Spotted bass or largemouth??

[tentimesover]

Until recently I didn't realize there were two types of "bass."  I do a lot of fishing on Lake of Ozarks and was happy just to catch a bass of any type.  Now I've been looking more closely at the position of the mouth relative to the eye and it appears that most of the bass that I get are the spotted bass.  They typically range from "kidde" size up to about 1.5 pounds.  While it's fun to catch any bass I'm really eager to get something bigger than my personal best so far this year (4 lb 6 oz) and I don't think these spotted bass are going to do it for me.

My question is, do the largemouth and spotted bass have different hangouts?  How would you try to target the largemouth in a mixed population of spotted bass and largemouts?

[Simp]

Well if I'm not mistaken spotted bass tend to school up more then LM and usually prefer cooler water. I'd also suggest feeling for a rough spot on the tongue and if you feel one I believe you got a spot. BTW there are many types of bass not just two.

[RoLo]

There are four major species of freshwater black bass: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass & Shoal Bass.

None of the four black basses are "black", and none are true "bass", but all are members of the sunfish family.

Needless to say, the Where, When & How is going to vary for each of the four black bass (shoal bass are the strongest fighters).

Roger

[7mm-08]

Yeah from my experience catching spots they definitely school more and are all over about any timber.  I've seen a few decent spots and they are fun to catch but definitely average quite a bit less in weight.  They were always very very proficient at pulling the tails off my zoom lizards.

[jiggerpole]

Spots and largemouth do hang out in the same area together. Largemouth are typically more of a territorial type while spots tend to stay in schools more often. But both can act about the same in any lake. Spots will spawn earlier (cooler water) than a largemouth and have a tendency to spawn deeper then largemouths. Spots are more aggressive and will out compete largemouths for food and can cause overcrowding conditions. Especially in smaller lakes. If food is readily available, the largemouth will easily outgrow a spot, but pound for pound a spot will tear up your tackle. It's been shown that by keeping spots for the table and having a selective harvest program for largemouths, it can improve overall fishing for boths species. Both will get bigger because of the more available food and lack of compitition.

[405z06]

I doubt that most of the fish your catching at LOZ are spots. They are definitely there, but unless you are talking about just a recent weekend where it a was a fluke, my guess is that you are still getting the 2 species confused.

I have fished LOZ quite a bit over the last 25 years and I would guess that approx 1 in 10 bass is a spot, if that. Some people just have a hard time distinguishing them. Heck, my dad is that way, and he taught me how to fish, so it isn't necessarily a reflection on your skill or tenure as a fisherman.

[tentimesover]

For sure I'm just a student at this issue of IDing spots vs largemouths.  However, I have to say that the mouth of these bass I'm catching don't come back behind the eye.  Also, in Simp's post above he mentioned checking for a rough spot on the tongue.  I did just that today and discovered that these bass have a patch about 1/8 in wide that extends about 1/2  to 3/4 in long in the middle of the tongue that is darker than the rest of the tongue and feels like sandpaper.  Is that distinctive of spotted bass?  After reading your post I looked at some internet descriptions and see that there is supposed to be scales on the base of the back dorsal fin of the spots.  I will have to look for that too.

Anyone else have any comments specifically on Lake of the Ozarks as to whether there is a mix of spots and largemouths?  With what I've been catching I'd say that I'm getting a much higher number of spots than largemouths now.

[Randall]

To increase your chances or catching a LM fish farther back in the shallow creek arms and even up the creeks and rivers. Large shallow  flats will also work at times. I have found this to work on most all mountain type lakes in GA and NC where spots and lm are present.

[Randall]

I doubt that most of the fish your catching at LOZ are spots. They are definitely there, but unless you are talking about just a recent weekend where it a was a fluke, my guess is that you are still getting the 2 species confused.

I have fished LOZ quite a bit over the last 25 years and I would guess that approx 1 in 10 bass is a spot, if that. Some people just have a hard time distinguishing them. Heck, my dad is that way, and he taught me how to fish, so it isn't necessarily a reflection on your skill or tenure as a fisherman.

I was reading an article a few weeks ago where a biologist said that LOZ has over fifty percent of the population being spotted bass with that number growing every year. I think the study was from a few years back so it is posible that most everything he is catching now is a spot. Spots take over a lake quick after they are introduced.

[RoLo]

I was reading an article a few weeks ago where a biologist said that LOZ has over fifty percent of the population being spotted bass with that number growing every year. I think the study was from a few years back so it is posible that most everything he is catching now is a spot. Spots take over a lake quick after they are introduced.

When living in Georgia I experienced firsthand the prolific nature of spotted bass.

When targeting spotted bass, I'd fish Lake Lanier, but when I targeted largemouth bass

we often fished West Point Lake. Nevertheless, West Point reached the point

where nearly all the bass we caught near the main river channel were spotted bass >

Roger

[fishfordollars]

There are four major species of freshwater black bass: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass & Shoal Bass.

None of the four black basses are "black", and none are true "bass", but all are members of the sunfish family.

Needless to say, the Where, When & How is going to vary for each of the four black bass (shoal bass are the strongest fighters).

Roger

Roger, You are forgetting the Guadalupe bass found only in certain waters in Central Texas.

[RoLo]

Roger, You are forgetting the Guadalupe bass found only in certain waters in Central Texas.

Actually I didn't forget about the little Guadulpe bass, because they are not classified as a "major" species of black bass

As I noted above, there are 4 "major" species of black bass: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass & shoal bass.

In addition, there are also 3 "minor" species: Suwannee bass, Redeye bass and Guadalupe bass (a total of 7 black bass).

Due to their tiny size and highly restricted range, the three minor basses are unpopular and not classified as game fish.

The world record weight of the all three minor basses is under 4 pounds. For comparison sake,

the world-record bluegill sunfish weighed 4 lbs, 12 ozs.

As an aside, "Chipola bass" and "Flint River bass" are local monikers designating the river source of Shoal bass,

one of the four major bass. Until fairly recently, shoal bass were also referred to as "redeye bass",

but have since been confirmed as two separate species.

Roger

                                                                 

[RobbyZ5001]

Rolo... you are either....

a) a fisheries biologist

really smart

c) copy and pasted that

I knew what all of what you said, but its only because I study it.

[RoLo]

Rolo... you are either....

a) a fisheries biologist

really smart

c) copy and pasted that

I knew what all of what you said, but its only because I study it.

;D

I study all that stuff too, and it's been taken directly from my own writings.

[mrlitetackle]

RoLo,

your knowledge and wisdom never ceases to amaze me,

you are truly a great asset to this site....

 thank you.

[RoLo]

RoLo,

your knowledge and wisdom never ceases to amaze me,

you are truly a great asset to this site....

thank you.

Thank you for your kind words  :-[

[Triton_Mike]

To increase your chances or catching a LM fish farther back in the shallow creek arms and even up the creeks and rivers. Large shallow flats will also work at times. I have found this to work on most all mountain type lakes in GA and NC where spots and lm are present.

 What Randall said.  You catch either species in any part of the lake but the general consensus is heads are more cover oriented and hang in the creeks and back of cuts and spots are more main lake oriented.  

[ValkyrieRider]

I've been catching quite a few spotted bass on Lake of the Ozarks. Some days, I catch more spotted than Largemouth for some reason.

Some reason, we always refered to "spotted" bass as Kentucky bass.

[MNfisher]

Is this a unique colored Largemouth or a hybrid between a Spotted & Largemouth Bass?

[WRB]

Clearly a largemouth bass; dorsal fin connected, lower jaw extends beyond the eye.

Tom

[Rick Dungey]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Clearly a largemouth bass; dorsal fin connected, lower jaw extends beyond the eye.

Tom

sorry, but just the opposite is true...The spotted bass has a top dorsal fin that is clearly connected while the largemouth bass has a separate or almost separate dorsal fin.  Also, the front dorsal fin on a spot has 9 spines, while the largemouth has only 7.  Another good indicator (besides the tooth on the tongue of spotted bass) is the lines of black dots along the side belly of the fish (below the lateral line).  Largemouth do not have those black dot lines.  The fish in the picture is a spotted bass.

[12poundbass]

Maybe this’ll help? 

 

20 minutes ago, Rick Dungey said:

Also, the front dorsal fin on a spot has 9 spines, while the largemouth has only 7

From this both have 9 spines. From the picture of the bass in question it’s kind of hard to tell without a doubt whether the dorsal fin is attached. It does appear that the jaw clearly extends past the eye. It does have spotted bass characteristics like the spots on the belly. 

 

My non expert opinion is that it’s a fish. 

[WRB]

Where does the Spotted bas get it's name?

Answer, not from the rows of dark scales below the lateral line as often illustrated. The Spotted bass gets the name from the prominate large dark spot at the base of the tail that also has scales. The dorsal fin is clearly separated with the same number of spines as the above illustration for LMB.

Coloration is a poor identifier. Minnesota is also too far north of the Spotted bass range.

Tom

[Tennessee Boy]

I’ll cast my vote for largemouth based on the jaw alone.  It extends way beyond the eye and is clearly visible in the second photo.

[Bluebasser86]

9 hours ago, Rick Dungey said:

sorry, but just the opposite is true...The spotted bass has a top dorsal fin that is clearly connected while the largemouth bass has a separate or almost separate dorsal fin.  Also, the front dorsal fin on a spot has 9 spines, while the largemouth has only 7.  Another good indicator (besides the tooth on the tongue of spotted bass) is the lines of black dots along the side belly of the fish (below the lateral line).  Largemouth do not have those black dot lines.  The fish in the picture is a spotted bass.

We're going to ignore the jawline extending well past the eye?  It's clearly a largemouth,

 

I catch largemouth with those darker and lighter scale patterns on their belly scales all the time. No spots in the lakes I'm catching them out of. The dorsal can be connected with largemouth as well. 

 

This is a fish from last Thursday. No spots in the lake. Has what appears to be rows of spots on it's belly and the dorsal is clearly connected somewhat, but it's 100% largemouth.