Sea Temperature & Bass

**Nosam** · 05-04-2008, 15:37

I read somewhere a while ago that Bass are ready to spawn when the sea temperature reaches 11 deg C. Has anyone else heard this?

I found a website that shows UK Sea Surface Temps...
http://www.getaforecast.com/weatherpix-seatemp.htm
Yesterday, 4/4/08 the 10-11 deg water was just pushing into Devon, lets see if the Bass flood in with the rising temp?

Might be rubbish of course

**smiley73** · 05-04-2008, 16:44

dont know if you've ever come accross this before but...

british buoy data live. sea temps, wind speed/direction ect

http://www.pdfamily.com/weather/buoy/UKbuoy.php

al.

**Fester** · 12-04-2008, 19:59

Yes!

I have logs that prove that when the water is 10degC the first of the bass come inshore along with other fish.

Cold weather in early spring may delay this, and it is trial and error.

The site I use is the Irish Sea model..

http://cobs.pol.ac.uk/modl/metfcst/irst/latest.php

This is todays

And this is a few weeks ago when bass were caught off the LLyn..

Notice the warm water lapping the tip of the LLyn, and compare it now to the cold snap we have had.

I feel that a lot of anglers ignore this information to their detroment! It is vital that sea temp is right for the right species.

Whatever the yanks are, take a leaf out of their book.

**billy bennett** · 13-04-2008, 07:56

notice on the map the puple patch around the coast of the lakes,that is the runoff water from the rivers after heavy rain and snow

**steve pitts** · 13-04-2008, 08:28

Originally Posted by Nosam

I read somewhere a while ago that Bass are ready to spawn when the sea temperature reaches 11 deg C. Has anyone else heard this?

From what I have read, female bass need a constant sea temp of around 9 degrees for the eggs to fully develop and then it appears that the lengthening hours of daylight can be the trigger for spawning to take place.

Adult bass from around the UK have historically migrated to over-winter in deep water out in the Western approaches and off the Channel Islands to find the stable water temps that they need for ova development and then they start to migrate back to their preferred summer locations in March / April.

Female bass are considered to be sequential spawners and can have eggs at different stages of development at once. They often spawn a number of times en-route to their summer locations and this probably acts as an 'insurance policy' for larval survival.

Spawning is likely to take place in tide races, where favourable currents will take the fertilized eggs towards the coast. The larva then enter estuaries or sheltered bays where they take up residence for 3 or 4 years, before the juvenile bass start dispersing along the adjacent coastline.

Devon is likely to get the first wave of the returning adult fish (those that haven't been caught by pair trawlers), but these could easily be fish that have migrated from further along the South and East coasts and they may not have completed their spawning cycles e.g. Portland and St Aldhelms in Dorset are known spawning sites, so adult bass caught at this time of year may be running with eggs or milt. Worth releasing these fish for obvious reasons

Recent tagging studies have indicated that more bass are staying closer to 'home' if winter sea temps don't drop below the 9 degree mark.

Spawning over, most adult fish return to the same general areas year after year and some tagged fish have been caught by anglers from the same rock marks 2 or 3 times over a 4 year period.

Cheers
Steve

**Fester** · 13-04-2008, 10:42

Generally, at higher water temperatures fish are more active, use more energy and eat more food. This means that, in most cases, the warmer the water, the more energetically the fish will search for food and the more positively they are likely to bite.

**rocket** · 13-04-2008, 11:29

We used to find that the bass would vanish from the pier at around 11 degrees, and the cod start showing when the temp was roughly around 9.

**fish force** · 13-04-2008, 21:13

Originally Posted by smiley73

dont know if you've ever come accross this before but...

british buoy data live. sea temps, wind speed/direction ect

http://www.pdfamily.com/weather/buoy/UKbuoy.php

al.

Did anyone notice the temp' reading from the North Sea, 28.3!! is the gauge donald ducked??

**Fester** · 13-04-2008, 21:51

Just to add.

Two weeks ago I got 8 peelers, today in very cold water I got 3!

Just goes to show that sea temp is very important!

**alasdair** · 14-04-2008, 11:42

My guess is the one from the north sea is on an oil rig, and the clever scientist bloke put the thermometer too near to a burner/waste water outlet etc. Either that or it isn't calibrated correctly and is around 20* out. Very useful porgrams there.

Al