Hello out of curiosity I wondered why there are still a bunch of small fry in the lake when spawn time was a long time ago? My only guess would be because the DNR added them to keep the fish population stocked is that right? I don't know how else I'd be seeing really young fry swimming around this far away from spawning time unless someone added them. Take care now.

Thank you,

LWD

What kind of "fry" are you seeing? Some species of fish like bluegill will spawn multiple times a year and there will be some very small ones this time of year. Young of the year shad and bass won't be very big yet either. I doubt that any fry sized bass are being stocked this time of year.

As far as I know the DNR harvests eggs and milt when the fish are ready, so basically any DNR stocked fish would be a similar age and size as those you see from natural reproduction.

I don't know of any storage of fish eggs for use at a later time or artificial means of forcing egg development in fish.

Dont know where you live, but I have seen HUGE(tens of thousands) populations of asian carp fry swimming in my area! Wish I could kill em all with a stick of dynamite without hurting anything else....LOL

Jeff

No one can really answer that question without knowing what lake and what kind of fry they were.

You may be refering to fingerlings or young fish about the length of a finger, whereas fry are tiny baby fish about 1/2" to 1" long. The time difference is about 3 months from fry to fingerling. Sunfish ( bass are a sunfish) spawn more than ounce, usually about 3 times within a month period each year, the spawn can last up to 3 months. Nothing in nature is exact and there may be a minor late summer spawn in some lakes.

Bass fry are rarely stocked due to the extremely low survival rate of baby bass, they part of the food chain.

Tom

Wow great info thx. How big can a bass grow in inches from spawn until now? For instance can I expect a 12 inch bass to be from this year or last years spawn? I do believe in the lake I fish there were bluegill fry.

Wow great info thx. How big can a bass grow in inches from spawn until now? For instance can I expect a 12 inch bass to be from this year or last years spawn? I do believe in the lake I fish there were bluegill fry.

That will depend a lot on where you live and what strain of bass they are. More than likely the 12" bass you're seeing are from the previous year. Most bass will grow a few inches to several inches long but it will vary between individual fish also even fry from the same brood.

Wow great info thx. How big can a bass grow in inches from spawn until now? For instance can I expect a 12 inch bass to be from this year or last years spawn? I do believe in the lake I fish there were bluegill fry.

1.5 to 2 lbs per year in warm climates like Florida and the Gulf states. I saw fingerlings a couple of weeks ago but I am fairly sure they were bluegill.