Only described for the first time in 1999, ichthyologists are still expanding what is known about the species.
World Record – 9 pounds, 4 ounces, caught in Lake Perris, California in 1987. Five pound shoal bass are considered trophies, but fish above seven pounds are caught each year. Spotted bass are also larger fish, averaging 25 inches from head to tail. While Southern anglers have pursued the shoal bass for more than 50 years, the fish was not officially recognized as a separate black bass species until 1999. How many species of bass are there? Largemouth, smallmouth, Guadalupe bass from Texas, Florida bass, Alabama bass, shoal bass from Georgia, Suwannee bass from Georgia and Florida, spotted bass, and redeye. The shoal bass has white, flaky meat, which tends to be drier than that of a largemouth or spotted bass. [3] Good fishing still exists in Georgia's Flint River, but anglers are encouraged to catch and release. Craig said that the level of the river was driven by power generation at H.L. Since we didn’t have a magnifying glass, and since we haven’t yet been to Kentucky and will likely never go back to Alabama, I’m claiming victory and declaring our spotted bass in the Tallapoosa River as Alabama bass. As young fish grow their diet shifts from zooplankton to insects, and finally to fish and crayfish. They prefer moderate to heavy current and will take crawdad patterns aggressively. We’d love to have you back! Above the lateral line there are dark markings, and below the lateral line the scales have dark bases that give rise to the linear rows of small spots which are responsible for the common name. There are lots of ways I suppose, but my best luck is to cast the popper, let it sit until the ripples die, then give it a nudge. Females may lay between 1,150 and 47,000 eggs. Being reasonably short-sighted I went fishing. Our raft float to the Jaybird Creek boat launch was five and a half miles and a bit more than five hours.
It’s a big river by my lights, not Mississippi big, but except around island channels where it narrows it’s at least a football field from bank to bank, and where the river falls it’s a limestone boulder garden.
Our guide, Craig Godwin, said we would fish for spotted and redeye on the Tallapoosa. They do not enter brackish water. Largemouth don’t live long and prosper in current. Look, I have to admit it, and I had to admit it to Craig, give me a choice of any fish in the world to catch I’d probably catch a sunfish.
Description – Is similar in appearance to the largemouth bass.Has green to olive-green hue; white, mottled belly; and a broad stripe of broken blotches, usually diamond-shaped, along the midline of the body. Shoal bass offer similar sporting quality to that of other species of black bass. We were below the H.L. Your email address will not be published. Spotted bass can be found from Texas to the Florida panhandle including Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Back to the river, I had never heard of the Tallapoosa. The shoal bass is becoming increasingly uncommon in the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers because so few shoals exist and competition with non-native spotted bass has increased. Pelvic fins may have a cream colored leading edge with dark spots. I love to see their colors and to try to parse out the species. Maturity is reached at about seven inches. Late in the day a fish on Kris’s line went under a rock and couldn’t be brought up. I’ve fished with well-known guides and I’ve fished with extraordinarily skillful guides. They also feed on larval insects, crayfish and fish. I picked mid-state in part because I found a guide, East Alabama Fly Fishing. I’ve heard of a lot of rivers, but before we left for Alabama if you’d asked me to name a single Alabama River, I couldn’t have named one. Shoal bass are generally olive green to nearly black along the back. The Alabama spotted bass has been introduced into California. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. this area is ripe for hybridization. In 1999 it was described as a new species.[2]. They prefer slow moving to fast moving waters with riffles and shoals. The shoal bass fights harder than its cousin, the largemouth bass, and has more stamina.
The shoal bass is often confused with the redeye bass, due to its red-tinted eyes. Subspecies – Three are recognized: the northern spotted bass (M. p. punctulatus) has 60 to 68 scales along the lateral line, the Alabama spotted bass (M. p. henshalli) has 68 to 75 scales along the lateral line.
I guess this was similar but in the absence of pond ripples the popper drifted.
The dorsal, caudal and anal fins are dark olive green to grayish black. The red color of eyes associates this species with the redeye and Suwannee bass at first glance. Shoal bass were included under this species and all listed records were for shoal bass so they transfered when they were seperated. I loved them as a child, and I love them now.
Alabama bass usually–note the usually–have 71 or more scales with holes. spotted bass, also called Kentucky bass, and Alabama bass, also called spotted bass, are almost indistinguishable. Popular lures and baits include jigs, crankbaits, spinners, small plastic worms and crayfish. Sexually mature mates build saucer-shaped nests on a soft, clay bottom or on gravel bars generally near brush, logs or other heavy cover. If you use a magnifying glass and don’t lose count you can be pretty certain of your fish. Shoal bass spawn in coarse gravel at the heads of creek pools in April and May, to early June. As a sport fish, specific bag and size limit regulations apply, and you can register a qualifying catch as part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's "Big Catch" program. Very similar to shoal and spotted bass and occur in many of the same areas, usually do not get over four pounds. State Record – 3 pounds, 12 ounces, caught in Apalachicola River in 1985. Just a note on fishing with Craig. This bass was a shoal bass, but originally reported as the Apalachicola form of redeye bass. When I thought about it later I had no clue whether we’d been fishing for Kentucky bass or Alabama bass. It is also often confused with the smallmouth bass, due to its faint vertical stripes along the side of its body. Common Names – Kentucky bass, Kentucky spotted bass, northern spotted bass, Alabama spotted bass, Wichita spotted bass, black bass, smallmouth bass and spot. One of the black basses, it is native to subtropical waters in Florida and Georgia. Sporting Qualities – Strong fighters when caught on light tackle. Shoal bass are also popular targets for fly fishers, who find them easy to access in their preferred river environments.
We met Craig at the put-in at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, considerably north of where the Coosa and the Tallapoosa meet. Has green to olive-green hue; white, mottled belly; and a broad stripe of broken blotches, usually diamond-shaped, along the midline of the body. Oct 22, 2010 #2 . Above Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River, a bass could be either a spotted or a shoal. It was funny popper fishing though. Of course I would have liked to fish for redfish in Alabama, but we only had three days.
A lot of them are smaller, some rockier, and definitely some with a higher gradient. Eating Quality – White, flaky meat with good flavor. There’s a problem with that, and it’s a complicated problem.
Average lengths for fish aged 1 to 8 years are 4, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 inches. It was like fishing dry flies on a drift, except for the now and then pop. So bass. It was, and still is, frequently mistaken for a redeye bass. They can be caught using worms, minnows, or crayfish as well as small spinners and a wide variety of small surface lures. The pattern of blotches and stripes is much busier than that of a Stripped Bass, Redeye Bass or even Spotted Bass. It’s the Alabama, by the way, formed where the Tallapoosa and the Coosa meet near Montgomery. That’s service, or maybe you just can’t keep an Alabama boy from noodling. ... also, when i was pursuing a large bedding shoalie I kept noticing a tiny spotted bass darting in and out of the frame. The shoal bass has scales on the base portion of the soft-rayed dorsal fins, clearly connected first and second dorsal fins, and an upper jaw bone that does not extend beyond the eyes.
Abundance is limited in this area, but the fish primarily occurs in and west of the Choctawhatchee River. The most obvious difference is the jaw. It is also occasionally found in rivers and streams of East Alabama where it has been declared an endangered species and cannot legally be kept if caught by fishermen. Harris Dam and above Lake Martin and Martin Dam. The shoal bass (Micropterus cataractae) is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. The belly is creamy or white and wavy lines may appear slightly above the white belly on the sides.
This species was formerly considered either a redeye bass or subspecies of the redeye bass. The eggs hatch in four or five days, yielding up to 3,000 fry per nest. We postponed Kansas because of wind and lightning. Since I’d caught a largemouth just last week, and a smallmouth last year on the Shenandoah, I’m only five species away from a Bassmaster BASS Slam! I love their ferocity. The obvious play for us was the Gulf, from Gulf Shores or Mobile, but we’d already fished for redfish in Mississippi and Louisiana, so we drove four hours further and fished for bass and sunfish. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window).
The fish was caught October 23, 1977, in the Apalachicola River, Florida. The practice of fly fishing for shoal bass is becoming more widespread. A dusky dark blotch occurs on the back edge of the gill cover and is similar in size to that of the eye, but a bit smaller. Ponds, sure, if a pond is clear I can see fish, but these aren’t stillwater bass. They were clean, beautiful fish, perfect for the river.
Plus there’s the whole current thing. Redeyes do not have red eyes. We were catching bass, yeah, and there’s no nobler calling, tarpon or trout-be-damned. Craig went in after it. The fish was caught October 23, 1977, in the Apalachicola River, Florida. Choices must be chosen.
John C Well-Known Member.
I knew there was a bridge in Selma, but I had no clue what river ran under it.
The Alabama bass are larger, and frankly I’d have confused them with largemouth if I hadn’t known better. I'm not interested in using either a largemouth or smallmouth blank. Spotted bass may occupy reservoirs, but are seldom found in natural lakes. The species is less piscivorous than other black basses and seems to be more selective in its feeding habits. Some have been known to reach more than eight pounds. There are no known subspecies of the shoal bass. The world record shoal bass was 8 pounds, 12 ounces according to the International Game Fish Association.
Age and Growth – Tends to grow slower than largemouth bass and does not attain as large a size as other species. This page was last edited on 21 May 2020, at 06:18. Fish species identification has a way of being uncertain, even for the best known game species. (Please check link for updates). I may make something of myself yet. Rock and gravel are usually chosen as suitable spawning areas at water temperatures of 57-74°F. Very cool and I’m glad you made the decision to fly fish Alabama. Spotted Alabama and redeye bass hunt in the current and we fished the pockets back of rocks and the lines where the speeds of the river changed, and as close to the banks as we could manage to cast. That’s Southern humor, and I can get away with it.
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