Stretching the spawning truth

Written by Kyle Carter

Saturday, 02 February 2008

Fish eggs get a line on weighty talk Ben Matsubu, a BASS Elite Series angler from Hemphill, entered the last day of the last tournament of the season trailing by a mere pound. It wasn’t long after he left the dock on Lake Toho in Kissimmee, Fla., on a mild September morning that he hooked up with a monster. After five minutes of coaching the bass to the boat, interlaced with moans of excitement and talk of a “hawg,” he pulled the 8-pound, 13-ounce prize into the boat. Then came what could be construed as insanity by definition. “That’s a 13-pound bass,” he said, smiling as he held a bass he knew didn’t weight more than 10 pounds. Insanity? Maybe. But he’s certainly not the first angler to make such a claim. Fishermen are renowned exaggerators, but when an angler drops the biology hammer on his claim, it’s harder to refute. Biological fact: A pregnant female is what every trophy bass angler should be looking for. She’s fat, she’s hungry and she’s full of eggs. That’s one reason why fisheries like Toho, Lake Fork, Sam Rayburn or Lake Amistad will produce bigger weights in the spring while the females are spawning than it does in the fall after they have laid their eggs. Fisherman’s fact: The difference between a pregnant female and a female that has laid her eggs can be whatever weight feels sufficient. In Matsubu’s case, four pounds sounded about right. Unfortunately, a report published by the biologists of the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center has put a number to the weight of the eggs. “Usually at spawning the weight of eggs in females will be 10 percent or more of her body weight,” the report stated. “Larger fish tend to have larger eggs and therefore larger fry but fewer eggs per pound of body weight.” Jim Liner, a freshwater biologist who works with the founder of BASS, Ray Scott, said it’s “ridiculous” to think bass eggs could add three or four pounds to a pregnant female. “The difference between spawn and post spawn is at most 20 percent,” Liner said. “There’s not going to be any 5-pound difference. That’s a fisherman’s exaggeration.” Matsubu is not backing down from his “exaggeration.” Like a true fisherman backing a story, he offers an alternative explanation. “You should have seen the head on this thing,” he said, remembering even the smallest details of the catch four months later. “It wasn’t only that it was post-spawn. This thing was dying. The scales were all falling off and it was just skinny.” Matsubu said in his experience, the spawn vs. post-spawn weight of a bass varies from lake to lake. “I’ve been to a lot of lakes where you go there pre-spawn where they’re fat, and go back three years later post-spawn and they’re skinny as a rail,” Matsubu said. “There are so many different theories about that stuff. I’ve been fishing with several biologists and they all have a different story.” As for the “real size” of the “mule” that won him $100,000 on Lake Toho, Matsubu went back to biology to complete his argument. “There was a biologist at the weigh-in that agreed it was a 13-pounder,” he said. “He said it was a real old fish. I’ve got a 13-pounder on my wall and the mouth and head of this fish were twice as big as I have on my wall.”

Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 February 2008 )

 

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