Provo Delta versus High Spring Runoff

[TubeDude]

White bass are not like salmon.  They do not pattern on the same tributaries in which they were spawned.  They simply look for any kind of current and follow it up to a suitable spawning area.  Suitable to them...not anglers.  So in any given year...under any set of water circumstances...the whities will swim around the lake until they find a place to spawn.   And it can simply be a wave washed rocky shoreline...not a flowing stream. Any port in a storm...so to speak.

Thanks Pat! I didn't know that much about their spawning behavior and growing up in SW Oregon I do tend to think of things from an salmon-ish perspective. Sounds like they won't miss the old channel much at all.

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White bass are not like salmon.  They do not pattern on the same tributaries in which they were spawned.  They simply look for any kind of current and follow it up to a suitable spawning area.  Suitable to them...not anglers.  So in any given year...under any set of water circumstances...the whities will swim around the lake until they find a place to spawn.   And it can simply be a wave washed rocky shoreline...not a flowing stream. Any port in a storm...so to speak.

Thanks Pat! I didn't know that much about their spawning behavior and growing up in SW Oregon I do tend to think of things from a salmon-ish perspective. Sounds like they won't miss the old channel much at all.

From your description, I would guess that walleye are more like white bass, just seeking flowing water if they can find it. Is that your understanding?

Some fish are nest spawners...taking the time and effort to scoop out nests into which the female and male both deposit their respective contributions. ..with the male typically remaining to guard the nest.  Bass, bluegill and trout are good examples...except trout usually boogie after the spawn ritual.

Some are "community" spawners...with a male making a nest into which multiple females might contribute a few eggs.  Catfish are the best examples here.  Males make the nests and then try to coax a succession of females to join him for a brief spawn session...none of them dumping all their eggs in one nest.  Good insurance against any nest being destroyed or left out of water by a sudden drop in water level.  The male also guards the nest until after the young hatch...and then sometimes hang around to protect the fry for a short time.

Others...like white bass, walleyes and shad are "broadcast" spawners...where a group of spawn ready adults congregate.  Periodically a ripe female will signal readiness and several males will crowd in on her to spew milt while she dumps her eggs...anywhere from the surface to mid depth.  Fertilization is completely random and the eggs that do successfully meet up with a sperm settle to the bottom...hopefully well enough aerated that they won't suffocate in the bottom silt. 

There are lots of strange spawning rituals in the fishy world.  A lot in the human world too.  But that is another issue.