what is the life expectancy and size of growth of

[deepsessions]

florida strained largemouths? I am curious to know how a local lake is fairing since its bass population depleted from lack of structure,plantings etc..

I've heard that bass in their first year can get up to 6" and almost double over the years until getting around 5-10 lbs on average before dieing around 10-15 years? does this sound right? I'm sure a lakes habitat and location are a big factor....I live in the bay area,California where there is plenty of warm weather  8-) so I know there's alot of big bass in many of the local lakes....the one I am curious about has a lake record of 18lbs! so I'm on the hunt any help would be appreciated

[Sam]

Bigmouth is an excellent video of the life of a largemouth bass from birth to death.

You may want to get this video and watch it a few times.

Also, Bigmouth Forever is a follow up that is outstanding and the How Bass Feed video is also excellent.

All three videos have film footage that will blow you away.

You can probable find them on the web.  I have the ordering address so if you want to PM me I can send it to you.

These three videos need to be viewed by all bass fishermen.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

I'd say expect 2# growth per year on average (forage permitting) where they are recommended for stocking. Farthest south they won't live as long because the growing season literally never ends, such as in S. Florida. That's true for any bass in the deepest South. S. California might have the same comparitvely short-lived sentence. I also doubt there would be a lot of difference in life expectancy comparing Florida strain to native bass. Native bass in the South can reach sexual maturity (11") by age one, Florida bass a little larger and a few months earlier (potentially). Compare that to sexual maturity in two years in the North.

Jim

[Raul]

Growth and life expectancy are two factors that depend greatly on average water temperature and forage. Bass in Cali have no water turkeys, gators or snapping turtles chasing them for a meal; the water is cold enough to hold trout so being in a "frigid" environment protects them from the effects of high methabolism rate found in warm waters, they grow quite large because they have plenty hatchery raised very nutritiuos abundant easy to eat dumb trout.

[Matt Fly]

Raul,

  Commorants, otherwise called "water turkeys" are very big problems in the Southern Cal. area.

Commorants set their watches to stocking schedules.

Agree on the depths of resoviors allowing the bass to live in cooler waters year around, thus making their life span longer than most bass.

2005 saw lawmakers in Texas put a bill up for Commorant control.   It has passed and some sort of law has been set in motion to control populations.

About time!!!!

Matt.

[Raul]

Cormorants are not what I 'm refering to Matt, maybe they call them the same, we call cormorants water hogs; the water turkey I 'm refering to is the anhinga a much more efficient and larger predator than the cormorant.

[deepsessions]

Bigmouth is an excellent video of the life of a largemouth bass from birth to death.

You may want to get this video and watch it a few times.

Also, Bigmouth Forever is a follow up that is outstanding and the How Bass Feed video is also excellent.

All three videos have film footage that will blow you away.

You can probable find them on the web.  I have the ordering address so if you want to PM me I can send it to you.

These three videos need to be viewed by all bass fishermen.

thanks Sam I forgot about Bigmouth the movie I remember a friend telling me about it sometime ago....will definetly check it out

[deepsessions]

Growth and life expectancy are two factors that depend greatly on average water temperature and forage. Bass in Cali have no water turkeys, gators or snapping turtles chasing them for a meal; the water is cold enough to hold trout so being in a "frigid" environment protects them from the effects of high methabolism rate found in warm waters, they grow quite large because they have plenty hatchery raised very nutritiuos abundant easy to eat dumb trout.

yea those dumb donaldson trout they stock run up to 15 lbs! no wonder why the bass are such hogs!

[George Welcome]

Compliments of Florida Game and Fish:

Age and Growth - Growth rates are highly variable with differences attributed mainly to their food supply and length of growing season. Female bass live longer than males and are much more likely to reach trophy size. By age two or three, females grow much faster than male bass. Males seldom exceed 16 inches, while females frequently surpass 22 inches. At five years of age females may be twice the weight of males. One-year old bass average about seven inches in length and grow to an adult size of 10 inches in about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years. The oldest bass from Florida whose age has been determined by fisheries biologists was 16 year of age. Generally, trophy bass (10 pounds and larger) are about 10 years old.

[Fish Chris]

I bet I know that lake ;-) 18.7 lbs to be exact. That one beat my PB by .3 lbs dangit !

Anyway, that lake certainly has a long string of issues, but I put the (illegal introduction of) Spotted bass, right up towards the top.

It also sucks that they are planting so fewer hatchery trout. Still, the lake has a huge Shad population, which I have been speculating that the trout eaters are resorting to, as there Spring time trout feed runs out.

"Life expectancy" is a good thing to ask about, as I personally believe that when the (already) big ones that are in there now, die of old age (or being caught by a meat hunter) that will be that. This lake "never" had a high recruitment of juvenile bass anyway, and that was "before" the introduction of those overpopulating, ravenous plague of Spotted bass, and before the lake level was lowered to remove what little cover they had to beging with !

So basically what I am saying is, that pond is on a dead end path. If you want to stick a big one there, you better do it while they are still alive. Because their is not going to be much of anything coming up behind them.

So anyway, for fish that are already 10 lbs, I'd give them 5 years... 7 tops.

All of this said, their are certainly still a good number of big trophy bass in there right now, which are affected very little by the lack of cover, and the spotted bass..... and which are making do with a ton of Shad in the Summer months.

This one doesn't appear to have spent much time being hungry. Granted, this was early Summer, and it had probably been eating trout all Spring, but still, they just don't grow this way (this shape, or size) unless they have been basically well fed all year, every year.

Recognize those docks ? ;-)

Peace,

Fish