Red eye bass?

[Johnpenguin]

I caught a huge bass with red eyes in southern Ohio. This bass was over 4 pounds. Looks exactly like a large mouth but with red eyes. Never seen anything like it.does anyone know what this could be?

[TnRiver46]

Sounds like a largemouth! They have red eyes sometimes . There's also a rock bass (ambloplites rupestris) that people call red-eye but gets nowhere near 4 lbs. Then there is the true redeye bass (micropterus coosae) that only exits in and around the coosa river watershed, but it also wouldn't be 4 lbs and lives nowhere near Ohio 

[Glaucus]

I've never had a LMB with red eyes, but I've had my share of SMB and rock bass with red eyes. 

[soflabasser]

Redeye bass (Bartram's bass, Coosa bass, Altamaha bass, and other true redeye bass) are not native to Ohio nor have they been introduced there. You most likely caught a largemouth bass or smallmouth bass. Any black bass species can have ''red eyes'' but that does not mean they are a true redeye bass like a Bartram's bass is. You can catch redeye bass in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and other places in the South. Have caught a couple redeye bass in my travels and they are a fun species to catch.

[LxVE Bassin]

It’s a largemouth. I have caught plenty of largemouth with red eyes in Indiana.

[Avalonjohn44]

I catch plenty of red eyed LMs in the northern corner of VA, they certainly exist. Take a pic next time and share it for the non-believers.

[Falkus]

Red Eyes - can have a pigment variation that gives them red eyes. It is pretty rare. However I am starting to see more and more of them around here. 

[WRB]

Bass with red eyes are common in Smallmouth, Redeye and Shoal bass. None of California's bass are native all are transplanted from east of the Rocky Mountains.

The size indicates it's more then likely a largemouth bass, possible shoal bass but they have verticle markings similar to green colored Smallmouth.

Tom

[lonnie g]

someone get a pic, I want see one sounds cool , man 4 lb in any species is a good fish, congrats on the catch johnpenguin. hope you get her again

[Johnpenguin]

54 minutes ago, lonnie g said:

someone get a pic, I want see one sounds cool , man 4 lb in any species is a good fish, congrats on the catch johnpenguin. hope you get her again

 

It’s hard to see the red eye, but trust me it’s there

[WRB]

Can't see the tail clearly and the dorsal fin is down but the coloration of your bass looks more like a Spotted bass and they often have red eyes. Did the bass have teeth on it's tongue.

TOM

 

 

[Paul Roberts]

LM's here pretty commonly have red eyes. It appears that they can alter their eye color, like the rest of the body. Chromatophores -the cells that change color- are found in the eyes as well as in the skin.

 

LM's eyes here (and back in NY) vary from deep brown to bright red. I believe I see the red most frequently in the spring with male LMs around spawning time. I've associated it with aggression, but it could also simply be related to those fish being in shallow water, and/or in direct sunlight. It seems that the fish with really dark eyes came out of darker water, deeper water, cover, ... shade.

 

Interestingly, I see red in the eyes most frequently in my underwater shots, in both females and males. I haven't really tallied anything but it's quite common and, UW at least, may have something do with social interactions and/or lighting. Again, these are mostly shallow fish, maybe in direct sunlight? Not sure my camera's would pick up red in the depths though, without additional video lighting.

 

Anyway, it's been really common among the LM's I've seen.

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

 

It’s hard to see the red eye, but trust me it’s there

Definitely a largemouth. And a good dog 

[lonnie g]

14 hours ago, Johnpenguin said:

 

It’s hard to see the red eye, but trust me it’s there

?cool. pretty dog as well!

[soflabasser]

On 2/17/2019 at 5:29 PM, Johnpenguin said:

 

It’s hard to see the red eye, but trust me it’s there

Looks like a northern strain largemouth bass and not a true redeye bass.

On 2/14/2019 at 3:06 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Then there is the true redeye bass (micropterus coosae) that only exits in and around the coosa river watershed, but it also wouldn't be 4 lbs and lives nowhere near Ohio 

I agree with you that Ohio has no native redeye bass but there are several redeye bass species that live outside the Coosa river watershed. Bartram's bass live in South Carolina/Georgia, Altamaha bass only live in Georgia, Warrior bass live in Alabama. There are other types of redeye bass besides these but none are native to Ohio. Have you caught Coosa bass? There is a healthy population of them in some parts of Tennessee.

On 2/17/2019 at 6:03 PM, Paul Roberts said:

LM's here pretty commonly have red eyes.

Anyway, it's been really common among the LM's I've seen.

Yes it is very common to see largemouth bass with ''red eyes'', I caught a couple this past weekend. These largemouth bass with red eyes are not true redeye bass and they are just ordinary largemouth bass.

[TnRiver46]

6 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Looks like a northern strain largemouth bass and not a true redeye bass.

I agree with you that Ohio has no native redeye bass but there are several redeye bass species that live outside the Coosa river watershed. Bartram's bass live in South Carolina/Georgia, Altamaha bass only live in Georgia, Warrior bass live in Alabama. There are other types of redeye bass besides these but none are native to Ohio. Have you caught Coosa bass? There is a healthy population of them in some parts of Tennessee.

Yes it is very common to see largemouth bass with ''red eyes'', I caught a couple this past weekend. These largemouth bass with red eyes are not true redeye bass and they are just ordinary largemouth bass.

I have never fished for them but it seems we sampled some in college and snorkeled with them. I thought almost all the water in eastern Alabama was part of the coosa watershed, minus what flows Into the chattahoochee. Tallapoosa and coosa Rivers form the Alabama river so it’s all fairly interconnected. I think a whole lot of water in northwest Georgia is also part of the coosa watershed. The red eye bass species name is even “coosae.” Every drop of rain that falls in the state of Tennessee either goes into the TN river or Cumberland river (which both empty into the Ohio) or the Mississippi out on the western border. Therefore you could say all of Tennessee is part of the Ohio River watershed or the Mississippi watershed (which people do all the time). There are two exceptions : 1) the man made Tennessee tombigbee barge canal 2) a few streams in southeast Tennessee actually flow into the conasauga river. These are the streams where we found the micropterus coosae and also a bunch of turtles that don’t exist anywhere else in the state. In summary I guess I use the term “watershed” pretty widely, a tiny stream that is way on top of a mountain is still considered part of the Tennessee River watershed to me if that’s where the water ends up. Even if it’s over 100 miles from the actual river that bears the watershed name. 

[soflabasser]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I have never fished for them but it seems we sampled some in college and snorkeled with them. I thought almost all the water in eastern Alabama was part of the coosa watershed, minus what flows Into the chattahoochee. Tallapoosa and coosa Rivers form the Alabama river so it’s all fairly interconnected. I think a whole lot of water in northwest Georgia is also part of the coosa watershed. The red eye bass species name is even “coosae.” Every drop of rain that falls in the state of Tennessee either goes into the TN river or Cumberland river (which both empty into the Ohio) or the Mississippi out on the western border. Therefore you could say all of Tennessee is part of the Ohio River watershed or the Mississippi watershed (which people do all the time). There are two exceptions : 1) the man made Tennessee tombigbee barge canal 2) a few streams in southeast Tennessee actually flow into the conasauga river. These are the streams where we found the micropterus coosae and also a bunch of turtles that don’t exist anywhere else in the state. In summary I guess I use the term “watershed” pretty widely, a tiny stream that is way on top of a mountain is still considered part of the Tennessee River watershed to me if that’s where the water ends up. Even if it’s over 100 miles from the actual river that bears the watershed name. 

I highly recommend you try fishing for Coosa bass when you get a chance since they live relatively close to you and it will be another black bass species on your list. I have caught 2 species of redeye bass, 3 if you include shoal bass which was considered a redeye bass less than 20 or so years ago. There are at least 5 species of redeye bass that live in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and other areas that they have been introduced in. Many of these redeye bass are found in specific watersheds such as the Bartram's bass found in the Savanah river watershed. My goal is to catch at least 3 more species of redeye bass to add to my list and maybe more in future vacations. They are a beautiful little fish that live in beautiful areas so they are a fish worth traveling for.

[Paul Roberts]

The photo above is a largemouth. A 4lb bass, that "looks exactly like a LM", in S Ohio, is almost certainly a LM. If it is a hybrid at any level, it would take DNA testing to find that sliver.

 

It's not a Red-Eye Bass (M. coosae). They are stream, often upper reach, fishes of the Southern US, and even dubbed "the brook trout of bass". @soflabasser is right that some M. coosae, and related species, have been found as far north as Kentucky, but very few. A LM fisher, fishing LM habitat -stillwaters- will not likely find them.

 

LMB can have red-eyes too. And, apparently, "Red-Eye Bass" may or may not have red eyes too, at times. Again, I'm going to guess that a Red-Eye that just spent the last hour tucked in deep shade of an undercut boulder, is the one most apt to have dark eyes.

[drew4779]

I fish SW Ohio and SE Indiana.  LM bass with red eyes are very common. 

[Jeff Browning]

Meanmouth?  

[Bluebasser86]

100% largemouth. They can have bright red eyes just like a smallmouth or spot can. This is a largemouth from a lake in Kansas with no spots and very few smallmouth. There's very few lakes with spots or smallmouth in Kansas actually and there's only the 3 main species here. 

[Bankbeater]

It's common around here to catch largemouth with red eyes. 

[Sam]

I think that bass was hitting the sauce and had a hangover.

[Jigfishn10]

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 7:54 AM, lonnie g said:

?cool. pretty dog as well!

Caught on a freshly cleaned worm just out of the washing machine...

 

Sorry, I had to....no more jokes.

[928JLH]

7 hours ago, Sam said:

I think that bass was hitting the sauce and had a hangover.

Definitely. Or smoking the devil's lettuce