Bass Identification

[MountainMan83]

Curious to know what this guy is. He smashed a buzzbait yesterday evening. Thanks.

[CNYLbs]

Largemouth

[WRB]

What do you think the fish is?

Does the bass have teeth on it's tongue?

Is the dorsal fin connected?

Does the eye extend beyond the jaw hinge?

Where was the bass caught?

I can't answer without those details, coloration is all we can see.

Tom

[rod snapper]

It looks largemouth by coloration, but i cant be certain without more details.

[WRB]

You have Spotted Bass in MD and from the picture the bass appears to have dark patch of scales on it's tail base, LMB don't.

Coloration of the eyes isn't a identifier.

All bass have dorsal fins, yours fish has it down at the time of the photo.

From the limited info I would say it's a Spotted bass.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

It's a largemouth 

[Glaucus]

Largemouth for sure. I catch them with those eyes and that coloration and pattern all the time. Nothing unusual.

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

It's tiny! It is hard to tell since the fish is so small. I thought a spot at first but then I thought a LM. Being so small it is hard to tell.

[TnRiver46]

Largemouth 100%. Come on guys that looks nothing like any other species 

[WRB]

it's not easy to determine a Spotted bass from a largemouth from the photo attached.

Largemouth do not have scales on the base of the tail, the bass in the op's photos looks like it has the scales and dark spot the gives a Spotted bass it's name.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

It doesn't have prominent lines of spots below the lateral line or scales on the base of the dorsal, which are both identifiers of a spotted bass. It has some darker and lighter scales in spots below the lateral line, but nothing even close to the rows of spots on a spotted bass. LMB almost always have some degree of difference in scale coloration (see picture below). The close up picture of the face also gives another dead giveaway it's a largemouth and not a spot. The scales are the same size, or close to the same size as the rest of the body. If it was a spot the scales are tiny, so small they almost appear to not have scales on their cheeks in pictures.  

[The Bassman]

I think what's throwing some guys of is that it's so fat and that makes its mouth look small. It's clearly a LM. Coloration varies with water conditions.

[TnRiver46]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

it's not easy to determine a Spotted bass from a largemouth from the photo attached.

Largemouth do not have scales on the base of the tail, the bass in the op's photos looks like it has the scales and dark spot the gives a Spotted bass it's name.

Tom

It was very easy for me and several others. There are members that routinely catch spots that will agree, @Bluebasser86, @NorcalBassin And @lo n slo are a few that come to mind.  Once you have held several spotted bass you can pick one out from any photo 

[WRB]

What makes you think it's a LMB, can't go by shape or coloration. The differences are connected dorsal fin, teeth on the tongue, jaw hinge at the middle the eye with mouth closed and it's name sake spot of dark scales on the tail base. 

The op was questioning the eye color and has a close up of that meaningless detail.

The bass looks like a LMB but looks don't identify the fish, all the above physical elements identify a bass.

Why do you think I haven't caught hundreds of Spotted bass, they are common in California and all the world records over the past 20 years are from California.

We had these photo id's several times on this site and about 50% guess wrong with clear evidence bass are usually Spots and mis identified as LMB.

This post the bass doesn't have clear evidence and could be either LMB or Spotted.

Tom

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It doesn't have prominent lines of spots below the lateral line or scales on the base of the dorsal, which are both identifiers of a spotted bass. It has some darker and lighter scales in spots below the lateral line, but nothing even close to the rows of spots on a spotted bass. LMB almost always have some degree of difference in scale coloration (see picture below). The close up picture of the face also gives another dead giveaway it's a largemouth and not a spot. The scales are the same size, or close to the same size as the rest of the body. If it was a spot the scales are tiny, so small they almost appear to not have scales on their cheeks in pictures.  

Very helpful but what is missing is the scales at the base of the tail and dark spot the gives a "Spotted" bass it's name. The OP's photo appears to have this feature.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, WRB said:

What makes you think it's a LMB, 

Because it is 100 percent beyond the shadow of any doubt a LMB. You know more about catching them than I ever will but this isn't the first time on here you've misidentified spotted bass. We had to distinguish between species all throughout college that had been in jars of formalin since the sixties. No color or markings on these fish so you had to use the more reliable identifying characters. I guarantee that if you show the picture of the OPs bass to any knowledgeable fisheries expert they will tell you is pure micropterus salmoides as it has NOT A SINGLE identifying characteristic of a micropterus punctatus

[soflabasser]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:41 AM, MountainMan83 said:

Curious to know what this guy is. He smashed a buzzbait yesterday evening. Thanks.

The fish you are holding is a northern strain largemouth bass.

[MountainMan83]

Thank you all!