Hi everyone,

I was walking past a local pond two days ago and noticed three bass, two larger ones (15-18") and one smaller one (7"), rubbing themselves against a rock. It is a rock about 1 ft by 1 ft in very shallow water, and is covered in a bit of moss. They were also circling around the rock and the small bass was very aggressive towards the other fish in the area, chasing them away. I had never seen that before. I walked around the pond and came back and the fish were still there.

I went back the next day, yesterday, and saw the exact same fish doing the same thing.

Again, I went today. The fish were there but there was a large snapping turtle rubbing it's face against the rock. It sort of looked like it was eating off the surface of the rock. The small bass was trying to scare it off and the others were circling.

What is going on there? Did the bass spawn there? The only reason I don't think that is because the rock doesn't have any sand or noticeable eggs or anything on it, and there were three bass protecting it, one very small. This isn't my pond I just thought it was neat and was wondering if anyone has any input. Here's a link to two photos: http://imgur.com/a/4ZFDFW7

Thanks,

Adam

Sounds like classic bass spawning behavior . At you location I assume you mean SMB. They look for beds near a central large object (rock , stump or log) if available.

Thanks for your reply. These were actually LMB. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Why would such a small bass be guarding the nest? I have a lot of questions, because I haven't seen many spawning bass before.

Thanks again.

Are you sure about the species? It's hard to tell from the photo but I don't see a prominent lateral line.

Bass can reach sexual maturity at different ages and sizes depending on genetics and environmental conditions.

In LMB and SMB the male is usually smaller than the female , sometimes much smaller.

I'm not an expert, so not 100% sure about the species; however, I did get a good look and thought they were LMB.

That makes sense than. The small bass was probably the male. Thanks for your replies. I was curious to know what was going on, since I have never seen bass stay in the same place for that long.