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Male vs.Female bass, how can you tell?

49K views 20 replies 14 participants last post by  BlackBass 
#1 ·
Is there a visual way to tell the difference between the male and female bass?
Good question, Aside from size and fat bellies....how do you tell them apart post spawn?
Hunt'nFish
 
#2 ·
If it's over 3 pounds it's most likely (95%) a sow. you can also look at the vent they are not the same. but it take some time to get good at knowing for sure.
I landed a bass with a tag and after I called in the tag information I got the bass information back in a report by mail. The bass was almost 20 years old. I think the state did scale samples when it was first tagged to come up with an age at that point.
(Silver lake Bass).
Roger
 
#21 ·
20yrs old? wow!! that mean the bass somewhere 20+lb :whistle:[/quote

20 year old fish does not equal 20 lbs. Was very shocked to hear that someone implied that bass live upwards of twenty years, my gut feeling tells me someone got it wrong, the average bass in oregon will die of natural causes before it gets to be much heavier then 11-12 lbs, thats why our state record is not 20 some lbs like alot of other well know monster bass fisherys , due to the lack of a long term growing season, a average bass will gain 1/2 to 3/4 lbs a year in oregon.
 
#7 ·
I never tried.
On the larger fish I have read that most males don't get over 16". Then of course you have the well known pre/post spawn indicators.

On the small fish I read this info which I think is wrong in a lot of ways.

With a coffee straw or similar small shaped instrument, the straw should be inserted into the rear (anal) canal. If the straw enters at an angle, the fish is male. If the straw continues in an upward direction the fish is female.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Thanks, I think! That pic is from summer of 93.(that would make me 38 years old!) We were fishing out of a jumbo six man military issue rubber raft and that fish dragged us all over the place! It jumped once and must have cleared the surface by at least 2 feet! It still weighed 6lbs even one hour after it was caught and the cooler was full of little bait fish it had regurgitated. That big lump in the belly turned out to be leg bones from the big bullfrogs he had been eating!
 
#16 ·
"If it's over 3 pounds it's most likely (95%) a sow. you can also look at the vent they are not the same. but it take some time to get good at knowing for sure"

I too strongly disagree with this comment based on experience by my father and I fishing the spawn. Based on experience, I also believe male bass highly out number female bass.
 
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