I caught two nice bass this morning and both had the problem illustrated here:

I recalled the prior post, "what's wrong with this bass" and went back and so that these fish are different.  Previously this season all the bass I've caught on the lake have looked really healthy and recently, with all the shad available, fat.

Any idea what's the problem?

Could that be a male bass that ticked off his female mate that proceeded to kick his %@$ all over the lake? Seriously, that looks painful.

Herpes from the previous spawn?

I would send that photo to you DEM/DEP and alert them if there is more than one fish involved...but that's just me. Looks like fungus, infection??? Good luck!

Herpes from the previous spawn?

it got its #&%@ *$#*^&

It dont look good whatever it is.

If I had to take a guess, I would say that this is probably caused by the protozoan Epistyles, a common parasite in Missouri. This is kind of an allergic reaction to the parasite. Shouldn't be much to worry about as far as the fishery is concerned.

to me it either looks like a turtle got ahold of him, or he simply scraped some scales off on a rock.

Some sort of infection that may be due to increased viral/bacterial/fungal activity in the cooling water. Fish should be ok as long as it doesnt affect its gills. May want to do some research about local diseases in your water systems.....LMBV, VHS. ect..

parasites in the water, some can form worms in the meat, I would take it to state biologists and have him check it, and I wouldn't eat any fish until I got a report just in case.

That looks like symptoms of protozoan parasites, but it could be something worse. If that fish came from a public reservoir, state biologists definitely need to know about it (they probably already do). If it is a private reservoir, the landowner needs to know. If it were my fish, I would want it analyzed by a fish diagnostic lab to find out exactly what it is.

I've seen similar symptoms diagnosed as largemouth bass virus disease.

it could also be a bass that is digging a nest. you see it in salmon all the time. however, i have seen Kokanee with a similar mark on their gills

It appears to be a bacterial infection from a water-born bacteria named Columnaris.  It's quite common and not a big deal.  It is always present in the water and usually shows up in a fish after it has been stressed in some way, such as after being caught and released in a tournament.  The stress makes the fish susceptible to the bacteria and then they get the infection.  It is not LMBV.  LMBV does not express itself by showing any external characteristics.

Neosporin would fix it in no time.

Herpes from the previous spawn?

x2 lol  

I'd listen to what Bob says. He's been a warmwater biologist for over 30 years now.  He knows his stuff!

i have caught many bass with worms in them but not in the meat or guts just surrounding the guts are these bass safe to eat and what is wrong with them

Never seen that before

That looks like symptoms of protozoan parasites, but it could be something worse. If that fish came from a public reservoir, state biologists definitely need to know about it (they probably already do). If it is a private reservoir, the landowner needs to know. If it were my fish, I would want it analyzed by a fish diagnostic lab to find out exactly what it is.

I've seen similar symptoms diagnosed as largemouth bass virus disease.

It's a public reservoir. I've sent photos, description and request for feedback to the state Missouri Dept of Nat Resources and have not received an answer as yet.

Good move. I work on private lake fisheries all over the nation. Recently (in May), a brand new client called, unhappy about their inability to catch fish.

That lake, about 35 acres, had been over-stocked with feed-trained largemouth bass and all the associated forage fish several years ago by a different consultant.

The fishery wasn't developing as they thought it should.

The lake had all the normal "bells and whistles" with aeration, good feeders and popular fish food. It had been stocked with bluegill, redear sunfish, threadfin shad...on top of an existing native fish population.

When I electrofished the lake in May, I found several bass with symptoms similar to the one shown in the photo at the beginning of this thread.

I told the guys how to medicate the feed, assuming the sores and red spots were columnaris or possibly aeromonas, two different bacteria which commonly afflict fish in crowded conditions. Rarely do I see this in ponds and lakes where the fish population concentration is "normal".

The ranch manager medicated the feed for ten days, enough time to stop the bacteria and allow the fish to begin healing.

Then, I got a call in July from the ranch manager. They were having a fish dieoff of bass only. That signaled to me there is a disease issue rather than a water quality problem. If water were the problem, different species would be dying at the same time.

I had them collect two fish (that's all they could catch) and contact their local veternarian to ship the fish to a fish diagnostic lab. The fish were immediately shipped. They still had symptoms as the fish in the photo at the beginning of the thread.

The fish were diagnosed at Mississippi State University and the veternarian/pathologist there said he found no aeromonas or columnaris, but did find LMBV.

I was a bit shocked and didn't believe the analysis.

I went to that ranch in September, electrofished, found several fish with the same symptoms and had them shipped overnight and analyzed again in the same lab.

I specifically told the vet to check for external parasites such as epistylis and the different bacteria which cause such external sores, lesions and redness.

The vet at Miss St. found a few internal parasites, no external parasites and bacterial cultures were negative. He did identify LMBV for the second time.

It was the same diagnosis.

That's where I came up with the advice in my first post of this thread.

Pure science, no opinion.

My opinion is this...state biologists should take notice and not blow this off. If they, in fact, have LMBV, they probably can't do anything about it. But, I can't tell you how often I come across people who legally take fish from a public lake and transport to stock in a private pond.

The citizenry should know the truth. In my professional opinion, those fish with that type of affliction should be properly diagnosed.

see what happens when you drag them fish on your boat carpet guys they get rug burns