False spawn in august?

[Boone Butler]

I'm catching pregnant fish right now in South Florida. Is this a false spawn?

[CroakHunter]

3 hours ago, Boone Butler said:

I'm catching pregnant fish right now in South Florida. Is this a false spawn?

How do you know they are pregnant?

[Paul Roberts]

No. But bass do begin re-developing gonads in late summer/early falll. But they are still pretty small, even in late fall. Further development is arrested due cold water. Now FL I dunno when they'd start -esp in far S FL. Maybe Roger, or others, will pipe in. I'm guessing its much the same, but that the winter hiatus is simply much shorter.

[Bluebasser86]

Bass don't get "pregnant" since they're egg layers. Are you finding eggs developing in fish you're filleting, or are they just fat fish and you're assuming that must be the cause? 

[Catt]

10 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

No. But bass do begin re-developing gonads in late summer/early falll. But they are still pretty small, even in late fall. Further development is arrested due cold water. Now FL I dunno when they'd start -esp in far S FL. Maybe Roger, or others, will pipe in. I'm guessing its much the same, but that the winter hiatus is simply much shorter.

 

That's my thoughts on the subject 

[Paul Roberts]

13 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

What if they weren't females? These days you can't just go around assuming genders lol

More true than many might realize. Intersex fishes including bass are being found and monitored. At first it was thought to be related to hormones, hormone mimicking chemicals, being released into waterways -either flushed down urban toilets or as urban and agricultural runoff. But some are now found in somewhat more remote places -at least away from major urban areas. No answers as yet.

[WRB]

We get s few late fall egg leaking female bass, they are a anomaly and never found any beds that early. Late Jan to early Feb during warm winters we get the 1st wave of bed fish showing up in SoCal.

Tom

[frosty]

5 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

More true than many might realize. Intersex fishes including bass are being found and monitored. At first it was thought to be related to hormones, hormone mimicking chemicals, being released into waterways -either flushed down urban toilets or as urban and agricultural runoff. But some are now found in somewhat more remote places -at least away from major urban areas. No answers as yet.

Some saltwater fish can change sex, others are hatched with no sex, it develops later when they find a mate, like clownfish. The larger specimen will become the female. I don't know if it's not discussed much or it just doesn't happen much but I can't imagine why freshwater fish wouldn't be capable of the same modifications?

[Paul Roberts]

On 8/20/2017 at 6:38 PM, frosty said:

Some saltwater fish can change sex, others are hatched with no sex, it develops later when they find a mate, like clownfish. The larger specimen will become the female. I don't know if it's not discussed much or it just doesn't happen much but I can't imagine why freshwater fish wouldn't be capable of the same modifications?

Apparently, temperate FW fish are much less diverse -and kinky lol- in their reproductive "strategies" (i.e. derived over time). The greatest diversity follows the greater diversity in species (speciation) found in tropical waters, esp on coral reefs that offer such diverse habitat and long warm seasons. But, there is some reproductive diversity in our sunfishes -bluegills in particular. But nothing of this magnitude has been found in bass -so far. Here's a good piece on bluegills by the late Dr. David Willis:

 

https://www.sdstate.edu/sites/default/files/nrm/outreach/pond/upload/The-Secret-Life-of-Bluegill-Jul-Aug-2005.pdf

 

[frosty]

4 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

Apparently, temperate FW fish are much less diverse -and kinky lol- in their reproductive "strategies" (i.e. derived over time). The greatest diversity follows the greater diversity in species (speciation) found in tropical waters, esp on coral reefs that offer such diverse habitat and long warm seasons. But, there is some reproductive diversity in our sunfishes -bluegills in particular. But nothing of this magnitude has been found in bass -so far. Here's a good piece on bluegills by the late Dr. David Willis:

 

https://www.sdstate.edu/sites/default/files/nrm/outreach/pond/upload/The-Secret-Life-of-Bluegill-Jul-Aug-2005.pdf

 

That was an interesting read, thank you. 

[Boone Butler]

The fish I've been catching have row in them. They are fat as can be in the belly.

[papajoe222]

I've run into male bass (LM) going through the motions of fanning out beds after an extended warming trend in the fall, but never females.  Then again, the water up here is hard for a few months at a time.

[soflabasser]

It is very unlikely you are catching spawning largemouth bass in South Florida when it is August (earliest I seen them spawning down here is early November) and you are most likely catching very healthy bass. I have a couple spots like yours where I catch thick pot belly bass year round, and these bass seem to have that frame even if they are small bass under 20''. I won't be surprised one bit if the area you fish have a healthy population of baitfish that the bass gorge on.