Redears spawning in the fall too?

[Brian Eaton]

My wife read this today somewhere on the web.Then low and behold,she caught a 9 incher today with a roughed up tail.Is this something that really takes place or was this fish just kinda battered from some other reason?Got to the lake late this morning,but are gonna go again at daylight next weekend.Gonna stay all day because the sooners play at night,LOL!

[Jim Gronaw]

Hey Brian...I don't know about your area, but in the Mid-Atlantic region red-ears spawn a little later than gills, sometimes well into June and early July. I haven't head any reports of them doing a fall spawn, but that would be a biologist question for sure, and likely with some kind of tests and observations.

[Jeff Soto]

I was told by my fishing bud and Lake Perris (So. Calif.) expert LedHed that there are still a few spawning Redears there. Some of these fish start way back in March and April.

[JBplusThuy]

I don't know, but in mid-August I caught a 7" bluegill in the San Diego River in Santee. To my surprise, I discovered when cleaning it that it had two full egg sacks. The San Diego River is not a cold body of water, especially in hot Santee, so I thought that was pretty strange. It's the only 'gill I've taken with eggs outside of the usual spring spawning season.

[jdphish]

One fish with a roughed up tail could be indicative of a late spawn. Another possible explanation could be that the fish escaped capture from a largemouth bass or other predatory species. Redears have very similar spawning habits as bluegill. Except it does not stretch out through the summer like bluegill. Redears usually spawn only once or twice a year. It is unusual for redear to spawn in late September although sometimes fish get fooled by the weather. If it got real cool and then warmed up that may "fool" the redear into spawning. I have seen this sort of thing happen with largemouth bass. Often if it is a warm January or February the bass will start making nests. This can be a bad thing if the fish actually spawn, the water temps go down and the eggs or fry die.

[shooter]

here in louisiana it is not un,common to catch chinks(red ear) in october on the beds.



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