Quote Originally Posted by Jbyrd View Post
I read an article today about bass that you catch with bloody tails. Most everyone thinks that if you catch a big female and her tail is bloody that she has already spawned. But according to a fish biologist the females do very little fanning and most of the bloody spots or worn off part of the tail is caused from the extra weight of the eggs. It throws the fishes natural swimming balance off and as she swims around close to the bottom the bottom part of her tail drags. That would explain cases of when you catch a fish that looks like it is going to pop but the bottom of her tail is almost worn completely off. This only applies to the females and most of the time the males tail is bloody or worn all the way across , I guess where they turn up on their side to fan

My question is if they are so heavy that they can swim right then why are their bellies also not a bloody mess. Their big bellies would have to drag before their tails did if this is the case. If you are lucky enough to hang into one of these real heavyweights you can experience firsthand just how much difficulty these big girls have in swimming when they are trying to destroy your equipment.

I have personally witnessed females fanning a nest along with males on numerous ocassions and have actually caught a few of the females in the process. Granted the males do most of the nest building and caretaking but the females also do their share prior to laying their eggs.

I have been told by numerous state biologists and fishing guides that the largest bass in the lake don't spawn when the majority of bass do but they instead spawn earlier than anyone would imagine, sometimes in late February or early March. This is the reason why late February, March and early April are the true trophy season. Mid to late April and May for numbers but late February to mid April for real trophys. This is the reason also why you will catch huge bass in March and early April with bloody tails and flabby bellies because they have already laid their eggs. I have also been told by these same people that these giants are not nearly as fertile as the smaller bass and for the most part these giants simply go through the motions of spawning with very limited success.

I have personally taken bass over 10 pounds from Barkley and Kentucky lakes and every one of them was taken in March and most had already spawned. I caught a 9-12 this year on March 30 and it was a large spawned out female with a worn tail that was in the process of healing.