This is a first for me, never saw a tail like this end of September. Tell me this thing isn't trying to spawn this time of year.

Been out of the loop for awhile, hope you all are enjoying the water.

Good to hear from you @Harold Scoggins, glad to see to out with a big girl wanting one more dance before she called it good until next spring!

Ahhh, around here we call it the pre-rut. Lol

It would be nice if Bass spawned twice a year. 

Looks like a bacterial infection that probably never cleared up. Could be from any number of things, including spawning. 
 

Good to hear from you. I was starting to wonder if you were okay. 

I agree it's likely an infection that took hold, possibly from damage done during the spawn.

Hi Harold,

Believe it or not, bass can and do spawn more than once per year. I've seen them spawning as late as November. And we're less than a week away from the next full moon.

 

So yes, it's very possible this fish is spawning.  Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Does that tail look as if it may have been clipped?

36 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

Does that tail look as if it may have been clipped?

Fin rot.  Bacterial infections can result in this.  It can start as a simple split in the fin ray and compound from there.

I got a weird tail fish yesterday. Maybe it’s like when your dogs get old and have little bumps on them 

@Harold Scoggins how y'all are?

 

I agree it looks like an bacterial infection.

I’ve seen that condition before but maybe not quite that bad. 
 

The other week is was channel surfing between periods while watching the hockey playoffs. Came across this show where this Dr. guy and Dr. chick were doctors who work on people’s feet. Let me tell you that was some gross crap and I don’t know how a human can live with what I saw on that show. I would have thought it would have kill them with conditions that bad. Real foot rot. 
 

I think those bass will survive just fine.