Richard Gene The Fishing Machine

[GA BASS ODYSSEY]

I ask some time back ago if someone could identify some of his creek catches. Especially the ones he calls Smallmouths. Some of those fish look like Shoal bass too. But I believe they are Meanmouths. He mentioned in his last video today that he knows the Meanmouths are there.

 

[GA BASS ODYSSEY]

Are these hybrids Kentucky Spotted Bass or Alabama Spotted Bass. I pretty sure you use the right terminology but I want everyone here to know what your talking about. I wish GDNR would use the right terminology. I'm assuming you mean Ketucky Spotted Bass

Alabama Bass
Kentucky Spotted Bass

 

[ShoalBandit]

I ask some time back ago if someone could identify some of his creek catches. Especially the ones he calls Smallmouths. Some of those fish look like Shoal bass too. But I believe they are Meanmouths. He mentioned in his last video today that he knows the Meanmouths are there.

Unfortunately a lot of those hybrids have traits unique to Redeye Bass—like the silver/white crescent behind the eye and the white caudal fin margins. Even the fish that outwardly resemble one species are probably combinations of three (or more) species that's why some resemble Shoal Bass. You see widespread hybridization and extreme levels of introgression in other places where nonnative species are illegally introduced so it becomes almost impossible to ID hybrids without genetic analysis.

BTW the term 'meanmouth' is a nickname sometimes applied to Smallmouth x Spotted bass hybrids in case anyone is trying to figure that out. Most biologists don't like the name because it implies hybrid black bass are more aggressive or somehow better which is never the case long-term. Also for the record hybrid black bass aren't recognized by science so they aren't something you need to put on your bucket list and you definitely don't want them in your lake or river. I also feel like by giving hybrid black bass a name we minimize the impact they're having which is the local extinction of native species.

 

[ShoalBandit]

Are these hybrids Kentucky Spotted Bass or Alabama Spotted Bass. I pretty sure you use the right terminology but I want everyone here to know what your talking about. I wish GDNR would use the right terminology. I'm assuming you mean Ketucky Spotted Bass

Alabama Bass
Kentucky Spotted Bass

The fish I caught in South Chickamauga Creek were Spotted x Redeye hybrids. Spotted Bass (Micropterus punctulatus) are native to the Mississippi/Tennessee drainage (Town Creek, South Chickamauga Creek, etc...) along with Smallmouth and Largemouth. Yes true Spotted Bass are informally known as 'northern' or 'Kentucky' spotted bass to many anglers however because the Spotted Bass was first described from the Ohio River (1819) that species retained the "Spotted Bass" name when the Alabama Bass was described in 2008.

I can't speak for the GADNR but we probably don't have enough pure Spotted Bass to justify separate records and/or maybe they're worried about ID in the field with so many Spotted x Alabama hybrids in the middle Chattahoochee and Flint? That's the sad future we're headed for if people don't stop moving fish around—No records for hybrid black bass. So far Tennessee is the only state with separate records for Alabama Bass and Spotted Bass but they have a lot more native Spotted Bass than we do. BTW the IGFA just added the Alabama Bass this year so they now have separate records for Spotted Bass and Alabama Bass.

 

[GA BASS ODYSSEY]

I just hope some how we are lucky enough to keep all them pure blooded guys around. Recognizing a species brings problems to the government especially when your #1 job is species protection. I agree giving a name to a hybrid is bad news. That means exception to the normal rule.
The black bass fascinates me for some reason. It has all my life. I have fished for them as a child and adult. But most of my life I never knew they were so many different kinds. After finding out that, I have been researching them for the past for 2 years. Now I have a challenge to catch them all. But not only that but I have a internal drive that makes me want to protect them all. I just don't know how to do it. My dad was a big conservationist and a Federal Game Agent. He taught me so much and I remember him one day telling me to catch a Largemouth in the Okefenokee Swamp was a big deal. He never caught one there although he had been assigned there as refuge manager. When I was young I watched him make a million cast and never catch one. But they are there. That is a big challenge to me to get a large mouth there. Also to get a Suwanee on The Alapaha River in Georgia. I also want to complete the the GA Bass Slam next year then move on from there to get the rest through out the USA.
Thanks ShoalBandit. I know how you feel about these special fish. I love all you do for us and the information you provide. Your pictures along with the other members at iNaturalist are amazing and I reference them always in my research.

 

[ShoalBandit]

Thanks I sometimes feel like the ultimate thread hijacker so it's good to know some find the info useful.

It is incredibly frustrating (for me) as an angler to target a species a few hours away only to find a stream full of hybrids all because some careless and/or misguided human(s) illegally introduced a nonnative fish at some point. We don't have too many streams left in this state with native Smallmouth and Spotted Bass. Hybridization with nonnative species is so common I think we may only have two left off the top of my head. Anyway moving black bass around where native species already occur is never a good idea. Local extinction of native species is the inevitable end result.

BTW I'm not sure my first post was clear enough but those rare natural Spotted x Smallmouth hybrids ("meanmouth") appear to be sterile most of the time according to biologists. Apparently black bass that share a common ancestor within a drainage develop some kind of genetic and/or biological barrier to reproduction. When nonnative black bass are introduced those barriers to reproduction that develop over long periods of time no longer exist so widespread hybridization with native species is common.

As far as conservation goes I just try to make the info available so it can be passed on to others. That is my hope anyway...I'm not trying to be the resident biologist because I'm not a biologist. It's just really frustrating to see this same problem in so many different places all across the south from Texas to Virginia yet you hardly ever see or read anything about it.

I've fished the Okefenokee several times but I've never caught a Largemouth there. The general consensus is that the water there in the swamp is just too acidic but you probably already know that. That tells me reproduction in the swamp is probably at or near zero so I'd fish near one of the streams that flow into the swamp after a big rain.