Mean Mouth Bass

[Teresa McAnally]

I caught this yesterday at TableRock Lake and was told it is a “Mean Mouth”. Can anyone concur? 

[ArthurLK11]

I've never seen one so I can't say for sure, but it does look to have traits of both largemouth and smallmouth bass. 

[papajoe222]

yes it is. I've caught a number of them on TR. The absence of the dark lateral line and the zebra stripes on its head are two  easy identifiers. Nice catch

[wisconsin heat]

That's really cool!

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

Cool first post!

 

Haven't even heard of mean mouth.

[MN Fisher]

Nice fish - and yep, that's a mean mouth alright.

 

1 minute ago, Hewhospeaksmuchbull said:

Haven't even heard of mean mouth.

I heard of those way back in the 70's when I first started getting into bass. LMB/SMB hybrid.

[TnRiver46]

Looks like one to me, and a nice one 

[Ogandrews]

I’ve heard a lot of people call spot/smallmouth hybrids mean mouths also. I think that spots are more likely to cross bread with smallmouth than largemouth are with smallies, and I think the survival rate is better. I’m no biologist though so I could be completely wrong.

[Bluebasser86]

Yes it is. I caught a much smaller one on Table Rock fishing with my family last summer.

 

Many trips down there and this is only the third one I've caught.

[Teresa McAnally]

Thank you all for replying! This is great to know. My husband and i have learned a lot since this catch. 

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

yes it is. I've caught a number of them on TR. The absence of the dark lateral line and the zebra stripes on its head are two  easy identifiers. Nice catch

Thank you for the characteristics info! 

[Alex from GA]

I was invited to Beaver Lake 13 years ago and caught a couple of bass my host called "mean mouth".  He said they were spots and SM hybrids.

[MIbassyaker]

Serious question here: If "Meanmouth" is a SM/LM hybrid, why do we not see them caught other places that have good populations of SM and LM occupying the same water?  I only ever hear of meanmouths coming from ozark lakes, usually Table Rock. Why is this?   This would make a lot more sense if they are SM/Spot hybrids.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Serious question here: If "Meanmouth" is a SM/LM hybrid, why do we not see them caught other places that have good populations of SM and LM occupying the same water?  I only ever hear of meanmouths coming from ozark lakes, usually Table Rock. Why is this?   This would make a lot more sense if they are SM/Spot hybrids.

The original Mean Mouth is a SM/LM hybrid and for years, that was it. Currently it also includes SM/Spot hybrids and are VERY rare in either case. Missouri and Georgia are the only states that have confirmed Mean Mouth catches, though they are checking Kentucky now too.

https://bassfishing-gurus.com/an-introduction-to-mean-mouth-bass-information-and-facts/

 

Why they're so rare even in water bodies that have a LM/SM or LM/Spot population is anyone's guess.

[TnRiver46]

14 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

The original Mean Mouth is a SM/LM hybrid and for years, that was it. Currently it also includes SM/Spot hybrids and are VERY rare in either case. Missouri and Georgia are the only states that have confirmed Mean Mouth catches, though they are checking Kentucky now too.

https://bassfishing-gurus.com/an-introduction-to-mean-mouth-bass-information-and-facts/

 

Why they're so rare even in water bodies that have a LM/SM or LM/Spot population is anyone's guess.

Smallmouth/spot hybrid known as meAn mouth is very common species in my area

[MIbassyaker]

47 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

The original Mean Mouth is a SM/LM hybrid and for years, that was it. Currently it also includes SM/Spot hybrids and are VERY rare in either case. Missouri and Georgia are the only states that have confirmed Mean Mouth catches, though they are checking Kentucky now too.

https://bassfishing-gurus.com/an-introduction-to-mean-mouth-bass-information-and-facts/

 

Why they're so rare even in water bodies that have a LM/SM or LM/Spot population is anyone's guess.

Thanks -- I found this in-fisherman article too:

https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/hybrid-black-bass/154884

 

I would speculate (to answer my own question) that most of these hybridizations in the wild may have come about following stocking, where the native and introduced species must now share the same spawning habitats. In the species' original waters, there is probably a lot less sharing of spawning habitat; the very reason there are multiple species in the first place is because of the different ecological niches in their original waters.

 

I would also expect Spot/SM hybrids to be a lot more common naturally, given the Spots and Smallmouths are more closely related to than either species is to Largemouth.

 

Here is a plot of the bass family tree estimated from a genetic study of bass sampled from various locations around the country (Near et al., 2003, Speciation in North American black basses: Micropterus (Actinopterygii: Centrarchidae)):

 

 

 

Notice how much closer spots (M. punctulatus) and smallies (M. dolomieu) are to each other than to largemouths (M. salmoides).

[soflabasser]

Nice meanmouth bass hybrid.

[Bluebasser86]

10 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

Serious question here: If "Meanmouth" is a SM/LM hybrid, why do we not see them caught other places that have good populations of SM and LM occupying the same water?  I only ever hear of meanmouths coming from ozark lakes, usually Table Rock. Why is this?   This would make a lot more sense if they are SM/Spot hybrids.

Member Fish Chris (who hasn't been active for quite some time unfortunately), has a picture of a massive meanmouth he caught in California.

[MIbassyaker]

14 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Member Fish Chris (who hasn't been active for quite some time unfortunately), has a picture of a massive meanmouth he caught in California.

 

 

WOWZA!!

[Eric Matechak]

from what I read, they are no longer stocked because they are more aggressive than LM and SM and bully them off nests. They are jerks. They have been responsible for LM and SM declines in many waterways. I'd say if you catch one, don't let it go unless it is undersized.

 

I think they are kind of ugly tbh. They look like a caricature of a smallmouth bass in coloration.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Eric Matechak said:

from what I read, they are no longer stocked because they are more aggressive than LM and SM and bully them off nests. They are jerks. They have been responsible for LM and SM declines in many waterways. I'd say if you catch one, don't let it go unless it is undersized.

 

I think they are kind of ugly tbh. They look like a caricature of a smallmouth bass in coloration.

They're a naturally occurring hybrid. The only way to prevent them would be to completely remove all of one of the parent species. They don't occur in such large numbers to negatively effect other fish either. They occur relatively often at Table Rock for instance and in all the times I've fished it, I've caught 3 meanmouths. Whoever told you that was blowing smoke. Personally, I think they're a beautiful fish. That one I posted of Fish Chris is one of the most stunning bass pictures I've ever seen. 

 

Hybrid stripers on the other hand, they'll out-compete bass and everything else in a lake with their bottomless pit appetites if there isn't a huge biomass to support them.

[Eric Matechak]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

They're a naturally occurring hybrid. The only way to prevent them would be to completely remove all of one of the parent species. They don't occur in such large numbers to negatively effect other fish either. They occur relatively often at Table Rock for instance and in all the times I've fished it, I've caught 3 meanmouths. Whoever told you that was blowing smoke. Personally, I think they're a beautiful fish. That one I posted of Fish Chris is one of the most stunning bass pictures I've ever seen. 

 

Hybrid stripers on the other hand, they'll out-compete bass and everything else in a lake with their bottomless pit appetites if there isn't a huge biomass to support them.

you never know the validity of the author or of the material but there is an article I found that does support the idea that naturally occurring meanmouths are pretty rare but lab bred strains can be stocked in numbers and they are unusually aggressive. 

 

that is a good looking photo. Personal preferences I suppose. For example, I think smallmouth bass look better when they are more solid coloration rather than distinctly marked up. That is just my personal preference and likely why I don't care for the look of meanmouths.

[rangerjockey]

Yep, that's what it is and a dandy at that. I catch a couple a year. Smallmouth/kentucky cross.

 

[Dwight Hottle]

On 5/6/2020 at 12:54 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Member Fish Chris (who hasn't been active for quite some time unfortunately), has a picture of a massive meanmouth he caught in California.

As I remember Chris called it a smallmouth. 

[KYRANGERMAN]

Been fishing for about 55 years and that's the first time I've ever heard of a "mean mouth".