How do you determine that fish(bass,others too) are actually spawning? What triggers the fish into spawning behaviors-water temp, day length? How do you determine the sex of a black bass? What is the maximum size of a male bass? I've seen posts where male fish were spotted, how did they know they were males? How does varying water levels affect spawn?

You can see them mating at times. They will be rubbing on each other. You will see a brighter circle area where they sweep the bed when its new. As days go by the beds will be harder to see because of silt settling on the beds. With day length you get warming water. The warming water brings them up or suspends them in shallow water. This also helps to ripen the eggs. When the water reaches 60 they are going to be at it. I guess I never worried about the sex of the bass. But the male guards the nest. Males can be 5+ lbs. When you see one this big you can bet there is a huge female near by. Water levels dropping will cause the fish to spawn deeper. We only see a small percentage of the bass that are spawning. You may even see more beds on points when the water is dropping.

Good luck!
Don.

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bassindon69/basspics/

Nothing like fishing!

It all comes down to water temp, and then the moon. The first bass will start to spawn once the temp has reached the upper 50's following stable weather. My personal observation is that the first quarter and the full moon attract the most bass to their beds. Nothing like seeing an 18 lbs bass in 2 feet of water !!!!!!!!!!!!

> What triggers the fish into spawning behaviors-water temp, day length?

It would be nice to have some kind of formula for this but bass don't conform to hard and fast rules. In general water temperature above 60 degrees triggers spawning, and fish will spawn up into the high 70's that I've observed anyway. Fish may spawn above or below those ranges, but that's the general time when they spawn. Photoperiod (the length of the day) may certainly have an effect on when fish spawn but there's no largemouth on earth you can convince to spawn in 40 degree water even if it's a long day in March :)

> How do you determine the sex of a black bass?

Male bass, like Don pointed out, seldom get larger than 5lbs. I've caught a few males over 5lbs but it's pretty uncommon. If you see two bass on a bed, the larger one will be the female 99% of the time. You will see more than one female on a bed but never more than one male, they won't tolerate eachother. The most female bass I've ever seen on a bed was 4 at a time.

Male bass will sometimes have a hooked lower jaw, like a salmon, this seems to be a variation that happens only on certain lakes. They usually look skinnier than females, and if you catch one on a bed and starts shooting white stuff around, well... then you know. There's no perfect way to determine the sex of a bass without cutting it open, but in the spring you can usually make an educated guess.

> How does varying water levels affect spawn?

Bass are pretty determined when it comes to reproduction. Ideally the water doesn't go up or down during the spawn, but the bass make do regardless. Bass, especially the males, will often stay on the bed during dropping water to the point where their backs are almost out of the water. Bass on the delta where the tides cause the water to go up and down twice daily will spawn in areas where on a low tide they will be almost exposed completely. I think their basic goal is to make the bed where it gets a reasonable amount of sunlight, then guard it as long as they can. In lakes where the water levels vary a lot it can affect the spawn, but the thing is... bass lay so many eggs and spawn for such a long period of time that they have a knack for making millions of babies regarless of what is happening.

Rob, since photoperiod and water temps seem to be the major deciding factors when bass spawn what do you think about a fall spawn?

The reason I ask is because last October while fishing a local lake I saw what looked like recently abandoned beds. I know these weren't spring leftovers since the lake grows some deep weedbeds throughout the summer which all but cover the main spring spawning areas. Then as I was pulling up on the ramp to leave I noticed about 20 to 30 two inch bass cruising around. I have heard some discucssion about a fall spawn before, just wondering what you guys think.

Well, I dont know about an actual fall spawn, meaning September, October, and November. However, I once documented that bass were spawning into late July. The spawn may have continued but I didnt go back after that. In that lake, I also documented that during certain years, multiple spawns had occurred. This was done by looking at the incremental growth during the birth year. For some reason during certain years you could clearly see that there were multiple length modes during the birth year, and the differences among modes were large enough that clearly the modes were due to being spawned many months apart. The interesting thing about this lake is that water temp rarely, if ever, increased beyond the optimal spawning temperature. This was due to the climate of where the lake was located. So in theory fish in that lake could have continued to spawn into the fall. If it can happen there, I would imagine it can happen at other lakes.

Hey urban, I second that. I have seen fish on beds well into July at our local lagoon. There is also that alpine lake that the local guide talks about a large mouth spawn in late june. On that particular lake the water temp. and day light are prime well befor june. Just a thought. At my home water there is not enough prime spawning areas for all the able fish to do there thing all at the same time with out being harassed by other spawners.(or fisherman) It also doesn't make sence for all fish to have a magic temp. or time to turn on. I'm sure that for the survival of the species they are all programed a little different and pass that on to there young.(a late spawner will bread late spawning offspring.) just my thoughts, but I really dont know what I'm talkin about.:-)

I don't know about fall spawns. I have heard this story a few times so perhaps it is true. I've heard of this happening at Lake Chabot from more than one person and I've heard of it on the delta, but I've never seen it with my own eyes.

When I fished El Salto, I asked several people when they thought the bass spawned. The most common answer was November, because the water was coolest then. I guess the rest of the year the water is up in the high 70's or 80's.

Bass are funny critters, and they reproduce like crazy when they can, so if a few got their wires crossed and spawned in the fall, it wouldn't surprise me.

Last year at Silverwood, I plucked a male off a bed on August 8th. I remember because it was two days before my b-day. Now the bass spawning habits for that lake might be something like what you NorCal guys experience because of it's higher elevation. Snows up there alot and the water generally stays cooler than alot of other lakes. I also agree that there's no way every fish is programmed the same way. Bass are weird, that's why I love them.

Jake

The spawning behavior is triggered by two things, photoperiod (length of daylight) and water temp.

And, just because a bass is shallow in February and a fisherman saw that fish and caught it, that doesnt mean that person caught a bedding fish.

>How do you determine that fish(bass,others too) are actually
>spawning? What triggers the fish into spawning behaviors-water
>temp, day length? How do you determine the sex of a black
>bass? What is the maximum size of a male bass? I've seen posts
>where male fish were spotted, how did they know they were
>males? How does varying water levels affect spawn?

With a trained eye and a little experience you can actually tell the difference between male and female bass. If you really would like to know, you examine the vent, it will be either round or ovaI. Round, male, oval, female.

The largest male bass I've seen during many years of electro-shock surveys, was a six pounder.

The actual spawn(not nest building)is triggered by a stable water temperature(1-2 weeks)around a full moon. Temps above 62 degrees are ideal. The warmer the temp the faster the eggs will develop. Normaly 7-14 days. And bass spawn at different times of the year depending on were they are located and how big the lake. Bass in the northern(warmer)end, may spawn in March and bass in the southern(colder)end, may spawn in May, or May thru July, ect. Dave(fisheries manager).

OK, from what i gather so far the actual spawn (release of eggs and fertilization) happens under certain conditions, do you guys know if once the female is present on a bed what the maximum amount of time she'll spend on the bed before she releases her eggs? is there a typical time span she would sit on it, would she move on a bed before the conditions are right for the ''actual spawn''?

I have caught bedfish from January to October at LMV. I don't now why so early and late but they are on beds nonetheless. Maybe its the temp or sun/moon posistion?

good question bigfish. normally the female wont stay too long. the males are the ones that will guard and stay on the bed the longest. take note that the female doesnt normally spawn once. she wont squirt all her eggs at one bed. the female will normally squirt 2-4 times at different beds. so im guessing from when the female is attracted to the male, and as soon as she lays her eggs, thats when she will be on or near the bed. the females dont give a crap about the eggs, the male does. once she squirts shes gone. hope this helps.

kill bass, they eat fry. - its a joke!

Yea thanks for the info gotbass, today i spotted a nice female bedding but every time i'd throw my gill on the nest she'd spook, and it took the male like five minutes to coax her back, it was kind of interesting cause it seemed that the fish felt threatened by the bait. anyway i was unsuccessful today but i'm going to try again tommorow ;-)

no problem. another thing, if something issnt working on a bed try something else. one bait might not work and then next thing you know, the fish feels threatened by another, which is good. the fish may have already been caught so it could have be spooked easily. or it could see you.

kill bass, they eat fry. - its a joke!