Question on Bass Movement

[KSanford33]

How far will bass actually move on a body of water? Are we talking about less than a mile, a few miles, many miles? Thanks everyone.

[Team9nine]

Some move many miles, and some never leave the neighborhood. Really depends on the water body and the individual fishes personality, as well as outside factors like whether that fish has been relocated via a tournament, etc.

[WRB]

Tracking studies indicate individual personalities concerning migration movements and distance.

Distance ranges from yards to miles.

Tom

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

As more knowledgeable folks said, every Bass is a law unto itself.   Toledo Bend telemetry study showed some never left the general area they were found in, others moved miles.   

 

Watching a lot of livescope videos will also show you just how unique every single Bass is.    I think watching FFS reactions really drove that point home to me.

[Catt]

I know of 2 DD bass on Toledo Bend that were caught in the Housen'/Six Mile area then weighted in at Toledo Tackle and released at Pendleton Bridge which is about 20-25 miles. Both bass were caught again in the Housen'/Six Mile area and weighted in at Toledo Tackle again

[AlabamaSpothunter]

40 minutes ago, Catt said:

I know of 2 DD bass on Toledo Bend that were caught in the Housen'/Six Mile area then weighted in at Toledo Tackle and released at Pendleton Bridge which is about 20-25 miles. Both bass were caught again in the Housen'/Six Mile area and weighted in at Toledo Tackle again

Imagine the caloric output/intake it must take to make a 20-25m journey as a Bass.

 

Bob Lusk is a wealth of info on Bass biology because of decades of shocking.   He's shocked two 7lbers in a lake in the same location, put tags in them.  Later on these fish were shocked again.......one was exactly where it was the first time, and the other one was at the extreme end of the 125acre lake.    

 

The fish at the other end of the lake was long and skinny, and he said he finds fish like this often.   

 

One thing I'm learning is that Bass will tolerate certain things we as Bass anglers don't think they would tolerate or endure as long as a certain other ingredient is present, might be the right D.O., the right temp., cover/structure with baitfish near by, etc.        There is no such thing as "dead water" once you spend enough time on the same body of water.    One advantage to fishing one body of water exclusively for a longer period of time.    You will find a day, week, month where the fish are places you never thought they'd be.   

[theTroutBoss]

42 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Imagine the caloric output/intake it must take to make a 20-25m journey as a Bass.

 

Bob Lusk is a wealth of info on Bass biology because of decades of shocking.   He's shocked two 7lbers in a lake in the same location, put tags in them.  Later on these fish were shocked again.......one was exactly where it was the first time, and the other one was at the extreme end of the 125acre lake.    

 

The fish at the other end of the lake was long and skinny, and he said he finds fish like this often.   

 

One thing I'm learning is that Bass will tolerate certain things we as Bass anglers don't think they would tolerate or endure as long as a certain other ingredient is present, might be the right D.O., the right temp., cover/structure with baitfish near by, etc.        There is no such thing as "dead water" once you spend enough time on the same body of water.    One advantage to fishing one body of water exclusively for a longer period of time.    You will find a day, week, month where the fish are places you never thought they'd be.   

Bob truly is the pond boss lol. I could listen to that guy spit knowledge all day long. I saw another study of an Ohio lake that they tagged and released a number of bass. Some traveled great distances. Some hardly moved. I believe alot depends on the environment. If all the fish needs remains close by.....why move? Lol temperature fluctuations would be the x factor. 

[Catt]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Imagine the caloric output/intake it must take to make a 20-25m journey as a Bass.

 

One of them did it in two weeks!

 

Were you referring to Todd Driscoll's research on the Big Pond?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

49 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

One of them did it in two weeks!

 

Were you referring to Todd Driscoll's research on the Big Pond?

Yeah, and the one where some youtuber took the concrete evidence of this thread and the study and put some clickbait title that made the viewer think some kind of concrete conclusions besides the ones already listed here in this thread could be gleaned.   

[AlabamaSpothunter]

59 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

One of them did it in two weeks!

 

Were you referring to Todd Driscoll's research on the Big Pond?

Haha you were the first post and it's appropriate, took a popular youtuber clickbait title to get it noticed.   

 

It's fantastic info in so much in tells us we can stop trying to answer certain questions about Bass behavior like we can with individual personalities with humans.    

 

Now tell Todd to do the weather please ?

[Catt]

I will repeat ?

 

It validated that bass do what they want to do, when they want to do it, where they want to do it.

[theTroutBoss]

7 hours ago, Catt said:

I will repeat ?

 

It validated that bass do what they want to do, when they want to do it, where they want to do it.

I look at it like this....when I was 21 I would go to the bar chasing broads, drinking and eating delicious unhealthy food. Would I have done that if there were scores of blonde vixens at my apartment serving me wings and refilling my glass whenever it was empty? No I went there because those weren't in my current environment and my personality wanted it lol. Other 21 year old didn't want it as bad and now they are probably billionaires. Moral of the story is that dink could be a billionaire one day!!!

[Deleted account]

20 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

How far will bass actually move on a body of water? Are we talking about less than a mile, a few miles, many miles? Thanks everyone.

 

Bass are not pelagic or migratory fish, they will move only as far as they need to in order to survive and follow their biological urges, so the distances will most often be governed by the available habitat and forage.

17 hours ago, Catt said:

I know of 2 DD bass on Toledo Bend that were caught in the Housen'/Six Mile area then weighted in at Toledo Tackle and released at Pendleton Bridge which is about 20-25 miles. Both bass were caught again in the Housen'/Six Mile area and weighted in at Toledo Tackle again

Do we know that they weren't caught where released, and then released at the original place by someone else?

[Catt]

11 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Do we know that they weren't caught where released, and then released at the original place by someone else?

 

The first time they were caught they were tagged & DNA samples taken. 

 

Ya really think someone caught these fish & released them on the exact location they were previously caught?

[Deleted account]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

 

The first time they were caught they were tagged & DNA samples taken. 

 

Ya really think someone caught these fish & released them on the exact location they were previously caught?

 

Do I think it happened? no, do I think it's as likely as they swam 25 miles? yes.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Deleted account said:

 

Do I think it happened? no, do I think it's as likely as they swam 25 miles? yes.

 

You're funny & delusional ?

 

Another example 

 

 

[Glenn]

22 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Some move many miles, and some never leave the neighborhood. Really depends on the water body and the individual fishes personality, as well as outside factors like whether that fish has been relocated via a tournament, etc.

Yup, tracking studies have shown that bass caught all over a large lake and released at the tournament launch location have been known to:

1. Stay in the new (to them) area

2. Travel many miles back to where they were caught - sometimes traveling great distances with an day or two

3. Relocate somewhere in-between.

 

Just depends on too many factors to list here, but we have plenty of information here on the topic (hence the "Resource" part of our name).

 

https://www.bassresource.com/hank-parker-fishing/tracking-bass-movements.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/bass-floods.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/smallmouth-bass-movements.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/tracking_trophies.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/fish-behavior.html

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

29 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

You're funny & delusional ?

 

Another example 

 

 

Wow, that's a pretty epic story, and fish!   Incredible testament to catch and release, three anglers got the fish of a lifetime from a single magnificent fish.    That's just brilliant.  

 

Bob Lusk always says that big Bass don't get that way by not being standouts in terms of aggression, and propensity to eat.     

[Glenn]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Bob Lusk always says that big Bass don't get that way by not being standouts in terms of aggression, and propensity to eat. 

 

Ya, well, there are always exceptions.  Check this out:

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/catch_and_release.html

[stratos4me]

Because bass are individuals, I find that it is best to ask where the main body of fish should be now and I don't worry too much about where they came from. It's about a general understanding of seasonal patterns as opposed to tracking individual fish.