What is the general concensus of when the Hybrids go through their spawning rituals. I know they don't reproduce cause one is sterile, but I caught some Hybrids yesterday and the females were bustin with eggs and the males unloaded their stuff and they are still in 35 ft. of water on the main lake. Are they water temp. sensitive like bass and crappie.

Guess water temps still in the 40's still have them out there. Got to 49 on Sund.

They'll still develop the eggs and milt and go thru the whole ritual but it's for the "feelin' good" sport of it and not reproduction....

Over here on Belton Lake many times they are caught in the river/creek at the same time as the white bass run. That being said we have caught hybrids on the main lake while everybody was up in the river/ creeks catching whites. Now that I have made this clear as mud, just find'em then catch'em

I've known there are some that don't know what a creek looks like and spend their entire life in the main lake. Just at different depths and water temp comfort. I've seen them absorb eggs when conditions are not right (current).

Was just wondering what conditions trigger the ritual. I figure they are just waiting for the proper candle lite table, with violins playing.

Hybrids are sterile, but I think a few of their sperm are fertile sometimes. Lake Lewisville has some strange looking white bass. Some have lines like a true striper and some look more like a hybrid and still they only have one tooth patch. I can not wait much longer to get out there and catch a few of them. Please do not submit this report to any science journals.

Don I agree with that and tried to prove it. Asked a biologist if he would allow me to bring one in the next time I caught one so they could test it. He said no, not unless it was legal size.
Well the ones we were catching were sandbass size with striper/hybrid qualities. This was back when we had not been stocked w/hybrids and shouldn't have had any that size.

Well I guess hybrids are as confusing to me as everyone else. The one thing I know for sure is, I LIKE TO CATCH THEM!

Dont quote me on this, but don and sanbass could be on to something. I read in Parks and Wildlife mag. that they are starting to find that about 2% of hybrids are starting to spawn in the wild. The scientist are working on this to find out if they are mutating genetically to be able to spawn or if it is some weird, previously un-noticed phenomon. It was compared to how some cold blooded animals change their sexes by temp.(in the egg stage) But it did relate to how 10 years ago no hybrids ever reproduced in the wild. I wish I could find the mag where I read it, but my wife periodically cleans everything!!!

I listened to a presentation about identifying Morones at an AFS meetting about five years ago. I don't remember all of the details of the study, but the gist of the conclusion was that none of the common methods of identifying these species are totally reliable. Not surprisingly, striped bass were relativly easy to identify, but there was no single characteristic that could be used to reliably distinguish a white bass from a hybrid. The speaker described several sources of confusion that he found with the common methods of IDing these fish. I don't remember all of them, but one was that some hybrids have only one tooth patch.

I would like to read the article about the hybrids reproducing in the wild. I have not heard about that, but it does'nt suprise me. I have also caught very small hybrids in lakes that have not been stocked with them in over two years.