Jig Meister Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 Was fishing in a local pond that has a trout tourney every year which I have never fished, but they stock it with a large amount. A month or so after that you will see the last few washed up dead. Last night I was messing around a little just tossing a shaky head in and around brush and overhangs and caught a bass that looked to me like a cross between a trout and a LMB. Sorry to pictures, I wasn't expecting anything as I was so close to home and wasn't being to serious (always the case eh?) The fish way maybe 2.5 LBS tops, but was about 18 inches long, slender and overall trout body shaped, had a very long face and mouth, the bottom jaw was elongated and pointed and overall had a trout look to it. You could tell it was a LMB by the color and obvious mouth size. Also the teeth were much more pronounced. So, anyone with a clue maybe? I did some light searches and turned up nothing. I will attempt to re-catch this fish and snap some pictures. Quote
Pittsboy Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 There is no such thing (bass/trout hybrid). Too bad you don't have a picture! I am really curious about your fish. Quote
Jig Meister Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 That is what I was thinking myself, and I was fumbling around last night trying to get my phone out of my pocket and couldn't, I did not want the fish to die, so I tossed her back. the pond is not large, and my chances of catching this fish again and pretty good and I already have my camera by in the tackle bag. Never seen a bass like this, been fishing since I was 8 lol. Quote
Jig Meister Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 Defiantly not a walleye, not at this little place. Quote
Super User senile1 Posted July 10, 2012 Super User Posted July 10, 2012 Try doing an internet search of Ohio freshwater fish to see what this fish was. I would guess if it had teeth all around that it was a walleye, a sauger, or a saugeye. Maybe someone brought the fish from another location and placed it in the pond. I don't suppose it was a bowfin? I don't think they could be mistaken for bass due to their long dorsal fin but I'm just throwing it out there. Quote
Missouribassman95 Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 There is no such thing (bass/trout hybrid). Too bad you don't have a picture! I am really curious about your fish. I know there is no such thing, but do you think it could happen? In the right environment maybe. Quote
Super User Nitrofreak Posted July 10, 2012 Super User Posted July 10, 2012 There is no such thing (bass/trout hybrid). Too bad you don't have a picture! I am really curious about your fish. Cummmoooonnnn man really? so your saying mermaids don't exist either? shame on you !!! lol. Bass/Trout hybrid....hmmm what should we name it? an assrout, a bassout, basstro? lol. I would have loved to have seen the fish as well, good luck catching it again !! Quote
jiggerpole Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 It's very possible that someone could have put any type of fish in a pond. People do this sort of thing all the time not knowing that they could be in violation of the law and or causing problems within the pond that they would not be aware of. I once caught an oscar out of one of our ponds. Quote
james 14 Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 There's no way he'd confuse a bowfin for anything resembling a bass. Is it possible it was just a skinny, malnourished bass? I've caught some pretty funky looking bass in my day and I could see where one might get the impression it's a hybrid of some sort. Quote
Jig Meister Posted July 11, 2012 Author Posted July 11, 2012 Tried again in the same location, no luck. Will try again today. Was defiantly not a bowfin, walleye, saugeye or anything else except a LMB. I am sure it is some type of genetic issue, but the length to weight ratio was so off and the jaw shape just made me wonder. when/if I bag her again I will update this post with pictures. Quote
MultiSpeciesFisherman Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 It's possible that it was just a largemouth bass with a genetic mutation. These things happen all the time and it's what drives natural selection. Every species of animal on the planet contains within its DNA every gene it has ever had, but normally only our more recent, "successful", genes are expressed (i.e. the genes that code for a tail in humans are turned off during embryo development leaving us with nothing but a tailbone, and embryos have tails that are about 7 vertebrae long during development). What that means is that birds, which gradually evolved from dinosaurs over time, are still occasionally (very rarely) born with teeth or with less feathers and more scales, and can be genetically modified to be born with these characteristics also by manipulating which genes are expressed or muted. So if a bass has some type of ancestor that had teeth and was more slender, it is possible that this mutation simply "regressed" to an earlier variation. Although mutation does not necessarily indicate regression. The sickle cell anemia gene after all was a response to help fight malaria in Africa. That is why African Americans have this problem. Their ancestors that had only the non-sickle cell gene died due to malaria. The ones who had only the sickle cell gene died because of sickle cell. But the people who had both genes survived malaria and survived sickle cell. That is natural selection. One condition is favored, the others die out, and the new one persists. So this could also just be nature "testing out" a new model. If it was a hybrid of any type, it would either be sterile, or have reduced fertility just like wipers and saugeye. The only reason wipers and saugeye aren't totally sterile is because the two parent species are so similar. A bass and a trout would almost certainly give rise to a sterile offspring considering the species gap. But in this case, I would say it's likely a simple case of confusing one fish species for another lol. I guess it could also just be an extremely skinny bass. But that doesn't account for the more pronounced teeth. Quote
mikey5string Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 it was probably just a thin LMB. I have seen/felt some LMB with more pronounced "teeth" that draw blood when lipped! The bottom jaw of the LMB is longer than the top and somewhat pointed when closed. It only become round when opened like when the fish is lipped. How long have you been bass fishing? I just ask because maybe you haven seen enough LMB to see the variation in size/color and even shape. Quote
Jig Meister Posted July 11, 2012 Author Posted July 11, 2012 it was probably just a thin LMB. I have seen/felt some LMB with more pronounced "teeth" that draw blood when lipped! The bottom jaw of the LMB is longer than the top and somewhat pointed when closed. It only become round when opened like when the fish is lipped. How long have you been bass fishing? I just ask because maybe you haven seen enough LMB to see the variation in size/color and even shape. What you described is pretty much it to a T. I have been bass fishing since 8, im going to be 29 this year. First one of these I have seen. I fish other species as well, so I would call myself an angler, rather than just a bass fisherman. Thanks for the replys, but the post above nailed it really. Quote
unionman Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 It was probably a grass bass with plastics in its gut...an old hawg starving to death. Quote
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