Late spawn?

[nightfighter]

Kept two out of 20+ fish caught by two anglers on a Sat charter. When cleaning, we saw that neither fish had spawned, both were filled with roe..... Seems late to us. Anyone else seeing this? Twas the only negative of the day.

[DZ]

I've kept three this season - same thing. Bob Pond mentioned this to me years ago - they were trying to find out what kept the bass from spawning. The eggs would eventually be absorbed by the fish. Not sure they were ever able to figuere out why.

DZ

[zacs]

i cleaned two a week and a half ago with full roe sac.

[Nebe]

wow.. the only fish I have kept this year- a 15 lb fish was loaded with roe as well..
not a good sign.

[kenyee]

Ditto w/ a 12# 32" from the canal...female w/ roe (roughly 1"x1"x6"). Oddly, her stomach wasn't full either which is surprising given how much bait is around...

[DZ]

I reported this issue to Mark Gibson, Deputy Chief of the Rhode Island Dept of Environmental Management. Mark is an expert on Striped Bass biology and management. His comments follow:

"I have been reading a recent scientific paper in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society by David Secor (vol 137) on "skip spawning" in striped bass and other fish species. It seems that it is not uncommon and is related to longevity. In the case of stripers, it is believed to be due to the energy demands of extensive migrations. Some migrant fish simply decide to conserve energy reserves in some years by not returning to the home rivers. We know of a number of places where striped bass over winter in New England. Those maturing and producing eggs likely will reabsorb them to preserve the energy content. My only concern, shared by Dr. Secor the author, is that we may have overestiimated the reproductive output each year by assuming annual spawning. The ASMFC technical committee is looking at biological reference points this year and will report to the mgt board later this summer. I will make sure they are aware of this most current research.

Mark Gibson

Mark also asked if I could gather more info on striped bass still with roe - when and where (general). He has already alerted his staff to look for instances of it in their field study. If anyone else has seen this please PM me approximately when they were caught and where( no specifics: just state RI, Mass, New Jersey). I'll compile and pass the info to Mark.

Thanks for any help.

DZ

[kenyee]

DZ: mine was 6/7/08 in the cape cod canal.

[ThrowingTimber]

I'm not phd fish guy or whatever. But correct me if I'm wrong. With tuna all the numbers etc that they gathered were based on fish spawning yearly. After looking into they discovered that yes, tuna do return to their spawning grounds yearly but with most cases they found that they werent spawning every year. Some had three year periods between spawns etc. If this is the case with the bass it may explain why theyre being taken full of roe. Maybe they're showing up to spawn but are'nt getting nudged in the right way if you know what I mean

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by ThrowingTimber

I'm not phd fish guy or whatever. But correct me if I'm wrong. With tuna all the numbers etc that they gathered were based on fish spawning yearly. After looking into they discovered that yes, tuna do return to their spawning grounds yearly but with most cases they found that they werent spawning every year. Some had three year periods between spawns etc. If this is the case with the bass it may explain why theyre being taken full of roe. Maybe they're showing up to spawn but are'nt getting nudged in the right way if you know what I mean

they are females
I know that it works that way in my house.

[chris L]

lesbien fish .
2 on 6/14/09 some distance near sow and pigs 18 and 22 # both full of roe