

Hopefully you marked the spot with your GPS and you can go back there later this season and get the answer for yourself.

[NCbassraider]

13 hours ago, Largemouth21 said:

This summer I found a place with a lot of bass. I know they move around in the fall and winter. I am wondering if they will come back to the same spot or will I have to find different structure that they are in?

 

Bass are territorial so the bigger fish will be in spots they know they can find food.  Smaller bass will follow the big girls.  In smaller bodies of water it is not uncommon to catch the same big bass in the same spot.

 

It is also a reason it is tough to catch the monster double digit bass.  They know where to eat and will move other bass out of the area. They just don't need out baits. 

 

I see this behavior in a small retention pond I have located off my lake.  I stocked it with Bass to control the frogs however, the bass ate all the frogs so I have been feeding them with minnows by the pound.  The bass are mostly 1-2 lbs but I do have a 6 pounder in there we relocated from another pond.  

 

The water is very clear and when I approach with a bucket of minnows they follow me, always with the big girl out front.  When another fish gets too close to her she will open her mouth as wide as she can in an apparent display of dominance and the others will move away. It's so cool.  I have never read anything like this but it happens all the time and is clearly her showing off her size and the other bass respond by giving her distance.

[RoLo]

As confirmed by telemetric studies, largemouth bass are shallow-oriented, residential fish

that move no farther than necessary. On large year-round holding sites, seasonal adjustments

involve little more than depth change within the same structural complex.  Food is very rarely an issue

on fertile natural lakes. Thanks to Mother Nature's master plan, the favorite habitat of bass forage correlates with the habitat of bass (i.e. food comes to them). When bass have to travel far to find food,

that's an indication of an unnatural habitat (stocked bass) and/or a lake with low fertility.

In any event, bass are highly adaptable creatures that do what needs to be done to survive.

 

Roger

[WRB]

Take a look at the video Bigmouth and Bigmouth Forever by Glen Lau, available on U Tube, may be educational.

Tom

PS, Roger school bass are defined @ 15 minutes into Bigmouth Forver video, followed by individual or small group bass in their natural Florida habitat. 

[Paul Roberts]

On 1/10/2017 at 7:20 PM, NCbassraider said:

The water is very clear and when I approach with a bucket of minnows they follow me, always with the big girl out front.  When another fish gets too close to her she will open her mouth as wide as she can in an apparent display of dominance and the others will move away. It's so cool.  I have never read anything like this but it happens all the time and is clearly her showing off her size and the other bass respond by giving her distance.

If you can find a copy, check out Ralph Manns article, "The Territorial Imperative" in one of the IF Bass special issues. 

[the reel ess]

A good spot is a good spot and if all or most conditions are constant they probably will return. But there are variables that can easily change or not even be known. Hey, for whatever reason, there may be an abundance of bait elsewhere next year. I like my den, but I have to leave it often to get food.

 

Even so, don't give up on it. The variables may come together at a later time.