Lmb Guarding Fry, Eating Its Fry?

[CODbasser]

Yesterday while fishing a small tournament, my partner and I saw several fish guarding fry. We saw one several times through out the day while checking beds. She appeared to be swimming through the ball of fry and eating them; why would this fish be eating the babies she was guarding? Or is there another explaination for that kind of behavior?

[slonezp]

First off it's the male that actualy guards the fry. From what I have read once the female deserts her hubby and kids, the kids are fair game

[CODbasser]

First off it's the male that actualy guards the fry. From what I have read once the female deserts her hubby and kids, the kids are fair game

Male or female... Why would it be called guarding if they eat them? This was a 3+ fish so that is why i thought it may have been the female.

[bilgerat]

"You want frys with that ?"....

[CODbasser]

"You want frys with that ?"....

LOL!!!!!

[rboat]

Many species of fish will consume their young. In the case of LMB, the male will guard the fry from bluegill and other nest raiders until they reach a certain size, then he will turn and chase them to go out on their own. He will eat some. The ones easiest to catch. That is natures way of getting rid of smaller, weaker, sick or genetic problems. Basic survival of the fittest. I hope that helps to answer your question.

[Hyrule Bass]

i saw this yesterday in VA, there was a male and female hanging out around what seemed like a thousand fry in a pond. this was right at the bank and i had nightcrawlers with me. i caught the male first, released him and he dissappeared into the pond. then i observed the female shortly thereafter eating the fry, tossed out a crawler and caught her, she never came back and ate more while i was there. later in another part of the pond i saw fry that appeared to have no bass 'guarding' them

[Lund Explorer]

You guys do know that quite a few hard baits come in a pattern called "Baby Bass", right? It's just nature at work.

[RoLo]

In the grand scheme, "guarding" fry and "eating" fry are both functions of survival.

Guarding is only necessary until the fry become self-sufficient, thereafter dad himself

is often the first predator to enforce "survival of the fittest", the same way he was raised.

Don't knock it, it's been working for millions of years

Roger.

[Hyrule Bass]

You guys do know that quite a few hard baits come in a pattern called "Baby Bass", right? It's just nature at work.

indeed, i was just telling my account of witnessing this. i own several baby bass colored hard baits. and one of my most productive soft baits has been the kinami flash in baby bass color...

[Fish Chris]

I've seen this hundreds of X's. Totally normal behavior.

Like it has already been said, survival of the fittest.... and, nature at work.

Fish

[CODbasser]

We all know about baby bass lures, the fry were to small too look like a baby anything haha...thousands of them.. I get the survival of the fittest thing, just seems to go against the purpose of the spawn. Like stated above, its worked for a gazillion years haha. Was just curious if there were any other explanations.

[rboat]

I agree, it does seem a bit strange. That is natures way. A single female bass will only spawn once per year, except for extreme S. Fl, Mexico, and Central America. The male chasing and eating some of the weak fry will not hurt the numbers. A single female bass will lay thousands of eggs. All of the bass in a lake do not spawn at exactly the same time. They come to the shallows in waves usually on full moon nights when the water temps have warmed back up to between 50 to 60 degrees F. We have spawning activity for several months in the south. The eggs normally hatch in about a week. The large number of eggs insures that some will make it to adults. The male gets a few, and predators, like birds and other fish take many more. Strange, but it works and it keeps the genetics strong and viable.

[Clancy Wiseman]

Think of it this way. If every fry made it to adulthood in a very short amount of time your lake will have nothing but skinny bass in it due to a uneven ratio of predators and bait fish.