Bass Roe

[Jimmy Easterling]

I meant to tell you this last week. I went fishing at my friends pond, South Carolina, kept 5 bass, 2-4's, 2-3's, and a 2.5'er, he wanted some for supper. Told me later that all 5 had roe, in late November! You think the screwy weather down here messed them up that bad? And could that be why we aren't catching them this year like we did last year? I say we, I have caught about a third of what I caught last year.

 

[Bill McElroy]

You'll catch even fewer next year if they aren't allowed to spawn!



Don't keep the 4's and 3's....they're the future of the pond!! Eat the 1.5's and barely legal ones! Not only do they taste better,..but you're not eating the "future" of the pond!



Just a thought....

 

[Derek Chance]

I have heard of nice weather in the fall being a cause of a false spawn. Not uncommon. Harvesting bass is a great way to keep the fishery healthy. Just cannot over harvest. You also don't want to leave all big ones and that's it. they can clean out a pond's bluegill and small bass population in a hurry.

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

Mac, we have been working on this pond for several years now, the last survey that was done said "don't throw any bass back". The first year we took around 150 of all sizes out, put bait fish in to feed the bass and since then been taking 3-4 bass on average every two weeks. The largest I have caught was 6.1 and it was eaten by the owner of the pond, I personally don't care to eat any fresh water fish so if he is not eating them, I throw them back. Five years ago all we were catching were 2 pounders and under and the fish have consistantly gotten bigger every year. This is a 25 acre pond with 70% 6' or less of water and the deepest area is around 14'.

The weather here has just been real inconsistant all year and it is not usually natural for bass to have eggs this time of the year, they have 5 months before spawning time.

 

[Rich Eder2]

Don't they start developing there eggs for next year in the fall?Someone out there knows the biology of the whole deal.Glenn?

 

[Ronnie Campbell]

Whew,you had me thinking you were going to corner the market with bass caviar.

 

[firedog978]

A few years ago I caught a 'nice' bass here (Ohio), at the end of August. All my life I never had any fish mounted, so I decided I would do so with this one. Found out she was full of roe (post taxidermy). It surprised the daylights out of me. I asked a biology teacher I work with about this. He said that a percentage of bass will go through a 2nd (and false) spawn. They do not actually spawn late, and will abort the eggs. Sounded good to me.

It does however sound odd that all the bass you caught that day would be filled with roe.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

My guess is that it is the normal development of eggs for the spring spawn. They don't develop overnight.



TOXIC

 

[mike chip]

i would think its normal

mike c

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

What I am hearing is that most of you guys are like me, love to catch em but hadn't looked inside enough to know what is in there. It has been over 20 years since I have cleaned a fish. Someone has to know.

 

[Gene B]

All the panfish (females anyway) I've caught this fall already have eggs. They do take time to ripen.



Gene

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Problem with Gills and Crappie is that they can spawn up to 4 times a year. Gotta be December or January in VA before you catch panfish eaters with no roe.



TOXIC

 

[Dan J.]

It's a remarkably short amount of time (considering the cycle) after the spawn when the female bass starts the process all over. The eggs develop to a state of readiness for when the conditions are right, to be released and the process starts again.

 

[Mini]

Bass spawn more then once a year. The eggs are in a constant state of production just waiting for the correct conditions. I have seen bass on beds months after the "normal" spawn.....always on a full moon I dont think they were actually spawning, but I will say that bass have an inate urge around a full moon to do the nasty. (and some women I know too! LOL)

 

[Dan J.]

Tru dat, Mini. Next time you talk to Tim N. ask him about the 9+ toad I boated in August several years ago while we were on Lanier. We were fishing in 85+ deg. water, 90+ air temp with no moon when I popped her off the bed. Tail all red and ragged with part of the spawn left in my livewell before weigh-in and released. Them girls like to stay ready! :wub:

 

[Berry Lindley]

Jimmy, be careful with that pond, it sounds like too many bass are coming out of there. It can get away from you and then you end up with a few large bass and a bunch of bluegill, then it slowly transitions to only 2-3" bluegill as the few spawning bass left behind have their eggs eaten by the overcrowded bluegill sitiation. You only want to take out 15 lbs of bass per acre per year if there is water running through it, or 25 lbs of bass per acre per yr if properly fertilized to 12" disc visibility when it is warm enough for a good bloom. And a lot of fish will have eggs in them, just not developed. They will develop the rest of the way in the spring, and spawn is imminent when eggs release with slight pressure. Also you will see separation and a lot of blood in the egg sac at that time. Some fish also get interrupted off of the beds, and these eggs typically get reabsorbed if conditions don't get right for them to finish the spawn. Also bass do not all spawn at 1 time. It is nature's way of keeping them coming in case conditions mess up eggs, fry, etc. Some bass spawn earlier than others, some later. Never are there over 30% of the bass population in an impoudment spawing at one time. Best of luck, and if you have more questions, post them.

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

Maybe 3-4 on average every two weeks is incorrect, we don't fish it in the heat of the summer or cold winter days, standing fishing date is Sunday afternoon, if something happens and we cannot fish, it waits until the next Sunday. There are other owners fishing the pond but mostly fish for the Crappie and Bluegill, so there is a balance. Like I said, 5 years ago there were way too many small bass and since then we have been seeing sizes grow steadily to now seeing 6-7 pound fish, we are still catching the smaller ones too. No running water most of the time, when the water level drops they turn the well on. According to the repost, May 06, we should be taking 250-375 pounds of bass out each year. We may have taken the 250 this year. "Most" of the time we put back the big fish and keep the 2-4 pounders, He(pond owner) says they taste better.