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