Bass movement

[ArkansasBassin]

I was told that bass never move out of a 1 acre by 1 acre area their entire lives. However lately I have been catching schooling bass in the middle of a deep rocky reservoir, miles from any ample spawning grounds. I'm beginning to think that the 1 acre by 1 acre theory isn't true. Also, if any of ya'll know how far bass typically move after spawn I would be glad to know. 

Thanks you and god bless 

[frosty]

Follow the baitfish, the bass do. 

[Team9nine]

You often have "homers" and "roamers." Some bass, often including the biggest in the lake, won't move any farther than they have to between spawning areas and summer/fall home areas. Other bass like schoolies may roam for miles at times, but they tend to run much smaller in size. Not the best conservation of energy strategy, but they're likely younger and make it work. That said, every lake is different, and bass will do what they have to to survive, so don't write it off (what you were told), but also don't consider it chiseled in stone 

[papajoe222]

For every bass that lives it's entire life in one acre of water there are four dozen or more that will roam miles during the course of a year.  From deep river channels in the winter, up creek arms to spawn and then out to main lake points only to follow the shad bck up the creek arms in the fall and then back to their winter holding spots

[Catt]

On large bodies of water studies show three "groups" of bass.

 

One group spends thier entire life within a certain distance from the shoreline.

 

One group spends their entire life offshore never coming in contact with a shoreline.

 

One group moves on a regular basis from shoreline structure to offshore structure.

 

What has not been determined is what size body of water is necessary for this to occur.

[NHBull]

Groups that study tagged fish in NH believe that in lakes with ample food services have fish that have no real home and travel miles.  They believe that as fish get larger, the movement reduces.

The is a tournament on Lake Winni where a tagged fish was caught in a cove at the north end of the lake......weigh in was in the south end.  This tagged fish was caught 3 yrs in a row, all in the same spot.  This spot is 7 miles away from the weigh in cove.

 

There was also a study that represented that bass do not spawn in the same place twice.

 

Both of these examples lead me to believe that the NH study is accurate.

 

I do believe that lakes with less food sources tend to have fish there dinner

[spencer12]

As posted above, I believe larger fish will stay in a general area while smaller fish will school up and roam around.

[WRB]

While I agree with Catt we need to consider type of bass LMB both Florida

and northern strain, Smallmouth and Spotted bass, all have different behavior traits.

Electronic tracking studies clearly show bass have individual and group migration habits and can change locations for sanctuary reasons and prey preferences.

Tom

 

[OCdockskipper]

6 hours ago, NHBull said:

There was also a study that represented that bass do not spawn in the same place twice.

 

I wonder if that was based on males, females or both.  I have had a male bass make a bed in the same place (off the east side of my dock) for 4 years in a row.  While I can't be positive it was the same fish all 4 years, I do know it was the same fish the past 2 years.  I caught him last year and made a small clip on one of his fins and when I caught him this year, the scar from the docking was there.

[NHBull]

13 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

 

I wonder if that was based on males, females or both.  I have had a male bass make a bed in the same place (off the east side of my dock) for 4 years in a row.  While I can't be positive it was the same fish all 4 years, I do know it was the same fish the past 2 years.  I caught him last year and made a small clip on one of his fins and when I caught him this year, the scar from the docking was there.

If this is of great interest to you, I can try to get all the details and any printed materials?

[OCdockskipper]

8 hours ago, NHBull said:

If this is of great interest to you, I can try to get all the details and any printed materials?

 

Nah, thanks for the offer though...

[Sam]

Arkansas, there are no rules in bass fishing that are in stone.

 

Each fish is their own and they do what they need to do to survive.

 

There are studies out there on lakes and rivers that have tracked bass movements.

 

Try to locate some of these magazine articles and studies and maybe  you can make heads or tails out of them.

 

What blows my mind is how does a bass living in one part of a lake or river make it back to their original location after a weigh-in in another part of a lake or river?

 

This is just one example of why those little green monsters can drive a person crazy.

[scaleface]

On 7/7/2017 at 5:09 PM, ArkansasBassin said:

I was told that bass never move out of a 1 acre by 1 acre area their entire lives. 

 

Someone told you wrong . Young fish , especially , will move all over the place in huge wolf packs sometimes numbering in the hundreds , chasing schools of shad . Here today gone tomorrow . 

[Catt]

22 hours ago, WRB said:

While I agree with Catt we need to consider type of bass LMB both Florida

and northern strain, Smallmouth and Spotted bass, all have different behavior traits.

Electronic tracking studies clearly show bass have individual and group migration habits and can change locations for sanctuary reasons and prey preferences.

Tom

 

 

Not only do we have to consider each individual species, we have to consider each individual bass.

 

Many Texas waters have Kentucky Spotted Bass/Spotted Black Bass which definitely move in schools or groups. We will be catching largemouth then all sudden you'll catch a spot & then it's several spots, then just as suddenly their gone.

 

We must also consider each individual body of water. Rivers, streams, creeks, & bayous are extremely different from each other. Lakes, reservoirs, & ponds are extremely different from each other.

 

The size of the body of water also comes into play.

 

If an area holds sufficient structure, cover, & has available food source then the bass will not need to move far.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Catt
Operator error

[CTBassin860]

One of the pros just caught a tagged fish approximately 15 miles away from where it was the last time it was caught.I want to say it was on St. Clair. 

[SuperCorona]

On 7/9/2017 at 9:35 AM, scaleface said:

 

Someone told you wrong . Young fish , especially , will move all over the place in huge wolf packs sometimes numbering in the hundreds , chasing schools of shad . Here today gone tomorrow . 

 

For me it has usually been "Here yesterday, gone today", as in "You should have been here yesterday".

[lo n slo]

i hope we never fully figure it out

[scaleface]

36 minutes ago, SuperCorona said:

 

For me it has usually been "Here yesterday, gone today", as in "You should have been here yesterday".

 

Watch the fishing reports and do the opposite . 

[Choporoz]

Few years ago, @flyingmonkie posted a (now busted) link  to a study of bass movement - post tournament release.  There's another here:  http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/fishing/documents/winnipesaukee-bass-movement-study-2007-08.pdf

and there's others out there.

 

Single biggest takeaway from those studies:

1.  Find out where your local clubs weigh-in....and fish there

 

Also...there's more study needed, but bass waters MIGHT be better off with dispersed release of tournament fish...take them back out away from the weigh-in site.