Hi Guys,

Not sure where to put this.  I was smallmouth fishing but hooked on to this:

What is this critter?  The coloration's wrong for a smallie but it's not a largemouth; there aren't supposed to be any largemouth in this section of the Wabash, and its mouth was too small, anyway.

It only weighed 12oz.

Spotted bass?

If so, it's my first.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

Regards,

Josh

I think you are correct on the spotted bass 

If you held the dorsal up we could see if it's connected or closed the mouth we tell where the jaw ends. Spotted bass are named for a black spot at the base of the tail, no spot. I would say it's a largemouth bass without any evidence to indicate otherwise.

Tom

5 minutes ago, WRB said:

If you held the dorsal upwe could see if it's connected or closed the mouth we tell where the jaw ends. Spotted bass are named for a black spot at the base of the tail, no spot. I would say it's a largemouth bass without any evidence to indicate otherwise.

Tom

I was going to, but the bass had already been out of the water too long.

I've never in my life seen a largemouth with a mouth that small, though.  Before I looked at the coloration I thought it was a smallie.

Regards,

Josh

Your thumb is blocking its mouth, so i can't see how far the jaw extends.  If pressed, I would say that is a largemouth, for spots typically have smaller heads in addition to the smaller mouths & different pigment on the lower body.

There are also regional types of bass in rivers like the Guadalupe bass in Texas or red-eye bass in Alabama.  Does Indiana have something like that?. 

Looks like a dink largemouth to me

Here's another pic, not sure it helps:

It's a largemouth. Nothing about that fish suggest a spotted bass. Little largemouth just have little mouths. Spots look way different and even feel rougher than a largemouth.

Another vote for a largemouth. I have seen many dink largemouth with a smaller head like that. It's almost like the head doesn't keep up with the growth rate of the body. 

Largemouth.

I'm no expert but it looks like a young largemouth to me.  I've never seen a largemouth in the Wabash but I have caught them at the Mississinewa spillway a fish would only have to swim a few miles to enter the Wabash from there so I can't imagine that there are no largemouth in the Wabash just far less largemouth than smallmouth.

Definitely just a largemouth.

Before reading the other post I also thought it was a largemouth.

Thanks guys.

No spotted for me, I guess, but that's OK.

Largemouth being in this section of the river -- where I've only seen smallies, drum, gar, and walleye before -- could be a very good thing.  Largemouth should be able to compete more favorably with gar, I think.

Regards,

Josh

Micropterus salmoides

Largemouth or Bigfoot, not sure which but its either or. Might be a Yeti too but I still think its a largemouth. If it smells like a skunk then its a Bigfeet but if not its a largemouth.

If the jaw is past the eye it is a largemouth if not spotted

It's a bass fish...

Yup, largemouth, I've caught more small largemouth than anything and some of the dinks have small mouths.

2 hours ago, Fisher-O-men said:

Micropterus salmoides

You don't have to call him names just because you don't know what kind of bass it is. 

Hootie

I'm new to fishing but I've been catching a lot of juvenile LMB and it just looks like a young LMB to me. 

Just a squeaker LMB!

 

Hey that's a good thing. Don't be embarrassed. It means you don't often catch small bass!

That looks like a small largemouth. Did it have a rough spot on the tongue? If you layed it down on the ground, we might have enough evidence to prove that its a spot.

On 7/12/2016 at 10:56 PM, Josh Smith said:

I was going to, but the bass had already been out of the water too long.

I've never in my life seen a largemouth with a mouth that small, though.  Before I looked at the coloration I thought it was a smallie.

Regards,

Josh

River largemouth almost always seem to have small mouths relative to their body

Looks like a spot to me. Cheek scales are smaller than body scales and looks like jaw does not extend past the eye.