Mean Mouth

[bowhunter63]

After years of chasing Smallies in Missouri Finally got a Smallie Spot Cross. Not big but finally 

[12poundbass]

Congrats! How was the fight?

[The Budget Angler]

Is there a different name for a largemouth-smallmouth mix?  I've heard them both called meanmouths

[MN Fisher]

^ Commonly it was just LMB/SMB hybrids, but now includes LMB/any other black bass cross.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I've never seen a SM x LM cross.    

 

I haven't even seen a Spot x LM cross but I know theoretically it's possible.   I'm not sure it's possible for a LM and SM to cross.  

[MN Fisher]

25 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'm not sure it's possible for a LM and SM to cross.  

"Texas man sets world record after catching rare hybrid fish
The fish was a hybrid large-mouth, small-mouth bass"

https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/world-record-hybrid-largemouth-smallmouth-bass/

 

"The term "meanmouth bass" was born when Childers observed a school of largemouth-smallmouths attacking a female swimmer."

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

 

 

[bowhunter63]

3 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Congrats! How was the fight?

They are tough 

[Alex from GA]

I was fishing in Beaver Lake when I caught a bass my partner said was a meanmouth bass, cross between a spotted bass and a smallmouth.

[Jig Man]

I have caught them in Table Rock and Stockton here in MO but not in Beaver in Northern Arkansas.

[Munkin]

Caught 2 in Missouri and didn't know what they were until the Game Warden told me.

 

Allen

[GRiver]

I had never heard of this cross over hybrids. Is this lab produced? 

[MN Fisher]

8 minutes ago, GRiver said:

I had never heard of this cross over hybrids. Is this lab produced? 

While it's rare - it does happen naturally. Especially when introducing non-native black bass to new environments.

From the Childers article linked above - a small sampling:

"When smallies were added to the newly constructed Squaw Creek Reservoir in Texas, they soon hybridized and backcrossed with both northern and Florida subspecies of largemouths that were already in the impoundment. "

"By the late 1960s, stocking of spotted bass in central Missouri had led to hybridization and genetic swamping of smallmouth populations. "

"Beginning in 1974, smallmouths were stocked into central Texas streams where only native Guadalupe bass had existed. Within a decade, extensive hybridization and backcrossing occurred."

 

There's many more occurrences of stocked fish of one species interbreeding with already present species.

[Tackleholic]

Myself and others I know have caught Meanmouths in Bull Shoals Lake.

[GRiver]

Thanks @MN Fisher, I had absolutely no idea of the cross breeding on such a regular basis. I heard about stripped bass and sunshine bass., palmetto bass.

[rangerjockey]

I caught one last year out of Table Rock that I'm sure was well over 4lbs. I sent a pic to my buddy who guides here as soon as I turned it loose . He said did you weigh it ? I've never seen one that big. 

I hadn't either . I thought I just released a lake record... A quick visit to the Missouri dept. of conservation web page revealed that the record was over 6. Whew.

It was long enough to weigh 6 but too skinny. Probably an old buck.

They are a smallmouth/spot cross.

[Jig Man]

My partner caught one today down on Beaver lake in N AR.

[TnRiver46]

We have a decent amount of the SMB x spotted bass variety