schplurg Posted June 17, 2021 Posted June 17, 2021 I'm wondering if a largemouth bass would travel along a creek, and over certain obstacles. Those obstacles are: - a fish ladder (see photo). - short stretch (150 yards) of super shallow (8' to 12") rocky looking "rapids" though not very fast moving. A bass could scoot through there. - a 2 foot waterfall (doubt it could go up it, but ???) - fast narrow areas A few days ago I caught the same bass for the 2nd time, same exact spot as 10 months ago. There are some small pools created by the creek and I fish those a lot. Maybe it lives there. I'm wondering if a bass will travel from one main section of a creek to another, and what obstacles might keep it from continuing. I know bass can travel long distances in lakes. This creek is many miles long (20 - 30 I'd guess) and flows into the bay. I've only fished the same 5 miles or so. The creek, brief description..... It is fed by a lake. The creek where I've seen it is 2 to 3 feet deep on average, and not much deeper in most places. Ponds are probably deeper. There is a group of ponds near the start (got PB there), then the creek flows a few miles to a 2 foot (or less) drop waterfall. Another half mile is the shallow rocky rapids area. Then we have a large pond, then finally the fish ladder. This is all within 4-5 miles. After the fish ladder is the rest of the creek. Another large pond, and areas from there that can hold bass. The fish ladder looks tough but I don't know what bass are capable of. If they can't go up it then that means all fish that went down it can never return. I'm trying to figure out where most of the bass would be, and if they would ever move from there. My guess is that most are in the ponds. I've caught my biggest ones there, but much less numbers of bass per trip. There is extremely limited bank access at the ponds. Would a fish bother travelling up or down the creek from a good sized, decent looking pond? Seems like there are almost zero ponds downstream from here either, so wondering if I should bother going there. Fish ladder... I hope this all makes sense! How much will an average bass travel in this scenario, and why? 2 Quote
Super User Deleted account Posted June 17, 2021 Super User Posted June 17, 2021 There is still water left in California?... 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted June 18, 2021 Global Moderator Posted June 18, 2021 If the creek is an outflow from the lake, there's likely bass all throughout the creek. I love going way up creeks in search of less pressured fish. There's always going to be way less of them, but it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted June 18, 2021 Super User Posted June 18, 2021 Recent telemetry studies show what most anglers already knew. A portion of the bass population stay within a certain distance from the shoreline. A portion of the bass population stay offshore. A portion of the population travels extensively. 2 Quote
Super User the reel ess Posted June 18, 2021 Super User Posted June 18, 2021 7 hours ago, Catt said: Recent telemetry studies show what most anglers already knew. A portion of the bass population stay within a certain distance from the shoreline. A portion of the bass population stay offshore. A portion of the population travels extensively. Do the bass that stay offshore spawn in deeper water? Or do they enter shallows only to spawn? 2 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted June 18, 2021 Global Moderator Posted June 18, 2021 8 minutes ago, the reel ess said: Do the bass that stay offshore spawn in deeper water? Or do they enter shallows only to spawn? They have to get shallow enough to get sunlight to the eggs. It depends on water clarity but LM probably don’t spawn deeper than 10 ft often 1 Quote
Super User the reel ess Posted June 18, 2021 Super User Posted June 18, 2021 11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said: They have to get shallow enough to get sunlight to the eggs. It depends on water clarity but LM probably don’t spawn deeper than 10 ft often That is as I suspected. But there have been years when I saw beds all over the lake. This year I saw less than 10 in 30 acre lake. But I've seen fry swimming several different times. I'm sure there were beds I missed. Quote
Super User Catt Posted June 18, 2021 Super User Posted June 18, 2021 1 hour ago, the reel ess said: Do the bass that stay offshore spawn in deeper water? Or do they enter shallows only to spawn? Depending on the size of the body of water some bass spawn offshore. Bass actively spawn in 8' plus offshore on Toledo Bend. 1 Quote
schplurg Posted June 18, 2021 Author Posted June 18, 2021 How about a more direct question. Could a bass go up that fish ladder? Quote
Super User Solution WRB Posted June 20, 2021 Super User Solution Posted June 20, 2021 On 6/18/2021 at 4:41 PM, schplurg said: How about a more direct question. Could a bass go up that fish ladder? The fish ladder was built for Steelhead* (sea run rainbow trout) and Smallmouth bass can easily travel thought the ladder, they are genetically Stream fish. If LMB are in the above lake then they can traveled to it, above and below the lake. Tom * California is hell bent to restore Steelhead populations, that is where the money goes. 1 Quote
schplurg Posted June 20, 2021 Author Posted June 20, 2021 3 hours ago, WRB said: The fish ladder was built for Steelhead* (sea run rainbow trout) and Smallmouth bass can easily travel thought the ladder, they are genetically Stream fish. If LMB are in the above lake then they can traveled to it, above and below the lake. Tom * California is hell bent to restore Steelhead populations, that is where the money goes. * Yep and I have yet to see one Steelhead! That's why we have to use barbless hooks, and probably why we can't so much as touch the water. Frustrating. Quote
Dogface Posted June 21, 2021 Posted June 21, 2021 I fish the Loyalsock creek in Central PA. During the spring the water is cold and the trout fishing in my area is good but no SM. As the water warms the trout move into and up smaller tributaries and then SM move into the same stretches' that were occupied by trout weeks earlier. The general belief is that the SM travel up the creek from the Susquehanna which is 20 or 30 miles south. True? Quote
schplurg Posted June 30, 2021 Author Posted June 30, 2021 No it's Coyote Creek. It's okay now - the creek has dried up from the drought and draining of the upstream lake to fix the dam, so not a problem now. Most of the fish are dead. I fished a few pools or holes and there are fish just sitting there dying. I and many others are devastated. I've called the water district and I think we're just screwed. The "ponds" connected to the creek have water still, and a tiny bit of water trickling in, but everything dowstream is dry or almost dry. It happened almost overnight. I caught a bass here recently: 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.