"False Spawn" Smallmouth?

[Krux5506]

Yesterday my 3 year old daughter wanted to catch a bass and eat it for dinner, so for the first time in years I kept a nice size Lake Ontario smallie. I was pretty surprised to see it full of eggs upon fileting. Is this normal for a late fall smallmouth? Reading into it I saw it can happen when water temps are warmer than usual in late fall but they are currently reading 50 where I was which doesn't seem out of the norm at all. Any ideas? Also maybe worth noting I kept a big perch that was also filled with eggs!

[Glenn]

Bass start producing eggs the moment after they spawn. And it's not uncommon for bass to spawn more than once per year.  So this isn't all that unusual.

[J Francho]

100% normal.

[Krux5506]

Do they just drop those eggs throughout late fall and winter then re-up around the actual spawn time? Those fish aren't actually bedding up to spawn right now, right?

[Chris Catignani]

There is also a condition called intersex where a male will have female egg cells.

[Team9nine]

“False spawns” are very rare. Instead, what you are seeing is the normal reproductive development curve in female fish (bass, perch, crappie, etc.). Females typically start redeveloping eggs in November in most parts of the country, but those eggs won’t fully develop or mature until spring, when they actually spawn. What you see are the visible signs (eggs), but what you don't see are the hormonal levels of certain reproductive compounds/hormones that don’t actually increase and play a role in successful reproduction until much later (winter/spring). These eggs will simply be carried throughout the winter, and development will increase substantially closer to spawn.
 

The timeline varies between species, too. You mentioned perch. They are one of the earliest  spawning fish, so they’re eggs will develop faster than a bass’, which usually spawn a month or two later.

[J Francho]

18 minutes ago, Krux5506 said:

Do they just drop those eggs throughout late fall and winter then re-up around the actual spawn time? Those fish aren't actually bedding up to spawn right now, right?

The eggs that will be laid in spring start to develop in fall.

[Krux5506]

Thanks fellas. This was the second smallmouth I've ever kept so I've never gotten a look inside one like this. 

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Krux5506 said:

Thanks fellas. This was the second smallmouth I've ever kept so I've never gotten a look inside one like this. 

It was a good question, and lots of people will learn a thing or two about bass biology, which is cool. So, thank you!

[Swampdonkeyfishing]

I'd bet it is normal for them to spawn more than once a year.

[Krux5506]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

It was a good question, and lots of people will learn a thing or two about bass biology, which is cool. So, thank you!

J, being from the same immediate area, have you always known smallies to migrate into our bays from the big lake from say October and hang around until the "actual" spring spawn, then move back out to the lake? I never remember this as a kid, however I never really fished in the fall until my adult years with my boat. 

 

A couple things I notice about this movement - Only some and certainly not "all" do this. Curious why many do and many do not make this migration. 

 

The other thing is they behave completely different in the bays vs out in the lake. For me it's all about finessing them in the lake. Once in the bays, they can be more aggressive than largemouth when it comes to chasing. 

[J Francho]

There's a lot in the bays, but not all leave the big lake.  In the bays, it's all about moving baits.  I kill at Fairhaven using x-deep cranks.

[Krux5506]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

There's a lot in the bays, but not all leave the big lake.  In the bays, it's all about moving baits.  I kill at Fairhaven using x-deep cranks.

Just weird to me how polar opposite they act once they get into the bays. You must know that's my home port, actually taking the day off tomorrow to be out there. This is really my favorite time of  year for bass fishing, and to top it off everyone else is always distracted with either perch fishing, trib running salmon/trout, or hunting. Barely ever do I see any bass boats out there around this time. I'll be experimenting with blade baits a bunch tomorrow...

[cyclops2]

I call it the fall serious loading up for winter.  The bays & any structure are visited daily by groups looking for exposed baitfish.  It almost looks like a very small slaughter in the ocean.