Activity patterns of largemouth bass in a subtropical US reservoir

Abstract  Nine largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides Lacepède, >1.5 kg were implanted with radio tags and tracked for 1 year in an embayment of Lake Seminole, Georgia, USA. Most largemouth bass movement was <50 m h−1 in all seasons and at all times of day. During the day largemouth bass were offshore in deeper water near large woody structures and moved little. Movement was lower during dusk and night periods, and a general movement towards shoreline areas was evident. Water depths where largemouth bass were located had bimodal distributions in all seasons and diel periods, with one mode typically at depths <1 m and another around 3 m. Home ranges were typically largest in the summer and smallest in the winter. Largemouth bass appeared to divide their time between an offshore resting area, primarily occupied during the day, and a near‐shore area, where foraging presumably occurred, primarily used during low‐light periods. The largemouth bass population in Lake Seminole consists of multiple overlapping subpopulations, offering the opportunity for embayment‐specific management.