So all summer long when I opened up largemouth bass I found 3 things. Senko type stickbait worms, crawfish, and a few minnows. But about 1/3 of the fish I filleted had these in them. Now that I've decided to keep a few again I've noticed that all of their stomachs are empty. I know that bass are supposed to be putting on the feed bag for winter. The 3 I kept today were good sized fish. All about 1.3lbs.

 

 

With winter coming on shouldn't these fish have something, anything in their stomachs?

There are a lot of variables when you consider something like this. Here are a few ideas.

 

-Bass may feed anywhere from several times per day, to once a week or longer. It all depends on the size of the prey that they are eating. If a bass is gorging itself on small baitfish, then it may eat several times per day. If that bass that you caught had just digested a bluegill or something larger like that, it may have been a week or more since it last ate. 

 

-Some prey will be digested more quickly than others. A killifish will disintegrate in a bass' stomach much quicker than a full grown crawfish, for instance. 

 

-Being a fish is tough. That bass may have been out-competed for food. The mortality rate for smaller bass (under 2-3lbs.) is rather high. Not as high as it is for fry and fingerling bass, but much higher than that of a large, full-grown bass. A 1.3lb. bass is competing for forage with many other species of fish. 

 

There are countless articles online and in print that focus on the diet/feeding habits of largemouth bass and lots of other fish species. Most are written by biologists. A lot of useful information for anglers can be found in these publications. 

 

Bottom line is that this is pretty common. I haven't checked the stomach contents of a bass in a long time, but I always check snakeheads when I harvest them. I have found some pretty amazing things in the gut of snakeheads (mice, 10" bluegill, ducklings, dozens of baitfish, baby muskrat, etc.,) but more often than not I find nothing.

They were trying to fill that stomach when they hit your lure, lol. I think we have the opposite problem. Our lake is chock full of shad..so there is too much food.

They were trying to fill that stomach when they hit your lure, lol.

There is the truth.  I have often felt sorry when I have caught a skinny bass.  Here he thought he finally had an easy meal and he gets a hook in the jaw.

There is the truth.  I have often felt sorry when I have caught a skinny bass.  Here he thought he finally had an easy meal and he gets a hook in the jaw.

 

 

lol.

 

They were trying to fill that stomach when they hit your lure, lol. I think we have the opposite problem. Our lake is chock full of shad..so there is too much food.

 

 

 

Yeah, I'd rather have my problem. lol.

 

 

 

There is the truth.  I have often felt sorry when I have caught a skinny bass.  Here he thought he finally had an easy meal and he gets a hook in the jaw.

 

 

 

True. lol.

Are you fishing a pond or small private lake?

Bass can't digest soft plastic like Senko's, someone is loosing a lot of them.

Bass often regurgitate whatever they have in the stomach when fighting.

Are the bass skinny?, measure the length to girth ratio, girth should be at least 75% of the length.

Bass are cold blood animals, need less food in colder water, more in warmer water, the is now cooling.

Tom

Are you fishing a pond or small private lake?

Bass can't digest soft plastic like Senko's, someone is loosing a lot of them.

Bass often regurgitate whatever they have in the stomach when fighting.

Are the bass skinny?, measure the length to girth ratio, girth should be at least 75% of the length.

Bass are cold blood animals, need less food in colder water, more in warmer water, the is now cooling.

Tom

 

 

 

Midsize public lake.

 

 

Bass are good size and good girth, not skinny.

Catching 1 bass with a soft plastic worm/Senko in it's gullet is a high percentage of the total population, catching more than 1 is amazing, unless every bass angler is fishing with them.

Bass put on weight during the summer period when prey is at it's maximum levels. Lots of young of the year fish and other critters are available.

Fall is a transition to winter or the cold water period, bass are slowly slowing down and eating less as their body temps drop.

Bass don't thrived during the cold water periods, unless there is abundance of high protein easy to eat prey available. The bass use more energy looking and chasing prey in the fall than then eating prey, if successful the grow, if not they sustain or lose weight.

1.3 lb bass is more than likely last years spawn or a juvenile bass, 3 lbs+ it's a adult bass and can eat about anything it's wants.

Tom

Catching 1 bass with a soft plastic worm/Senko in it's gullet is a high percentage of the total population, catching more than 1 is amazing, unless every bass angler is fishing with them.

Bass put on weight during the summer period when prey is at it's maximum levels. Lots of young of the year fish and other critters are available.

Fall is a transition to winter or the cold water period, bass are slowly slowing down and eating less as their body temps drop.

Bass don't thrived during the cold water periods, unless there is abundance of high protein easy to eat prey available. The bass use more energy looking and chasing prey in the fall than then eating prey, if successful the grow, if not they sustain or lose weight.

1.3 lb bass is more than likely last years spawn or a juvenile bass, 3 lbs+ it's a adult bass and can eat about anything it's wants.

Tom

 

 

 

I think I caught 6-7 bass with stickbaits in them this year and I think one had like 3-4 in it's stomach.