Do Bass Migrate? 2024
WRB reply :
A lot has been written on bass (largemouth) migrating and using migration routes on a daily routine, is this true or a myth?
We know bass change locations seasonally and move around the lake. Bass unlike migratory fish that are usually pelagic like trout and salmon are dermasil and prefer to stay in specific locations.
I agree that the spawning movement is similar to a migration, however not your typical specie movement.
It is also believed by the majority of bass anglers that daily movements are migrations that follow a route and these bass need physical structure to navigate from point A to point B. Is this fact or fiction?
Bass are not school fish in the classic sense ounce they mature, they group together only when it helps them to feed, otherwise bass tend to be individuals living in specific areas.
In large lakes it is common for bass to navigate from one side of the lake to the opposite side over deep water without any physical structure to aid them. The bass know where they are going. We don't know how they know where they are in the middle of the water column, we can't do that so we assume they need a navigation aid.
The bottom line is bass don't migrate using routes on a daily basis, I believe this is a myth.
Tracking studies show that bass move, but they tend to stay in one area for a weeks at a time, before relocating to another area. Tracking studies also indicate big bass move a short distance off shore from where they normally feed and suspend, then move back to the feeding areas. Should this short movement considered a migration?
Tom
tomustang reply :
I would think that since since structure and bottoms of rivers/lakes change with time so would the bass to readjust to find the better eat-to-work ratio. On their small scale I would say that is a migration.
Fish Chris reply :
Tom, IMPO, bass migration has a lot more to do with the body of water in question. I believe in some systems, bass will travel, in mass, from one end of the lake, to the other {or at least, for many miles) at some point during the season, to adapt to changing conditions / food supply. In other lakes, they simply don't have to. I also believe a bass will NOT swim a long ways, just for the heck of it. They are inherently lazy, only putting out as much energy, as is required.
And no, I do not consider a bass' daily movements from inshore feeding, to offshore suspended, and chilling out, to be a "migration".
Just my .02 cents...
Fish
eyedabassman reply :
I do beleave this is true! I have been guiding for along time at night, I can say that this migration route stuff is a fact. Fishing Facts Magazine wrote about this back in the early 70's and I did not buy into this migration stuff,I thought how can a bass with the brain the size of a pea know to take the same route to feed every night/day! Well it took me many years of fishing to come to grips with that they were wright!
I have done 3 articles for magazines and many seminars on this subject ( And beleave me I am not trying to ring my own bell). The lakes I guide on at night,I fish alot of deep water and never less than 10 ft. and for a reason! And that reason is MIGRATION ROUTES! The lake I fish at night start to turn on about 11 pm or midnight and the reason,it takes them that long to get to there feeding area's after the lake settle's down.One night they may be on there feeding area at midnight and another night at that same spot 1 am or 11 pm,and you can depend on these spots all summer and it is like a milk run. I have caught so many BIG bass doing this,it is crazy! Just find the feeding spot and put it in your GPS and it is money in the bank or should I say big bass in the boat!!!!!
Snakehead Whisperer reply :
What about bass that follow schools of shad? They school (sort of, see WRB's post where he mentions that they group together when it helps them to feed) and they migrate with the schools of shad. Though it's hard to consider any movement within a single body of water (like a lake) a migration, IMHO.
Most of my bass fishing is done on a tidal river where the bass populate a stretch of over 40 miles below the fall line (so I assume that they can inhabit/migrate to any water in that stretch of river,) and from my experience the fish don't move very far at all. I'm basing this hypothesis on the fact that I have caught the same fish twice in the same place several times. The spawning areas are always the same places year after year, and my guess would be that the home range of the average bass is less than 1/2 mile (I think I've read that from a DNR study in MD.) Probably smaller than that. There have got to be exceptions on this river, and perhaps completely different and maybe even migratory behavior elsewhere.
The fish had to migrate at some point in history, as they are everywhere. I do realize that waterfowl probably played a role in bass proliferation to new water, but so did migration I guess.
WRB reply :
I agree that bass movement are usually to keep near their prey source and bass in smaller natural kaes behave differently than bass in deep structure or shallow weed lakes and ponds.
I have only witnessed large school/group of adult size bass traverses deep open water a few times; lake Havasu while up high above the water looking for chuckwalla lizards, I watch a dark shadow that looked like a cloud shadow move across the lake from the opposite shore. The shadow turned out to be a massive school of bass that dispersed as they got near the shore where I was looking down. That was definitely some sort of migration and I couldn't see any baitfish the bass may have been following. Another time was in Canada on Crow lake, a big deep clear water natural lake. We were jigging for lake trout out in the middle of a big main lake basin, about 5 miles off shore when a large school of Smallmouths swam by crossing the lake, this was in July. This was also a migration of some sort, with no baitfish visible.
When you consider over 60 years on the water and witnessed on 2 occasion bass migrating a long distance across open indicates to me this is rare occurrence. It also clearly authenticates bass can traverse open water easily.
Tom
WRB reply :
Hoping to get a little more interaction with this topic.
Buck Perry of Spoonplug fame is created for introducing the term migration regarding bass movements. I know that Perry influenced my early bass behavior knowledge and bought into the migration route theory for years.
However personal experience conflicted with the migration theory where bass follow physical underwater structures elements to navigate to feeding zones, like we travel on roads.
I agree bass use use break lines both physical and thermal to.hunt prey and that makes sense. The concept that bass need sign posts or physical structure to navigate didn't make sense and still doesn't.
What I learned was bass move out into deeper water or into cover and suspend, rest and become inactive for longer period of times then they are active. Bass don't migrate they rest close to where they feed.
I didn't see an earlier post that claimed bass feed less than 10 feet deep,during the night. I. Was going to agree that a lot of bass move into shallower water at night and roam the specific depth zones at night.
However like nearly everything regarding bass fishing some of the biggest bass don't move up at night and stay down in deeper water and feed, like 35' deep in clear deep structured reservoirs.
Lets keep,this going!
Tom
Paul Roberts reply :
I gather, Tom, you mean "migrate" in the way Buck Perry used it. I think the quickest answer from me would be to say that, as you say, bass do use "breaks" (for a number of reasons) but one appears to be a sense of security. I do not believe they necessarily need them to navigate by, or at least they wouldn't get lost if there were not visual "breaks".
Buck Perry applied his excellent critical thinking skills and worked his butt off trying to figure out those fish. And he broke new ground in a lot of ways, one of which to introduce "structure fishing" at an unprecedented level of sophistication. His biggest error I think was that he didn't understand that bass cannot change depth as easily as he'd assumed. His fish weren't changing depth 20 or 30 feet with the coming and going of a front. If he caught fish deep one sunny day and then shallow the following day under clouds, he was actually hitting two separate groups of fish. They hadn't "migrated" shallow, then deep again.
Interestingly, he'd stated that his was a present understanding and that he fully expected things to change over time. He was one of the sharper pencils in the box.
As to the question whether bass migrate in the more general sense, it is known that bass can move large distances, to spawn, or just bc those individuals are travelers. If adequate spawning habitat is rare and well removed from summer or, esp, winter habitat, bass will find it and that's where their spawning success will occur. Bass have been known to show some amount of site fidelity (smallmouth esp) which means that they return to the same spawning area. Some smallies have been known to revisit the same rock or log to spawn against over several years.
WRB reply :
Paul, I went through a time period where.I believed bass could move up and down in the water column at will, learning later that their air bladder limits them from making up and down movements more than 15' depth changes without readjusting buoyancy, they can on the short excursions to feed.
I spent a lot of time on the water trying to intercept bass migration routes, only to discover the bass were already there, just not feeding.
A real breakthrough for me happened using early sonar units back in the 70's. Got into a habit of metering spots after I fished them without success and discovered a lot of bass were suspended just off shore in deep water. I tried to catch these bass without success. Then return to the same areas and meter the deeper suspended bass and learned if they were not suspended there anymore, they would be on the spot feeding and could catch those bass. This simple discovery has benefited me tremendously over the years.
The bass were not migrating, they were simply moving a short distance to feed and all you needed to do was time the active periods.
Tom
PS; LMB also use the same spawning areas year after year, if the water conditions allow it, it isn't as random as believed.
jhoffman reply :
I had a discussion about this on the dock the other night with a fellow club member. I was thinking our smallmouth in our lake were running into the main "river" in the summer. His argument was that the fish in the river are there all year, its not the bass in the lake moving up.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 5/10/2013 at 8:44 PM, jhoffman said:I had a discussion about this on the dock the other night with a fellow club member. I was thinking our smallmouth in our lake were running into the main "river" in the summer. His argument was that the fish in the river are there all year, its not the bass in the lake moving up.
Could be either, or both. I've fished smallmouth "runs" where lake fish enter tributaries, on several systems. This has always been in spring, about spawning time, but I don't remember seeing any on beds.
{EDIT: Both could be possible, even likely, too, that there are both river residents and some lake-run activity. I only have observed this in spring, but these were all small tribs, not "rivers".}
I remember reading one study in which biologists were trying to determine the best management practices to protect what was considered a separate subpopulaiton of smallmouth in a large [EDIT: lake} system. What they found was that, although many were resident, a relatively small number of spawners traveled a long way from the main system to spawn there too, which lead to a new discussion about whether the target group was genetically unique and required separate management practice.
Edited by Paul Robertsjhoffman reply :
Paul I agree with you, my thoughts were along the lines of that I live on the main tributary. The sheer number of smallmouth in it in summer are no where to be found in spring and the same goes for the lake. You go from smashn em in fall/winter/early spring(on the lake) to not catching but a random one here or there. I have never been to a summer weigh in where someone had a boat full of smallies on this lake.
The lake in question is Foster Joseph Sayers Dam, it was fished by FLW College a couple years ago.
PABASS reply :
In that lake with my very little knowledge of it, I think they go deep, there are some big smallies in that lake and to think they all but a few travel back up the river system seems off. Only looking at maps since I have not been to the creek personally, its not very large and it gets downright narrow when I follow it. Of 16 people only 3 caught smallies last week I was one of them and it was a healthy looking fish, small and in less than 3 feet of water in a rocky area. Is there a mass migration of smallmouth to that small creek, maybe but I think they go deep in summer. Dont get me wrong I have seen big smallies in shallow/small creeks but Sayers holds a large population of large smallies one that I don't think bald eagle creek can support. If I had a boat! with electronics and time I am sure I could dissect or least have a better understanding of the fish here.
jhoffman reply :
The bald eagle can and does support it. Ive had 50 fish(combined with friends) in the upper reaches as far up as Julian. After the confluence with spring creek there are many spots on the bald eagle which top 15ft in depth.
Sayers itself, the deepest reading I have ever taken was 29ft.
Paul Roberts reply :
I edited my post above to be more clear about what I've seen, and that the study mentioned pertained more to the OP than to the river question.
jhoffman, your DNR might have the answer.
PABASS reply :
To me Sayers seems like a common setup, river damned and flooded to create lake, so the creek is still there its just under more water, so in my mind the fish are still there. That being said LMB will win out over SMB population wise, with this competition maybe it does make sense for the smallies to migrate.
xbacksideslider reply :
I imagine that the swim bladder is an energy conservation device - allowing the fish to suspend without much finning to hold vertical position.
It may also be that the bladder can be adjusted faster than we might think, allowing 40 or 50 foot depth changes over a short time, maybe 10 minutes to an hour or two? Clearly, as mentioned, they can rise to the bait, for predation, for short moments, perhaps with some sense of pain or distress. What is their comfortable, harmless, rate of ascent?
trailer reply :
Tom, I have a question about the bass that move from shallow to suspending. What change in depth is this assuming? Yesterday I must have spooked a bass from the shallows and I witnessed him dive straight down the lake bottom. It was a very steep grade. My lake is clear and deep.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 5/11/2013 at 3:30 AM, trailer said:Tom, I have a question about the bass that move from shallow to suspending. What change in depth is this assuming? Yesterday I must have spooked a bass from the shallows and I witnessed him dive straight down the lake bottom. It was a very steep grade. My lake is clear and deep.
How much of a depth change? How deep can you see? Do you have an accurate depth?
PABASS reply :
I believe its a proven fact that bass cant dive deep, fast and they typically spook and swim on horizontal plane with 3-5 feet depth changes if i remember correctly. This is why we can predict bass stages and locations, especially during pre-spawn..
trailer reply :
On 5/11/2013 at 4:05 AM, PABASS said:I believe its a proven fact that bass cant dive deep, fast and they typically spook and swim on horizontal plane with 3-5 feet depth changes if i remember correctly. This is why we can predict bass stages and locations, especially during pre-spawn..
It very well could have been within a 5 foot window. I could see 10 feet deep I know for certain, but anything deeper than that is hard for me to tell. From my vantage point it looked as if he/she was in a nose down attitude hugging the bottom. I'm not good at judging underwater distance and my point of reference was my depth finder which is accurate.
trailer reply :
On 5/11/2013 at 3:36 AM, Paul Roberts said:How much of a depth change? How deep can you see? Do you have an accurate depth?
I should say it looked like it dove nose down to the point that I could not see anymore which I estimated anything deeper than 10 feet.
Paul Roberts reply :
On 5/11/2013 at 4:41 AM, trailer said:I should say it looked like it dove nose down to the point that I could not see anymore which I estimated anything deeper than 10 feet.
That makes sense. I've seen bass make short depth order changes of 8-10ft, Such fish were probably acclimated to some intermediate depth and were actually positively buoyant (buoyed up) and having to "fin" to hold place in the shallows where I first observed them. If they are truly neutrally buoyant they do not need to do much finning to hold position and will fin to turn, rotate, and move. You can observe this if you are thinking about it when you see one.
Nitrofreak reply :
I have a question if I may, we are only talking about LMB here I assume, but there are other species of bass that we can include can we not?
If we are talking about LMB then we are also referring to a lake I assume, they can only move so far from one end of the lake to the other, if we include Striper in this conversation, they use currents and other things in the oceans and bays to migrate from one area to others, am I way off base here?
Confinement to an area no matter the size, to me if a "group" of fish move from one area to another would still be considered a migration of some sort or at least I would think.
jhoffman reply :
There are also inland impoundments that have stripers in them, Raystown lake in pa produced the state record and its a big one. What we percieve from the top down is also something to consider.
1: With refraction what you think you see isnt exactly whats happening under the water.
2: If a bass can swim up lets say from 40ft and smash a bait how is it that by the time he reaches the surface hes not choking on the swim bladder. IF they can come up from that depth that fast then why is it necessary to fizz a bass?
WRB reply :
Bass do not have any issue going deeper, the air bladder compresses with increase water pressure, they must keep swimming to maintain deeper depth until the air bladder adjust, about a 24 hour period.
It is not uncommon for bass, during the cold water period without a thermocline, to swim up and strike a near or surface swimbait from 30 to 35 feet depths and return immediately. My depth limit is about 35 feet due to swim bladder issue.
One reason that deep bass blow up the swim bladder is they were deeper than 40 feet. During the winter we occasionally catch a bass fishing at 25 - 35 feet and the bass has extended swim bladders, the reason is that bass was suspended at 50 to 60 feet, swam up 25 to 35 feet and was hooked at that depth, then we fight them up to the surface and the pressure change to the bass is 50 to 60 feet.
During the summer most of our lakes set up a thermocline at 35 feet or so, the bass rarely go deeper.
Tom
WRB reply :
It's been my experience that smallies roam around far more than LMB and have a wider depth range comfort zone and prefer cooler water temps, about 10 degrees cooler then LMB.On 5/10/2013 at 8:44 PM, jhoffman said:I had a discussion about this on the dock the other night with a fellow club member. I was thinking our smallmouth in our lake were running into the main "river" in the summer. His argument was that the fish in the river are there all year, its not the bass in the lake moving up.
Tom
Catt reply :
As per Merriam-Webster dictionary
Migrate: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.
By definition it appears to me bass do in fact migrate 
Here’s my example; a few years back two 10 pound plus bass were caught on the south end of Toledo Bend and brought to Toledo Tackle at the Pendleton Bridge to verify weight on certified scales. Both bass were rereleased at the bridge, then an interesting thing happen both bass were caught again close to the original location.
WRB reply :
It's been my experience that smallies roam around far more than LMB and have a wider depth range comfort zone and prefer cooler water temps, about 10 degrees cooler then LMB. Smallies also spawn in cooler water between 58 to 65 degrees, on gravel bottoms.On 5/10/2013 at 8:44 PM, jhoffman said:I had a discussion about this on the dock the other night with a fellow club member. I was thinking our smallmouth in our lake were running into the main "river" in the summer. His argument was that the fish in the river are there all year, its not the bass in the lake moving up.
Tom
WRB reply :
The definition leaves out "as a group". I agree that bass migrate as groups seasonally, the question is daily?On 5/11/2013 at 7:18 AM, Catt said:As per Merriam-Webster dictionary
Migrate: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.
By definition it appears to me bass do in fact migrate
Here’s my example; a few years back two 10 pound plus bass were caught on the south end of Toledo Bend and brought to Toledo Tackle at the Pendleton Bridge to verify weight on certified scales. Both bass were rereleased at the bridge, then an interesting thing happen both bass were caught again close to the original location.
When BASS was tracking a few bass during their tournaments a few years ago, the same behavior was noted, some radio tagged bass stayed put and a few move miles away where they were originally caught. One bass moved during the tournament the 1st day and swam none stop over 20 miles, down a creek arm, up the main lake and into another creek arm.
There was a SanVincente lake tracking study in the 80's (In Pursuit of Giant Bass) where big bass were radio tagged and released and tracked for a year. During the winter most of the big bass located in deep water near mid lake submerged islands. These winter bass stayed on average about 2 weeks at time, a few would leave and swim a few miles away, then return in a few days and repeat this behavior. The group dispersed to stage and spawn at various areas around the lake and by mid summer were back in their winter holding areas, just shallower. This should give us a clue to where big bass go after they spawn and we don't see them agian until the next spawn....mid lake deep structure and occasionally other areas.
Tom
Catt reply :
I agree that bass migrate as groups seasonally, the question is daily?
Migrate: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.
That does not fit "daily"?
WRB reply :
Yes, if the bass move from 1 region ( mid lake to a creek arm) and the climate (water temps) change daily.On 5/11/2013 at 8:59 AM, Catt said:I agree that bass migrate as groups seasonally, the question is daily?
Migrate: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding.
That does not fit "daily"?
They do this seasonally without question, daily.......power generation reservoirs it's likely.
Good to have you back Catt, your knowledge and wit was missed!
Tom
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