I remember the first time I caught one, on a swimbait...this was many years ago. 

I had no idea what it was for sure, but it looked like a young smallmouth to my then uneducated eye   Once I properly ID the fish I began catching them in numbers.  Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, inline spinners, topwater poppers, flies...they were all nailed by the aggressive Rock Bass.

 

If only they grew to a larger size...because wow they will attack anything!  Not amazing fighters, but stunningly aggressive and fun to catch on UL tackle.

Panfish are great, I love them.

I agree, rock bass are fun!  But now that you live in WV Chris, you have to start calling them "goggle eyes"...

I agree, rock bass are fun!  But now that you live in WV Chris, you have to start calling them "goggle eyes"...

 

Haha very true...I need to start catching up on the local fish slang

Yup.  And a bullhead is a "mudcat" here.

Yup. And a bullhead is a "mudcat" here.

Stuff like this is so funny because a Mudcat is a flathead here lol. I find it so funny how different places have different names for things.

Rock bass are awesome. Last weekend I caught 50-60 on a fly I tied the morning before. I also caught some small out of season bass on the same fly. And they are a lot of fun on an UL rod or fly rod.

Stuff like this is so funny because a Mudcat is a flathead here lol. I find it so funny how different places have different names for things.

Yep, flathead is a mudcat or yellow cat here. So many slang terms cause so much confusion. Someone says "speck" and I don't know if they're talking about crappie or speckled trout. To people around here, any kind of sunfish is a "perch", which drives me crazy since we have almost no perch in Kansas. Some call a crappie a "white perch", which are invasive and we do have in a couple of our lakes unfortunately. Another one that is like nails on a chalkboard is "white cat", which is a popular slang term for a blue cat. I hear someone say they caught a 40lb "white cat" out of the river and I want to ask if they turned in their new state/world record since that doubled the world record for white catfish and was also the first documented white catfish in Kansas. It bugs me more than it probably should I guess. 

Yep, flathead is a mudcat or yellow cat here. So many slang terms cause so much confusion. Someone says "speck" and I don't know if they're talking about crappie or speckled trout. To people around here, any kind of sunfish is a "perch", which drives me crazy since we have almost no perch in Kansas. Some call a crappie a "white perch", which are invasive and we do have in a couple of our lakes unfortunately. Another one that is like nails on a chalkboard is "white cat", which is a popular slang term for a blue cat. I hear someone say they caught a 40lb "white cat" out of the river and I want to ask if they turned in their new state/world record since that doubled the world record for white catfish and was also the first documented white catfish in Kansas. It bugs me more than it probably should I guess.

It's not that bad here haha, but a lot of people confuse channel cats for blues here. Around the catfish spawn the channels get darker and there color does favor a blue cat and a lot of people noodle for catfish and they claim all the 2-3lb channels are blues. I know there not but you can't argue with these people lol. I don't even know Id there are blues in these small rivers but they sure think so lol. You can tell the differnce by the anal fin very easily a channels is more rounded and a blues is straighter I don't know if there to proud to admit I'm right or just to dumb to relaize lol.

Yep, flathead is a mudcat or yellow cat here. So many slang terms cause so much confusion. Someone says "speck" and I don't know if they're talking about crappie or speckled trout. To people around here, any kind of sunfish is a "perch", which drives me crazy since we have almost no perch in Kansas. Some call a crappie a "white perch", which are invasive and we do have in a couple of our lakes unfortunately. Another one that is like nails on a chalkboard is "white cat", which is a popular slang term for a blue cat. I hear someone say they caught a 40lb "white cat" out of the river and I want to ask if they turned in their new state/world record since that doubled the world record for white catfish and was also the first documented white catfish in Kansas. It bugs me more than it probably should I guess. 

 

Yeah pretty much everywhere I've fished, bluegills and other sunnies are called "Perch".  I once targeted a specific lake for them because someone said it was full of "good-sized perch".  Nope, turns out they meant bluegill and/or sunnies. 

 

One angler referred to crappie as calico bass...I too have heard them called "specks" as well.

 

I also don't get calling bluegills "Bream", as that is technically a completely different European fish.

A lot of people here refer to any small fish as a sunfish, and any bottom feeder as a sucker. Also, guys will call walleye pickerel , which is a completely different species.

They call rock bass Red Eye up here in upstate NY. They are fun to catch and give you a pretty good fight on a light rod.

I remember the first time I caught one, on a swimbait...this was many years ago. 

I had no idea what it was for sure, but it looked like a young smallmouth to my then uneducated eye   Once I properly ID the fish I began catching them in numbers.  Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, inline spinners, topwater poppers, flies...they were all nailed by the aggressive Rock Bass.

 

If only they grew to a larger size...because wow they will attack anything!  Not amazing fighters, but stunningly aggressive and fun to catch on UL tackle.

Panfish are great, I love them.

I also like Rock Bass. They eat everything and anything accept for musky lures. The biggest I have caught is about 10 inches long.

There fun but they always seem to pee on me which is not what I'd call a great time lol.

They taste great too.

We call em Goggle Eyes down here; 1-1 1/2 pound aint uncommon.

I've often said if grew to 6-7 lbs they would hit the prop on your outboard thinking it was a buzzbait!

We call em Goggle Eyes down here; 1-1 1/2 pound aint uncommon.

I've often said if grew to 6-7 lbs they would hit the prop on your outboard thinking it was a buzzbait!

Lol! I catch a lot of Rock Bass where I fish. That would be great if they got up to 6-7 lbs.

maybe the most aggressive eaters I've found. these little guys will hit on anything

They taste great too.

 

Really??  I've never tried eating one or heard of anyone else frying em up.  

Really??  I've never tried eating one or heard of anyone else frying em up.

Absolutely! They are a great.

Really??  I've never tried eating one or heard of anyone else frying em up.  

Yes................I like them better than crappies. 

 

I don't mind me some Rock Bass fishing, I love to catch them on the small Booyah Pad Crasher Frog, they just blast it, and I even hold a Rock Bass tournament before "black" bass season opens here in WNY.