Spawning Question

[Tin]

Had a Junior Club meeting today and the issue of tourneys during the spawn between me and a few others came up. If you take a prespawn female off a bed will she still spawn? And if you take a prespawn female out of a general area and release her in a different will she still spawn? I know certain states close bass season when the fish are spawning, is there a certain reason?

                                                                                  Thanks,

                                                                                         Mike Jr.

[.dsaavedra.]

im not sure bout that but i read many times that in the time you fight a bass off its bed many critters will come in and eat all the eggs.

[Jig Man]

I am sure you can get opinions but I am not sure that you can get a definitive answer to your question about the females and whether or not they will spawn after being disturbed.  My guess is yes.  They want to get those eggs out of their bellies.

The nest guarding male is a whole other subject.  I for one think it should be illegal to sight fish bass guarding the nest.  People preach about catch and release but think how many potential bass aren't born when the guard gets jerked off the nest.  I'd like to see the season closed during the spawn but that isn't likely to happen.

[fishnaddiction]

just so you know in the prespawn its the males that make the beds and sit on them intil the spawn then the female comes they do there thing then i think the male leaves so if you take a fish off a bed in the prespawn it probly wont hurt too much because alot of times a smaller male will hop onto the already made bed this is my understanding of how the spawn works for listening to biologist in my area and in my state they close the season for the spawn because of that sure  its catch and release only   i think that its just for protection of that fish because its so easy to catch bass in the spawn in the northern states

[RobbyZ5001]

I live in PA and we have a closed bass season while the spawn is on. I have read in muliple books that if you catch females during spawn it puts a huge amount of stress on the female and she most likely will not lay the eggs. It also said the eggs will just basically go back into her body like absorbs them. I think there will be various opinions on this subject. I think it all depends on how fast people play the bass. Could also be some other factors involved like handeling for instance.

[Tin]

I know smallies will always go back to the bed, and you can catch them over and over and over. Just curious about the matter with largies. I have my own thoughts but just curious to what you guys thought or if there is a real answer.

[maxke01]

I caught a 5-6 lb bass at lackawanna state park a few years back in the spawn season, i was trout fishing with powerbait and apparently i hit her in the face with it because the second my line touched the water i was reeling her in. Anyhow few weeks later i was in the same spot trout fishing again and there she was sitting still with the male chasing all the smaller fish away. I still dont think they should be fished during the spawn at all.

[Tin]

Exactly my thoughts, if you catch a bass off a bed, and release it around the area, it will find its way back. Thats why after a tourney in the spawn, I will return fish to the general area I caught them in a few hours earlier. Just wish more people would instead of dumping them at the ramp. But even then, who knows.

[Catt]

Conventional knowledge indicates that the male bass builds the nest, fans it out and guards it (zealously). Generally, a good male that is aggressive and active will attract more than one female to his nest and spawn with each of them. Along with that, an active female will spawn a number of times and, in most cases, in a number of different males' nests. She moves down the shoreline making it with different males. The male sits in one spot and waits for more females to come by. I think that is sort of a hedge (on the part of the female) against an infertile male spoiling the hatch of a good fertile female. So she spread her eggs around and he spreads his fertility around. That ensures a higher success rate for that spawn.

That is important knowledge for fishermen, because most people think that once the female leaves the bed, only the male is left. It is true that the female only guards the nest for a short time before moving away, but other females will come to that nest. The other thing to keep in mind is that this isn't a long, drawn-out process. Once the water reaches the upper 60 degrees, which is ideal, it only takes about three or four days for the eggs to hatch. I think the male will spend about six weeks on the beds as the females rotate through, but the whole spawning season happens over three full moons, bringing a new wave of spawning with get full moon period.

Cook emphasizes that understanding the spawning habits of the female bass will significantly improve your chances of catching some of the biggest bass of the year. He believes that the female often moves on and off of the bed to deposit more eggs (hatchery studies support this claim). Few females drop all of their eggs at once. Instead, they expel a portion and then move off to a near by break line, bush or grass edge.

Ken Cook, a former Oklahoma fisheries biologist & BASS Masters Pro

[Tin]

Great info Catt.

   Starting to notice something else different though. I noticed in the article it said upper 60's was ideal for spawning temp, in Oklahoma anyway. A few days ago in a spawn thread it was said that mid 60's was ideal in Maryland. Up here as soon as that water hits 55* you will start seeing beds getting made, and in largemouth lakes, where there are not any smallies, so they are not smallmouth beds (smallies spawn in colder water temps). If you are fishing in water above 65* up in New England chances are you have missed the spawn or the bigger fish anyway.So I'm starting to think that fish spawn in different temps in different parts of the country.  :-?

[Bass XL]

To answer your first question...yes...this past spawn season, I cought a nice female off her bed...I let her go, and I didnt see her for about 5 or 6 hour...but she did come back and she did lay those eggs....(it took her like 45 min. to finally hit that tube!!)

[Randall]

When the water hits 55 we start seeing beds in the South too. Most fishermen also believe the spawn is almost over when the water gets to 65 and up down here also. In clear water the fish spawn deeper as the water warms deeper. I am still catching big fish off beds in mid May when surface temps are way up in the seventies down here. Most fishermen are just looking shallow for spawners and since they don't see any in one to two feet of water they believe they are done when most are still spawning. Also, there are way too many myths and lack of knowledge among fishermen about spawning fish to have this type of conversation and get much real factual info or an agreement. From my experience everyones view is based on what they have heard, read, or seen and much of that info is misleading or just isn't true. It is my judgement based on studying and catching spawning fish everyday for three months of the year for the last five years that it may even help lakes like I fish in the South. If I came North to your state I may not fish for bedding fish the way I do now based on the fact that you may not have the same conditions for the fish that I do here. As for your question, if that female is about to drop her eggs any second or is dropping them and you put her in a livewell then she usually will still drop her eggs in the livewell so those eggs are gone. If you take that same fish to the ramp and release it then it will find its way back to its home range/area and may spawn again a little later on the same bed or another bed in that same area. If the eggs are not dropped in your livewell or in the water on the way into the boat then it may drop them on the way back to its home area in the water without putting them on a nest. This is all based on things I have personally seen from years of fishing for and watching spawning fish.

[Tin]

I do not know if it because our lakes are so small or what, but there is usually a 2-4 week window in late April untill the 3rd week in May to catch fish off beds, by June, the bluegills have taken over the beds. And unless we have a few warm weeks, the fish are off the beds by the time that water hits the 64-66* range. In some clear lakes around here largies will be just about all spawned out by the time the water hits 62*. Weird, must be a northern thing.