spawning bass
- Thread starter arab
- Start date
Given you are in Pretoria:
Renosterkop and Rust De Winter- Spawn generally happens late July and early August.
Harties- September Spawn, next new moon and next full moon should be good once this terrible weather passes. Hopefully the dam is still clear like last spring
Vaal River- I know fishing was poor last season, but they generally spawn here in late September/ October
Sterkies- If you feel like a drive, the bass there only spawn from early November sometimes as late as early December.
Bass spawn in waves over the new and full moons, so it's some times possible to come across spawning fish over quite a long period. They don't all spawn at the same time, and weather can have a significant impact.
And remember to put them straight back! They will return to the nest in most cases. Don't drag them around in the livewell to show your mates.
Good luck! I attach some motivation!
Renosterkop and Rust De Winter- Spawn generally happens late July and early August.
Harties- September Spawn, next new moon and next full moon should be good once this terrible weather passes. Hopefully the dam is still clear like last spring
Vaal River- I know fishing was poor last season, but they generally spawn here in late September/ October
Sterkies- If you feel like a drive, the bass there only spawn from early November sometimes as late as early December.
Bass spawn in waves over the new and full moons, so it's some times possible to come across spawning fish over quite a long period. They don't all spawn at the same time, and weather can have a significant impact.
And remember to put them straight back! They will return to the nest in most cases. Don't drag them around in the livewell to show your mates.
Good luck! I attach some motivation!
Attachments
Was at Harties on Sunday, caught one nice female still full of eggs, didn't find any spawning fish in the usual spots. Looks like it's a bit late this year (water was only 15 degrees). Next full moon should be good!
Any idea if I can launch the boat at Boskop somewhere? I know I can't use the main motor, but happy to use the trolling motor.
Any idea if I can launch the boat at Boskop somewhere? I know I can't use the main motor, but happy to use the trolling motor.
Author: Dan Ashe |
Well, it’s that time of year when things start to happen. Specifically, to all of us fish heads we associate spring with spawning and wonder what this year will eventually bring three to five years from now from the result of all those largemouth bass being born. We all reap today what we have sown yesterday, so it goes with fish as well.
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First let’s start with the basics. Nearly everyone has seen largemouth bass in an area that has been swept clean near the shoreline during the spring. These swept areas are bass nests or beds. Spawning takes place when the water temperature reaches 16-23 degrees. The male constructs the bed and courts a female to spawn, where he then releases his sperm to fertilize the eggs. Fertilized largemouth bass eggs are yellow to orange in color. The male stands guard over the eggs to protect them from predation and continually fans the water to keep water moving over the eggs to keep silt from building up on top of them, while the female leaves once spawning is complete. Largemouth bass sexual maturity is influenced by size more than age, with most bass reaching sexual maturity with the ability to spawn at around ten inches. The largemouth bass in our lakes usually attain this size at about age two. Largemouth bass beds have been reported to contain anywhere from 5,000 to 45,000 eggs with the differences in number dependent on the size and condition of the spawned female. The time it takes largemouth bass eggs to hatch is highly influenced by water temperature with hatch time at 18 degrees being about 2 ½ days.
Life for young largemouth bass is hard with very few surviving their first year. One paper that I found cited that only two tenths of one percent of young bass made it past their first year in an Alabama lake. There are several factors that are considered important in determining survival, most notably time of spawning, temperature, predation, and available forage and habitat.
Generally speaking, larger bass spawn earlier than smaller bass. This characteristic is important to young bass survival. Fish that hatch sooner have longer to feed and grow before winter sets in and thus a greater chance of over winter survival. There is some debate as to whether bass populations with a large number of big fish have a distinct advantage to maintain a more constant and stable population in terms of steady recruitment. The down side of having an earlier spawning time is that these fish are more vulnerable to extreme temperature fluctuations than those that are spawned later when the likelihood of a spring freeze is less likely. Therefore, the debate goes on. I guess it all depends on what year you want to look at.
Temperature plays the most significant role in early survival of bass, where it can influence entire year classes of bass. As stated earlier temperature determines how long it takes for eggs to hatch, the longer it takes eggs to hatch the likelihood of predation of those eggs increases. In addition, once bass hatch they are not mobile, they are still on the bottom of the bed feeding off a yolk sac. Again, the longer a fish is immobile the chances of predation increases significantly. Water temperature determines how long it takes for the bass larvae to develop and become mobile. At 21 degrees bass are able to swim in about 10 days after hatch, at colder temperatures this time is significantly longer.
Once the bass fry become free swimming they must begin to feed within days or they will die. Bass fry initially feed on zooplankton (microscopic animals) and the amount of zooplankton is dependant on phytoplankton (microscopic plants). Lakes that are turbid, acidic, etc., generally are not productive in terms of plankton production, with low fish recruitment due to inadequate forage for young fish. Bass fry are voracious feeders needing to feed several times a day. Food passes through their stomachs every few hours. Over time as the bass grow they will shift to a fish diet. It is imperative that ample forage fish be available for both the larger and younger bass. Bass will always eat one another, but if there are other prey species available the amount of cannibalism will be less.
Dan Ashe is a fisheries biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Well, it’s that time of year when things start to happen. Specifically, to all of us fish heads we associate spring with spawning and wonder what this year will eventually bring three to five years from now from the result of all those largemouth bass being born. We all reap today what we have sown yesterday, so it goes with fish as well.
Â
First let’s start with the basics. Nearly everyone has seen largemouth bass in an area that has been swept clean near the shoreline during the spring. These swept areas are bass nests or beds. Spawning takes place when the water temperature reaches 16-23 degrees. The male constructs the bed and courts a female to spawn, where he then releases his sperm to fertilize the eggs. Fertilized largemouth bass eggs are yellow to orange in color. The male stands guard over the eggs to protect them from predation and continually fans the water to keep water moving over the eggs to keep silt from building up on top of them, while the female leaves once spawning is complete. Largemouth bass sexual maturity is influenced by size more than age, with most bass reaching sexual maturity with the ability to spawn at around ten inches. The largemouth bass in our lakes usually attain this size at about age two. Largemouth bass beds have been reported to contain anywhere from 5,000 to 45,000 eggs with the differences in number dependent on the size and condition of the spawned female. The time it takes largemouth bass eggs to hatch is highly influenced by water temperature with hatch time at 18 degrees being about 2 ½ days.
Life for young largemouth bass is hard with very few surviving their first year. One paper that I found cited that only two tenths of one percent of young bass made it past their first year in an Alabama lake. There are several factors that are considered important in determining survival, most notably time of spawning, temperature, predation, and available forage and habitat.
Generally speaking, larger bass spawn earlier than smaller bass. This characteristic is important to young bass survival. Fish that hatch sooner have longer to feed and grow before winter sets in and thus a greater chance of over winter survival. There is some debate as to whether bass populations with a large number of big fish have a distinct advantage to maintain a more constant and stable population in terms of steady recruitment. The down side of having an earlier spawning time is that these fish are more vulnerable to extreme temperature fluctuations than those that are spawned later when the likelihood of a spring freeze is less likely. Therefore, the debate goes on. I guess it all depends on what year you want to look at.
Temperature plays the most significant role in early survival of bass, where it can influence entire year classes of bass. As stated earlier temperature determines how long it takes for eggs to hatch, the longer it takes eggs to hatch the likelihood of predation of those eggs increases. In addition, once bass hatch they are not mobile, they are still on the bottom of the bed feeding off a yolk sac. Again, the longer a fish is immobile the chances of predation increases significantly. Water temperature determines how long it takes for the bass larvae to develop and become mobile. At 21 degrees bass are able to swim in about 10 days after hatch, at colder temperatures this time is significantly longer.
Once the bass fry become free swimming they must begin to feed within days or they will die. Bass fry initially feed on zooplankton (microscopic animals) and the amount of zooplankton is dependant on phytoplankton (microscopic plants). Lakes that are turbid, acidic, etc., generally are not productive in terms of plankton production, with low fish recruitment due to inadequate forage for young fish. Bass fry are voracious feeders needing to feed several times a day. Food passes through their stomachs every few hours. Over time as the bass grow they will shift to a fish diet. It is imperative that ample forage fish be available for both the larger and younger bass. Bass will always eat one another, but if there are other prey species available the amount of cannibalism will be less.
Dan Ashe is a fisheries biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Yes tombosis, look out for naturama at boskop, but use a high clearance vehicle as the slipway is long and shallow, ooh and quite tight with retainer walls on either side of slipway. Use baby flukes, mainly junebug, on light mojo and if the wind picks up spinner baits in white or green. Good luck
Yep, from cartonville side head towards potch, as you approach boskop you'll first see a sign nature reserve, continue straight, don't turn to the nature reserve, the dam should be visible on your rightside, now look out for sign post naturama (this sign is about 4m high by 1m wide with naturama written from top to bottom and in need of paint) also there is a vacant type business/shop, turn right and follow the dirt road to the dam, as you enter the venue the slipway is on the left side.
we were at RHK last week and the water temp ranged from 16-19degs... i wonder if spawn is truely late this year, in pretoria ive seen a few males nesting at a private dam.
i do hope they late, which mean we actually have a chance still to catch some nice big ones this year
:fst:
i do hope they late, which mean we actually have a chance still to catch some nice big ones this year
:fst:
we were at RHK last week and the water temp ranged from 16-19degs... i wonder if spawn is truely late this year, in pretoria ive seen a few males nesting at a private dam.
i do hope they late, which mean we actually have a chance still to catch some nice big ones this year
:fst:
i do hope they late, which mean we actually have a chance still to catch some nice big ones this year
:fst: