Pretty interesting article by Mark Zona on some very interesting Fall habits from smallmouth in his area. Never seen it around here but can’t say I’ve ever probably paid enough attention to notice.
https://www.bassmaster.com/mark-zona/fall-smallmouth-spawners
Zona must be crazy… what male species of any kind would get horny and want to spawn on a full moon weekend… like (this Saturday!!)
Zona must be crazy… what male species of any kind would get horny and want to spawn on a full moon weekend… like (this Saturday!!)
I thought I was feeling something……. 
Saw late summer spawning SMB in Northern MN about 10 years ago. Mid-August. Caught a couple of 4lbers off fresh beds in typical spring spawning grounds. No one believed me. Then, a couple of years later, In Fish magazine published a short research article about fall spawning smallies. If memory serves, the researchers believed it was an adaptation among a small population of SMB to protect against a catastrophic spring spawn failure. They also noted that these late spawners tended to be larger specimens, which was also my experience. Zona and his buds are correct. It’s a real thing. The researchers that studied this seemingly odd behavior said nothing about it being a false spawn though.
If you think about our last 7-8 years of winters and the majority have been record-setting cold years with late ice and nearly non-existent Springs…
And if the theory with pheasants are that if the first round of chicks don’t make it, they try again. Usually less eggs but they have a second hatch…
So, if the spawn was late/poor results, why wouldn’t fish give it another go too?
So do they spawn at the same prefered temp as spring?
Good questions.
Have been unable to find the research In-Fish reported on in order to get more details. Maybe some one else would have better luck with their internet search skills? Would be interesting to read the research itself and not just the short magazine summary.
When I saw this late spawn happening in N. Minnesota, the water temps were probably around 70, which is typical for that body of water around that time frame. Can’t recall precisely the water temp – didn’t make note of it – but can recall the date.
Also, it seems that there is only a small subset of fish that do this each year, not a huge push like you see in the spring.
Whether this is a 2nd spawn for the fish doing it, or just a delayed first spawn wasn’t noted in the article. Unless transmitter implanted, how would the researchers have known?
In any case, its fascinating behavior, especially when the conventional wisdom passed along forever is that bass only spawn in the springtime.
From what Zona has seen it’s only males that are coming up. Seemingly waiting for females to come spawn, which they never do. It’s definitely interesting and I’m going to look for them more this fall.
If you think about our last 7-8 years of winters and the majority have been record-setting cold years with late ice and nearly non-existent Springs…
And if the theory with pheasants are that if the first round of chicks don’t make it, they try again. Usually less eggs but they have a second hatch…
So, if the spawn was late/poor results, why wouldn’t fish give it another go too?
Hen pheasants will re nest if the eggs/nest are destroyed before they hatch. If the eggs hatch, and THEN the chicks die, they don’t re nest. Bass could be the same. If the eggs don’t hatch they might try again but if the eggs hatch and the fry get eaten, maybe they don’t?
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