Bass Movement

[rustedhook]

Say a bass spends the winter on a main lake drop off. How far will one travel to a spawning area?

rustedhook

[smljaw]

They don't move far from the research I've done. I regularly fish a 70 acre lake. We've been tagging fish there for about 7 years. I think we've tagged & released 95 or so, anything from 12" to 8 pounds (we record length, weight, area caught, what bait caught with, etc). We have caught some of these fish 4+ years later. In every case, the fish has been in the same general area of the lake. About 80% of the time they are caught from the same bank.

Something else that I have found quite interesting recently... I caught a 6.4 LM about 3 years ago. My buddy caught her again, in the same general area, about 3 months ago. This time she weighed 5.15. Now, I know fish will weigh more during certain months. However, this fish lost weight over a 3 yr period. I guess bass will grow to a certain size and then stop growing? Some might stop growing at 5 pounds, others at 7 pounds, etc... ???

[rustedhook]

Thanks for the info guys.
rustedhook

[RoadToad]

They don't move far from the research I've done. I regularly fish a 70 acre lake. We've been tagging fish there for about 7 years. I think we've tagged & released 95 or so, anything from 12" to 8 pounds (we record length, weight, area caught, what bait caught with, etc). We have caught some of these fish 4+ years later. In every case, the fish has been in the same general area of the lake. About 80% of the time they are caught from the same bank.

Something else that I have found quite interesting recently... I caught a 6.4 LM about 3 years ago. My buddy caught her again, in the same general area, about 3 months ago. This time she weighed 5.15. Now, I know fish will weigh more during certain months. However, this fish lost weight over a 3 yr period. I guess bass will grow to a certain size and then stop growing? Some might stop growing at 5 pounds, others at 7 pounds, etc... ???

That's interesting. If that fish truly lost weight like that, I'd say that's not a good sign in regards to the overall health of that lake. I'm no biologist, or even the most experience fisherman you'll meet, but I do know that healthy fish never stop growing during their lifespans, and female bass generally get bigger than the males; in some cases, a LOT bigger. Are there perhaps too many bass in the lake for the available forage? Are the bass healthy looking, or are they real long and skinny? For one to lose weight over a winter wouldn't be surprising, but for it to lose weight over a 3 year period just doesn't seem right, in this layman's opinion.

Sounds like a good question for a fisheries biologist. Have you been working with any of them?