Hey Guys and Gals, I was out fishing the last few days and saw something I haven't seen before. I have a good idea of the patterns of bass when they spawn. I live in central Indiana and the spawn has just started really. While I was out bed fishing at my local ponds, I saw something weird that I personally haven't ever seen before. While working on a bed fish, I would notice that the fish would leave the bed for a minute or so and go into the grass line. Which in my eyes is normal. The thing that was weird was the same fish would go to multiple beds and stay there for a few minutes then head off to another bed. Has anyone ever heard of bass having more than one bed? If you have any ideas on why they would do this please let me know, i'm curious.

females will spawn in multiple beds to prevent an infertile male from ruining the batch. Males will scare other bass away from nearby beds.

Was this male actually locked on the bed? Or was he getting ready to spawn?

On May 16, 2017 at 2:06 PM, Cmath06 said:

Hey Guys and Gals, I was out fishing the last few days and saw something I haven't seen before. I have a good idea of the patterns of bass when they spawn. I live in central Indiana and the spawn has just started really. While I was out bed fishing at my local ponds, I saw something weird that I personally haven't ever seen before. While working on a bed fish, I would notice that the fish would leave the bed for a minute or so and go into the grass line. Which in my eyes is normal. The thing that was weird was the same fish would go to multiple beds and stay there for a few minutes then head off to another bed. Has anyone ever heard of bass having more than one bed? If you have any ideas on why they would do this please let me know, i'm curious.

Watch Paul Roberts video in this forum (page 2) on bass behavior, he documented the spawn cycle.

Tom

6 minutes ago, WRB said:

Watch Paul Roberts video in this forum (page 2) on bass behavior, he documented the spawn cycle.

Tom

 

I second the recommendation. Excellent resource from @Paul Roberts.

On 5/16/2017 at 3:06 PM, Cmath06 said:

Hey Guys and Gals, I was out fishing the last few days and saw something I haven't seen before. I have a good idea of the patterns of bass when they spawn. I live in central Indiana and the spawn has just started really. While I was out bed fishing at my local ponds, I saw something weird that I personally haven't ever seen before. While working on a bed fish, I would notice that the fish would leave the bed for a minute or so and go into the grass line. Which in my eyes is normal. The thing that was weird was the same fish would go to multiple beds and stay there for a few minutes then head off to another bed. Has anyone ever heard of bass having more than one bed? If you have any ideas on why they would do this please let me know, i'm curious.

Tough to say without knowing more. To answer the question... I doubt that fish was defending more than one bed. Could be old beds that were within his staked territory. He -if it is a male- most probably had one active bed.

 

However, many things in nature are open to "experimentation". That's what individuality -variabilty- is all about. If it pans out, great! A lot of experimentation doesn't pan out though, so you end up with fixed patterns -the stuff that worked over the long haul. Not a bad understanding of "a species".

 

I have seen males make more than one bed; "Double beds" I called them. This was common one year. It was bc of rapidly falling water levels that left the first bed too shallow, the male responding by making a second bed slightly deeper.

 

Hey, curiosity is a good thing. We wouldn't learn much without it.