Bass

Kaos

What is the average growth rate per year of a small mouth bass or large mouth bass? I'm sure there are many factors, amount and type of food, lake, river, etc. Just looking for a rough estimate.

Thanks.

COLT

Don't know about smallies. A large mouth once thay get abour 4" long, they become eating machines. If their home is healthy with a lot of different food sources, I could see them putting on 2 pounds a year. Man, when you have 3 pound bass eating several 1 pound or more fish a day, do the math.

...I caught a 3 pounder one time that had just the tail of a 1 pound shad still sticking out of his gullet! He had just ate, and did not even have it all the way swallowed when he hit my 6" lizard! Hungry? Aggresive Instinct?

...But, once a bass reaches about 10 pounds they put on weight at a much slower pace, they don't move around as much, so they don't need to eat as much...they more or less become "log potatoes" ([:D])I have seen films of young squirells falling out of trees into the water, and becomming a meal to a big bass.

I have seen a hen duck with several fairly good size ducklings in a line behind her following, when one of them "dissappears in a splash and a swirl, anothe big bass just found lunch! Bass eat, and eat...almost anything, other fish, craw fish, about anything else that is found in their habitat...[;)]