Perch and Bass with eggs in October

[FishOn?]

I was fishing on some inland lakes on Manitoulan this past weekend (thanksgiving). The fishing was tough - cold and windy and midday. I managed to catch a 4 lb smally (I will post a pic once I get them from my fishing partner) on day 1 that we decided to keep. We also caught a few perch the next day on a different lake and kept them.

The bass and 2 perch were all full of eggs. Its October and that is not right as far as my knowledge goes, and my fishing partner who is very experienced was dumbfounded as well. I should also say that the bass came out of 5-6ft of water and after drifting into a 3-4ft deep area I spotted smallies spooked by the boat. I saw 5 or 6 three + lb fish in this area. The perch were in about 10' on a dropoff - no big surprise there.

Has anyone else spotted this phenominom? Is it a phenominom or is this something that can happen? I find this very alarming.

 

[Bigfisherman]

Not sure for bass, but for perch its normal this time of year(october-nov).

 

[FishOn?]

According to DNR in Michigan (which has a good website) perch spawn in the spring as well as the bass:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_18958-45696--,00.html

 

[ec1]

I think that it should be right...I'm not an expert, but some of the fall crappie/walleye I catch are starting to get eggs....I think they are preparing for the spring to come...This year they might be a little bit early only because of the weather....
BTW, they're actually really tasty! A little bit of salt and pepper after washing the eggs pan fried over a little bit of oil makes them great! They're also the one part of the fish I don't mind you wasting if you don't like it :lol:
They're not fully mature eggs right now, and the spring crappie eggs are even betteR~

 

[frozenfire]

Cold water slows down metabolism...and in turn egg development. In the spring, fish experience very cold conditions turning into warmer spawning conditions in a short period of time. It would be impossible to start and finish egg development so fast. Thus, fish will start their egg development in the fall/winter in preparation for the spring spawn.

One of the reasons why the fall time feeding frenzy is ON right now. More resources to store and to help develop next years eggs.

 

[believer220]

a couple bass i recently caught in the nith river seem to have quite the belly on them, although i haven't kept the fish i'm quite sure that the belly mass is eggs, but on the other hand they could just be eating well still hitting hard in 5 degree weather.