Meanmouth?

[fish4thepeck]

One of my closest friends from Nashville went to the River yesterday below Nick and sent me this pic of a bass that could be a meanmouth, It's got a lot of Kentucky features but it's head is all smallmouth, What do yall think.

 

[ashtrey]

i would say spot but??? whos to say i am not a biologiist.

 

[Jmax]

I think you are right. emoAngel Jmax

 

[polo-dog]

Tongue patch or not? That's how I would tell.

 

[honkytonker26]

Looks like a meanmouth to me

 

[SPOON]

I would guess a mean mouth, but I would need to know exactly where he caught it to know for sure emoSmile

 

[sprestwood]

spot x smallie hybreds are possible, not likely, but possible. I swear that I read something about twra introduced cross breeds introduced with black bass. It was dismissed as a failure because none were found through electro fishing. This past summer I believe I caught a smallie x LMB, and kicked myself for not bringing a camera. So it was released. Was your fish released?

 

[sdfd29]

I have seen several of these "meanmouths". They are in our lakes weather they are likely or not.

It appears from the picture that it is a meanmouth. I have seen several that have the vertical bars on the side with the tounge patch, but they had the coloration of a smallmouth. I have a couple of areas that I fish that are rocky and hold both smallmouth and spots. These are the areas that I have caught what I believe are the meanmouths.

 

[jw_outdoors]

I can't seem to catch either! lol

 

[gumby78]

Hey wait a minute. The State of Tennessee says that there are no such thing as a Meanmouth bass. Just like Area 51 and Bigfoot. emoPoke Regardless, it is a nice fish.

 

[Dropshot]

They say it, but when I caught that 4.13, that is exactly what the ranger said it was...It had a distinct toungue patch. I caught it in the pitch dark, and then called my wife to look up the state spotted bass because I thought I might be close. Then the ranger said it was a meanie.
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[micropterus]

I caught one 5 lbs. 3 ozs. by the cb robinson bridge on 1 10 08 that I thought was a smallie , but it had a toothpatch.So I guess it was a spot. Now it's on a spot on my wall. emoLaugh

 

[SpurHunter]

Dropshot - 2/18/2009 9:09 PM

They say it, but when I caught that 4.13, that is exactly what the ranger said it was...It had a distinct toungue patch. I caught it in the pitch dark, and then called my wife to look up the state spotted bass because I thought I might be close. Then the ranger said it was a meanie.
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Whats with the crazy "Jack Black" eyes!? emoLaugh </p>

 

[Guest]

That is good fish...

 

[MadBomber]

It's not uncommon for a smallmouth to have a tongue patch. Based on the body shape in the original post, I would vote meanmouth. In the "Jack Black" picture, I would vote pure smallmouth. Takes more than a tongue patch to identify a spot!!

 

[jfisher]

Madbomber is correct on both counts. The first fish (fish4thepeck's) is a smallmouth x spotted bass hybrid (a.k.a. "meanmouth"). The second fish ("Jack Black's) exhibits no features that suggest anything but a smallmouth. Some smallmouth can have tooth patches, so that is not a very useful character for identifying a meanmouth. Incidentally, the State (i.e., TWRA) does not recognize meanmouth bass for the purpose of setting regulations or keeping records, but no one questions that these hybrids exist. TWRA has collected them in electrofishing samples. Scroll down through the fish photos at TWRA's Region IV reservoir fisheries site (www.tnfish.org) and you'll see one.