Question concerning Spotted bass

[airborne_angler]

Ive watched TV shows and had people grimace and grumble when the hook into a Spotted Bass. Whats the big turn off about catching these? Are they considered Trash fish,are they pesky and will bite anything? Why the brow beating on Spots?

[roadwarrior]

Spots tend to displace largemouth and smallmouth bass,

entirely repopulating many bodies of water they infest.

The species is very prolific, tends to be much smaller

than its cousins and is generally considered a pest.

8-)

[BIG M]

Yes to everything RW said but man are they fun to catch. Usually willing to hit just about any bait and in general they are always ticked off.

[roadwarrior]

I have caught two big spots (~5 lbs). One was caught

at Lake Quachita in Arkansas; the other was on the

Tennessee River. No doubt, they are fighters!

8-)

[jiggerpole]

One particular lake that I know of has a strick policy of killing every spotted bass they catch. No exceptions. "They manage it for trophy largemouths". When you put a shock barge in this lake it will blow your mind at the huge spots that didn't get caught. I have the same policy on a lake that I manage but when I got a 7.5 lb. spot out of it, I couldn't kill that fish so I tagged and released it. That will make a fine trophy for someone if she gets caught. I love to catch big spots. There very hard fighting fish. I had one break my favorite rod.

Biologist will put slot limits on lakes all the time, but I think they fail to emphasize that the bass under the size limit should go to the frying pan in some cases. Also in alot of these same lakes the spots are prevailent. Nothing wrong with spots. Just too many!

[Jake.]

They are taking over the mountain lakes in southwest NC. They are fun to catch, but I would rather catch the Smallmouth they are displacing.

[lynyrdsky1]

They are awsome to catch i went parksville reservoir in eastern tennessee during a school trip and i brought my pole and i killed it off the bank and in a kayak and all i caught was spots some had no size but some did. Like i said not going to lie that they are fun to catch

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

They are taking over our lakes too. They get so bad that they out compete eachother so much that almost everyone u catch sometimes is a dink. They can be fun to catch,a lot of times they save you from being skunked,but id take 10 LMs any day over 30 dinky winky spots

[RandySBreth]

It depends on where they are at, what kind of fishing you're doing. The White River chain (Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals) has Largemouths, Smallmouths and Spots, and all three kind of have their own niche in each lake, and all do really well. In some of our Smallmouth streams here in the Ozarks they have been displacing Smallmouths, and kind of a problem there.

My biggest (certified) Spot came from Table Rock in a tournament, 4-10. Not huge, but did fight like a mother. I've caught hundreds of them in the 2- to 3-pound range, and while they are fun to catch, it seems when it's tourney time you catch the same 14" Spot over and over, when the length limit is 15"

Do that ten times in a row during a tournament and you'll cuss them, too! >

They are great for fishing with folks new to Bass fishing or kids - you can almost always catch a few spots on a slowly swam grub, or a Powerbait minnow or leech under a float.

[crw]

I visit my oldest son and fish the north part of Table Rock.  James River and Mouth of Dry (Dry creek).  Odd as it seems, in Table Rock proper (15 in limit) we catch a lot of 12-14 inch Spots.  2/3 hundred yards north in the James/Dry Creek  proper, we catch a lot of 15-18 inch spots.

In the last 3 years, 4 weeks of fishing, Largemouths are few and far between, spots dominate what is caught.

In the Flint River, south of the dam in Albany, Ga., spots have all but pushed out Largemouths.  It  does appear that the spots have little or no effect on the Shoal Bass (Micropterus cataractae).  Spots and Shoal Bass seem to compete on an even basis.

Above the dam in Albany, Ga., it is rare to catch a Spot in the river.   

[senko_77]

They are taking over our lakes too. They get so bad that they out compete eachother so much that almost everyone u catch sometimes is a dink. They can be fun to catch,a lot of times they save you from being skunked,but id take 10 LMs any day over 30 dinky winky spots

Just wait for those winky dinky spots to get bigger.  Might change your mind.

I freakin love spots.  They are superior to the largemouth in every way.  I'm a Lanier boy and it has really shown me how fun it is to be on a spot lake

[.ghoti.]

Gotta agree with you senko_77.

Spots are awesome. One of the pits at Trophy Country has some nice spots. I got one three years ago that went almost 7. I thought I had a record LM. Helluva fight on ten pound test line.

[Randall]

They are taking over our lakes too. They get so bad that they out compete eachother so much that almost everyone u catch sometimes is a dink. They can be fun to catch,a lot of times they save you from being skunked,but id take 10 LMs any day over 30 dinky winky spots

Just wait for those winky dinky spots to get bigger. Might change your mind.

I freakin love spots. They are superior to the largemouth in every way. I'm a Lanier boy and it has really shown me how fun it is to be on a spot lake

Only problem is in most lakes they never get bigger. Before the herring Lanier, Burton and Chatuge were full of tiny spots. We got lucky and ended up with great lakes but most don't. Most get big largemouth and smallmouth replaced by dink spots.

[NorcalBassin]

There are some big 7+ pound spots in the water I usually fish, but you'll catch 49 spots in the 10-12" class for every one over 3 lbs. I'll admit that they fight hard for their size, but they seem to stay cookie-cutter size for years on end. When the average spot is 10-12" for 6 years running now, it gets a bit annoying. Also don't catch near the number of LM's before the spots started taking over.

[Josh Bassman]

There are some big 7+ pound spots in the water I usually fish, but you'll catch 49 spots in the 10-12" class for every one over 3 lbs. I'll admit that they fight hard for their size, but they seem to stay cookie-cutter size for years on end. When the average spot is 10-12" for 6 years running now, it gets a bit annoying. Also don't catch near the number of LM's before the spots started taking over.

What lakes are you fishing? My lake (shasta) is the exact same way. A 10lbs limit will win many tour.

[NorcalBassin]

Melones... some guys do hook some monsters in there (18# LM and 8# spot came out of there this year along with a number of DD LM), but I think they need a slot limit to start harvesting some of those spots (not to mention all the little red eyes).