overwintering bass

[FDN]

Where do yearling bass (spawned the previous summer) go during the cold
months? Do they stay in the shallows, where it's cold but where they have
shelter from predation, or do they go deeper like their older relatives?
I've often noticed bass and sunfish of around two or three inches in the
shallows in early April - clearly holdovers from the year before, not that
month's spawn.

I live in Maryland, which gets cold during winter, but not Minnesota cold.

[RGarri7470]

>Where do yearling bass (spawned the previous summer) go during the cold
>months?

Here in GA I have caught 10 and 11 inch bass - last year's spawn - as deep as
36 feet during the winter. Some smaller bass, spawned late in the season, may
stay more shallow, but the bigger ones that were spawned early go deep, I
think.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

[FDN]

10 or 11" fish are man-eaters compared to the ones I had in mind - 2 or 3
inchers. It's not not that I want to catch these wee guys on hook-and-line -
I'm just curious where they come from when I see them in the spring. Many
years I've seen them even before the spawning pairs form the redds, so they
clearly spent the winter *somewhere.*

"RGarri7470" > wrote in message
...
> >Where do yearling bass (spawned the previous summer) go during the cold
> >months?
>
> Here in GA I have caught 10 and 11 inch bass - last year's spawn - as deep
as
> 36 feet during the winter. Some smaller bass, spawned late in the season,
may
> stay more shallow, but the bigger ones that were spawned early go deep, I
> think.
>
> Ronnie
>
> http://fishing.about.com