genetic flaws?

[paul.]

hey guys i have a question. maybe someone can help cause i am kinda puzzled. a few days ago, i was fishin' in my favorite lake, just jiggin' along and stuck a pretty nice lm. i was kinda bummed, because this fish should have weighed over 9 pounds for sure, but could have easily been a 10+. instead it weighed 8 even. it was pretty long, with a big head, and big fins. however, the body of the fish was super skinny. even the "cheeks" of the fish were kinda sunk in like it was malnourished.

here is the puzzling thing. i have caught several fish in various sizes from this lake that look like this. BUT, i have also caught several that are so fat and healthy that they look like they couldn't eat another bite. how could this be - such extremes in the same lake? i have heard of lakes where most of the bass are really healthy or lakes where most of the bass are really unhealthy. but both in the same lake?

i don't think there is any kind of disease involved here, and i know the food supply is really good. i have a friend who suspects that there is a genetic flaw in some of the bass that makes 'em look super skinny like this that gets passed on from generation to generation. makes sense to me.

has anyone else ever encountered such extemes within the same environment? have any other ideas as to what the culprit might be? thanks for any ideas y'all could offer. i am stumped. :-?

[Tin]

Yup, I fish a lake that is loaded with schools of 2-4" white perch, this is really rare is RI so the whole lake is just loaded with bait and rocks that hold craws. But still catch fish that should go 5 but are 3 and half or four. Have huge heads, but bolemic bodies. I would say 40% of the fish population is like this and the other 60% are all chunky. And it isnt like you find the skinny fish in one are and the chunky ones in another, they are mixed in. Cant figure it out either :-?

[luckyinkentucky]

You may run a cross a few of those from time to time.  They're probably infected by the Largemouth Bass Virus that kills adult populations.  Not all adults catch it, and it is mainly transmitted by poor water quality.  I know Tennessee has a few lakes that have been on the watch list, but you might want to check into it.  

[Tin]

Ya, might see what DEM has to say. Dont know much about the whole LMB Virus but if its transmitted by poor water quality then this is the place. This place redifines poor water quality.

[Randall]

That's real common here at Lake Varner in GA. My theory, and my catches support it ,is that there are fish that live at depths or locations that are lacking in enough or the right type of forage to grow well and others that live at the right depths and locations to make the most of the right types and amounts  of forage. These skinny fish may also be living at depths/locations where they have to compete with other more aggresive fish like stripers or hybrids. You may not see a big difference in the smaller fish at different depths but once these fish get big they need a better supply and choice of forage in the depth/location they live. If the food supply is lacking what the bigger fish need at the depth and location that fish lives then the fish gets skinny and stops growing as fast. If they are in the right locations or depths they grow larger and fatter than others. It could be other things like parasites and diseases but knowing your lake has produced big fish this is my first guess. Here is a Varner fish that should weigh in the teens but was only nine pounds. It had a terrible choice of home range where it lived and had to compete with hybrids for a very limited food supply but probably had the genes to be huge if it lived in the right location. The fish was longer than a fifteen pounder I caught this past spring but weighed nearly six pounds less. Looked young and healthy other than its body weight.

[Cory20]

Maybe a bad hunter?  Are all fish equally smart, aggressive?  Might it have been an old fish?

It is puzzling.  You get a feel for how filled out the fish are for the lake, time of year, location, and then a long thin one gets thrown in there that makes you say what if.

[George Welcome]

Genetic it isn't, and I doubt very much that it is LMBV. What you are looking at has a couple of explanations: the first and most simple is a product of age. This is also the most likely. The second is illness such as cancer or the like.

[T-rig]

Genetic it isn't, and I doubt very much that it is LMBV. What you are looking at has a couple of explanations: the first and most simple is a product of age. This is also the most likely. The second is illness such as cancer or the like.

I agree. This fish was blind and Í assume of old age (they don't get big around here).

[Tokyo Tony]

I've caught a couple fish like that - I agree with some of you guys.  I think it's just old age, especially if the fish looks otherwise healthy.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Monster Bass dying of old age.  Catch and release at it's finest  

[tyrius.]

Maybe they just like to work out?  

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I knew "TrimSpa" had no place in Bass Fishing!!! ;D