is this a Rock bass?

[throttleplate]

caught this at 10:00pm sunday and couldnt tell if it was a crappie or rock bass, i am going with rock bass what do you all think it is? It slammed the el- choppo and headed for the weeds and i thought i had a big bass since i had to drag the little tough guy out.

 

[Bubba 460]

Looks like a warmouth, sunfish family. Aggressive with a large mouth. I have found them to be a rare catch in most lakes, I only catch 2 or 3 a year. Good fighters for their size but so are bluegill. I always said that if a bluegill weighed 10 pounds you'd never get him in.

[throttleplate]

7 minutes ago, Bubba 460 said:

Looks like a warmouth, sunfish family. Aggressive with a large mouth. I have found them to be a rare catch in most lakes, I only catch 2 or 3 a year. Good fighters for their size but so are bluegill. I always said that if a bluegill weighed 10 pounds you'd never get him in.

 

its mouth was just like a crappies, it just didnt look like a crappie colorwise. It came out of the water when it hit the lure and it really pulled hard into the weeds.

[bulldog1935]

Ambloplites rupestris

Northern rock bass; Redeye; Redeye bass; Rock bass

 

[Bluebasser86]

Yep, that's a rock bass. 

3 hours ago, Bubba 460 said:

Looks like a warmouth, sunfish family. Aggressive with a large mouth. I have found them to be a rare catch in most lakes, I only catch 2 or 3 a year. Good fighters for their size but so are bluegill. I always said that if a bluegill weighed 10 pounds you'd never get him in.

Warmouth only have 3 spines on the anal fin whereas rock bass have 6, like the one in the OP's picture. 

[Spankey]

Plenty of them out here in rivers and lakes in PA. You are right they hit real hard. The bite is way bigger than they are. But once they are hooked they flounder out to nothing. No fight is them at all. Nice fish. 

[GTN-NY]

18 minutes ago, Spankey said:

Plenty of them out here in rivers and lakes in PA. You are right they hit real hard. The bite is way bigger than they are. But once they are hooked they flounder out to nothing. No fight is them at all. Nice fish. 

Totally different here. A 10” rock bass here fights to the death and you’d swear you hooked a 2lb bass

[Spankey]

3 minutes ago, GTN-NY said:

Totally different here. A 10” rock bass here fights to the death and you’d swear you hooked a 2lb bass

Most of the ones I catch here are while Trout fishing in streams. They will hammer the heck out of a Panther Martin or Mepps. The rock bass bite generally starts a few weeks into the season or a streams warm. They seem non existent in real cold water. 10” is nice size for a fish like that. They are a really nice looking fish also. 

[Buzzbaiter]

Definitely a rock bass, not a crappie, warmouth, or green sunfish. Light green body, dark green stripes, and red eyes give it away

[Bubba 460]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Yep, that's a rock bass. 

Warmouth only have 3 spines on the anal fin whereas rock bass have 6, like the one in the OP's picture. 

 

Rock bass it is then~ can't argue with science.

[Bird]

Our river is full of Rock bass and inline spinners will keep you busy all day.

[gim]

Ah yes, the infamous Rocky.  The distant, ugly cousin of the bass family that no one wants to associate with.

[heyitskirby]

14 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Ah yes, the infamous Rocky.  The distant, ugly cousin of the bass family that no one wants to associate with.

 

Oddly enough, scientifically speaking, they are all part of the sunfish family.  

[bulldog1935]

These photos were well-received on another thread.  

Different Ambloplites sp. rock bass in my home tailwater (took a red thread midge) - the cold tailwater is the only place I catch these.  

 

Lepomis sp. warmouth munched a buddy's popper in the Guadalupe headwaters.  they definitely prefer warmer, stiller water.  

 

since I'm here, another bud's piggy warmouth farther down the Guadalupe ate a pistol pete

[Bluebasser86]

I almost, might have, broke the state record for Warmouth in Kansas a few years ago. My cheap Berkley scale said I was 2oz off, it was about 1/4" shorter than the current record, but real fat. Caught it flipping grass clumps with a RI Sweet Beaver. 

[galyonj]

2 hours ago, GTN-NY said:

Totally different here. A 10” rock bass here fights to the death and you’d swear you hooked a 2lb bass

 

Similar here. The ones I've caught were pretty fierce for their size. Meatballs are fun little fish to hook into.

[J Francho]

[throttleplate]

5 hours ago, GTN-NY said:

Totally different here. A 10” rock bass here fights to the death and you’d swear you hooked a 2lb bass

yeah i tell ya it came out of the water when it hit and the splash it made and then the pull to the weeds made me think i had a big bass. It fought as hard as the 3 lbers i caught earlier.

 

Then i had to pull it out of the weeds  and when reeling it in it jumped and i was still convinced i had a big bass. It was now dark out and when i finally pulled it out i was surprised how small it was and started laughing because i was all jacked up thinkin i had a monster 7 pounder.

[Ratherbfishing]

Rock bass.  And a nice one, too.

[Vilas15]

I caught a big rock bass on a wiggle wart the other weekend. Those things will kamikaze musky baits too. No regard for their own lives.

[desmobob]

10 hours ago, GTN-NY said:

Totally different here. A 10” rock bass here fights to the death and you’d swear you hooked a 2lb bass

I've read that enough times that I don't doubt it, but here in Northeastern NY, they hit almost any lure, fight like crazy for about five seconds, then come dragging in on the surface with their mouth open, scooping water.  If they didn't have their mouth open creating that extra drag, you'd think they got off... 

[BigAngus752]

10 hours ago, Bubba 460 said:

 

Rock bass it is then~ can't argue with science.

Oh, these days yes you absolutely CAN argue with science.  Just go to a school board meeting.  

[MN Fisher]

Just now, BigAngus752 said:

Oh, these days yes you absolutely CAN argue with science.  Just go to a school board meeting.  

That'd be funny if it wasn't so horribly true...

[J Francho]

51 minutes ago, desmobob said:

I've read that enough times that I don't doubt it, but here in Northeastern NY, they hit almost any lure, fight like crazy for about five seconds, then come dragging in on the surface with their mouth open, scooping water.  If they didn't have their mouth open creating that extra drag, you'd think they got off... 

they're all bite and no fight here too

[Bubba 460]

1 minute ago, BigAngus752 said:

Oh, these days yes you absolutely CAN argue with science.  Just go to a school board meeting.  

 

Apparently there are two kinds if science nowadays.