Westernbass Magazine - FREE Bass Fishing Tips And Techniques - Fall 2016, Page 27

Westernbass Magazine - FREE Bass Fishing Tips And Techniques - Fall 2016, Page 27

more purple and even yellow). Their size means bass have to consume a greater quantity to get the equivalent caloric benefit as other prey (e.g., why kokanee fed spots in Bullards Bar are fatter than Oroville fish).

MIGRATIONS

Wakasagi spawn in the spring (April and May) in small tributaries where eggs adhere to rocks or submerged vegetation (in larger impoundments, they likely utilize inundated sandy shallows of larger intermittent and perennial tributaries).

Wakasagi normally spawn after their first year, with a few surviving to spawn again in their second year.

They make seasonal and diurnal migrations. Seasonal migrations are typically related to the hydrologic conditions in the reservoir along with

climactic conditions. For example, during periods of high winter inflow, large concentrations of wakasagi can be found in larger tributaries near incoming water (often near thermal gradients) or concentrated in tributary streams during their spawning period.

Diurnal migrations are relative to light, food availability, water quality, etc., but typically, wakasagi will be found higher in the water column during lower light periods and generally retreat to greater depths during the mid-day.

Often during the summer months in stratified reservoirs, like Lake Oroville, this means they will be found near the thermocline (as will be the fish that feed on them).

AS BASS FOOD

Bass will take advantage of these migrations and anglers tuned in to these behaviors can take

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