Abstract–We examined the growth of individual age‐0 smallmouth bass collected from the North Anna River, Virginia (USA), to determine whether growth during early life stages was most affected by temperature, duration of growing season, growth during previous stages, or whether growth was a stochastic process. Spawning was delayed in 1990, all individuals grew in warm temperatures, and their growth rates during early life stages were not correlated with prevailing temperatures or with growth during previous stages. By the end of the summer, swim‐up date was not correlated with size at the time of collection. In 1991, individuals that swam‐up earliest consistently grew slower (and in colder temperatures) during early life stages. Late swim‐ups (that were exposed to warmer temperatures) grew faster during early life stages but had a shorter growing season. By the middle of the summer, all individuals had an equal chance of being among the largest members of the cohort. The size distribution of the age‐0 cohort at the end of the summer did not differ between years, despite the fact that spawning occurred 3–5 weeks later in 1990 (when temperatures were maximized) than in 1991 (when temperatures were