This a LM or a SM?

[D.R.BassSeeker]

LM without a doubt

[flipinstick88]

For me the easiest way to tell black bass apart is the "bridge" on the dorsal fin.

http://www.tennessee.gov/twra/fish/FishFacts/black_bass_id.jpg

[Nice_Bass]

Coloration can vary greatly; smallmouth bass don't have dark lateral line coloration regardless of the region. Also the dorsal fin is connected on smallmouth and separated on largemouths.

Spotted bass can look like largemouth, have dark lateral line, connected dorsal fins and mouth to the center of the eye. The bass pictured could easily be a spotted bass without knowing where it was caught.

Rough spot on tounge should help figure out.

[noway]

That's RW's 10 pounder, caught with RW's bait in RW's pond.

   

[farmpond1]

There have been a few dissenters but I'm with the majority:  Your bass is a largemouth.  From where I'm sitting, there's no question about it.

[brushhoggin]

That's RW's 10 pounder, caught with RW's bait in RW's pond.

aw come on man, hope you're kidding.

[BulletDon]

spot

[bt fisherman]

lm by far it has the black stripe on its side

[405z06]

It's odd how some people have problems identifying the different black bass species. In this area a lot of people have problems identifying spotted bass (Kentucky bass). And it doesn't necessarily reflect the angler's ability....some people just have a hard time for whatever reason.

Though, to be honest, the difference between a smallie and a largemouth is like the difference between a dog and a cat to my eyes. ;D

[culprit71]

Hey thanks flipinstick88 for that nice side by side of the 3 species.  Spotted Bass almost look like a combo between the two.

It seems as though this thread diverged a little. The first question was clearly about identifying a largemouth bass then somehwhere halfway through there was another post with a smallie in it and then people started chiming in about the smallie.  The original poster was referring to the first picture.

I agree about lg and sm being like cats and dogs.  The largemouth is much more elliptical and streamlined "smoother" in shape if you will and it's also more of a silver emerald green

compared to the "boxy" smallmouth with a tannish more yellow green with vertical stripes. 

[littlejon]

looks like a spot to me. a spot is not a lm or a sm. The pic is really too small to see the scales around the eye but the jaw line is a give away.

I must be missing something because I know for a fact that I know less about bass than most on this board.

I found this about spots on another board.

I also noticed an article dealing with spotted bass and a question on how to properly identify the species. Before enacting this regulation, MDC looked at hundreds of black bass (largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth), during our regular spring time sampling, to determine what characteristics could be used to accurately identify the spotted bass.

After analyzing the data, we concluded that three characteristics could be used. When used together, these characteristics provide the angler with over 99% accuracy. The characteristics include:

1. Jaw Bone. As mentioned by a few of web site visitors, the jaw bone of a spotted bass does not extend past the eye.

2. Cheek Scales. Scales around the eye area, cheek, are much smaller than the scales along the length of the body. On largemouth, the scales on the ckeek and the rest of the body are similar in size.

3. Tongue Patch. Spotted bass will have a rough patch on their tongues. It is important not to use this characteristic by itself, because largemouth can have this patch as well.

We found other characteristics, such as color, varied too much under various water clarities and could not be relied upon. Anglers who spend a lot of time on the water have no trouble using coloration, spot patterns, etc. to identify spots while they are still in the water. However, we had to make the identifying simple and accurate enough even for the novices. It would be good to point out now that the Missouri and Arkansas agents are enforcing this regulation based on the above mentioned characteristics.

I also noticed that one of visitors stated that spotted bass are hybrids between largemouth and smallmouth. Actually, they are there own true species and not hybrids. There are occurrences of hybrids such as the spotted & smallmouth, which is referred to as the meanmouth. Also, all three species (largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth) are all black bass.

I hope this is information that will help your clients as well as other anglers visiting your web site. Keep up the good work and if there is any information that I can provide to you and your web site, please let me know. Take care and let's pray for a lot of good rains this spring, Bull Shoals needs it!

P.O. Box 138

West Plains, MO 65775

(417) 256-7161 ext. 277

pratta@mail.conservation.state.mo.us

[Triton Jones]

Spot