6 lbs. and plum full of eggs yesterday

[bigwormy]

my buddy caught a dandy on a buzzbait yesterday from a small local lake. it was 22 inches long and plum full of eggs. anyway, does it surprise you guys as much as me that a fish like that is still full of eggs??

[mhall]

Very surprised and especially since you said it come from a small body of water to. Although with this wacky weather we have had this spring, who knows???

[SuperSprint007]

Very surprised and especially since you said it come from a small body of water to. Although with this wacky weather we have had this spring, who knows???

could he be full of cicadas? caught quite a few fish on herrington that were stuff full of them.

[DJD]

I know time has passed but two weeks ago on a local body of water in Lexington I caught some FAT fish that were staged up on a pipeline at the mouth of a cove. None of these had any indicators of spawning like red tails of rubbed bellies. Maybe since we have this freaky Spring that a few of them are finishing up late?

[MsgMills]

I have read many articles in my readings that do indicate that not all fish spawn at the same time.

[WacoWildcat]

I've seen them with bloody tails into mid summer. Actually, one of the better smallmouths I caught at Dale hollow was at the end of June and had a real bloody tail. Not sure if they get that only from spawning though.

[Jbyrd]

my buddy caught a dandy on a buzzbait yesterday from a small local lake. it was 22 inches long and plum full of eggs. anyway, does it surprise you guys as much as me that a fish like that is still full of eggs??

How do you know it was full of eggs? Heaven forbid you cleaned it!!!!!!! May have just been full from eating blue gills or some shad. Gills are on the bed right now and big bass are making them live hard...

[kc]

I caught one about 6 lbs on Barkley two years ago, first week end in June, up by the bushes on a surface bait that I know was spawning. How did I know she was spawning? Eggs were coming out of her after I landed her. They definitely spawn at different times probably sooner and later than we think.

[crazyfishinnut]

I had 2 big girls that had not dropped her eggs yet at Barkley A 4.5 and a 5.3 At sundays weigh in there were a few with fresh busted tails. The water levels and temp have a lot to do with it But A fish will not make a bed if the water is not stable.

[bigwormy]

i know the fish was full of eggs b/c i have been bass fishing my whole life and that fish was full of eggs. never seen a bass that fat that was not full of eggs. the place he caught it was small but 40-50 foot deep in places. and when i say small, you can see one end to the other. trolling motor only lake. it is a very difficult place to fish b/c its extrememly clear and usually only catch dinks. however, there was a 7.2 caught out of there also this year.

[FishinBoo]

I know time has passed but two weeks ago on a local body of water in Lexington I caught some FAT fish that were staged up on a pipeline at the mouth of a cove. None of these had any indicators of spawning like red tails of rubbed bellies. Maybe since we have this freaky Spring that a few of them are finishing up late?

I think I know exactly what spot you are talking about! Pipeline about 5 or 6 feet deep with gravel on it runs across a narrow portion of the lake. I haven't been out there this year, done any good?

I just talked to my father in law last night. His buddy fished a big tournament at Kentucky this past weekend. After the weigh in they had quite a few dead bass they were going to throw away...(I guess the warm weather made it hard to keep em alive) His buddy took some home and filleted them. He said about half of them were full of eggs....pretty surprising, but he has no reason to make it up.

[Jbyrd]

i know the fish was full of eggs b/c i have been bass fishing my whole life and that fish was full of eggs. never seen a bass that fat that was not full of eggs. the place he caught it was small but 40-50 foot deep in places. and when i say small, you can see one end to the other. trolling motor only lake. it is a very difficult place to fish b/c its extrememly clear and usually only catch dinks. however, there was a 7.2 caught out of there also this year.

The fact the the fish was caught out of a small lake makes it even more possible that the fish didn't have eggs in it. The water temp raises in small lakes faster than big lakes such as barkley as the gentle man said about the 2 he caught last week. Thorefore the spawn is earlier and the fish feed back up and get fat sooner. The small lake usually means more stable water and thus ideal conditions for an early spawn
As for baseing the facts just on being fat you have never seen a bass caught on dale ,cumberland or barren in november . They are ready to explode and are not looking to spawn. Just gorging them selves on shad and living thru the winter.........