Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Largemouth, smallmouth, meanmouth? Help identify

I caught this today on a nightcrawler, it is about 4" long and I can't positively identify it. At first, I thought it was a largemouth, due to the lateral line, but after looking at it some more, it has some smallmouth characteristics to it, like some of the coloring, the rays on the head, and the fact that the back of the mouth does not extend past the eye. What do you guys think?

looks 100% like a largemouth to me.

Looks like the maxillary bone extends past the eye to me. I'm with Greg. Looks like a typical largemouth to me.

I vote for LMB.

Looks like 2 different fish to me.

Top - LMB
Bottom ?

Looks like a largemouth, but what is the probability that it might be a spotted bass? (I'm not so good at identification between spots and largemouth yet). I caught a fish a few months ago that looked exactly like that.

We have some spotted bass in our area, so I wasn't too sure, but I came to the conclusion that it was just a juvenile largemouth.

It does look slightly different, but it is the same fish, just different sides.

As far as I know, there are no spotted bass in the pond, but I didn't find out there were LMB until a month or so ago.

Do largemouth juveniles have the rays on their heads, that extend from the mouth, also?

I wouldn't see why not as they have the other markings. It's also possible your fish is older than you think. The eyes are quite large indicating not the fastest growth, and the fish seems a bit stressed as evidenced by the splits in caudal fin.

My vote is for LMB.

My buddy said he threw the largemouth in June/July of 2009, and put in around 8 of them. He said they were all around 12-14". Do you think this could have been an offspring from last year, or even older than that?

I think the splits in the caudal fin were my fault, because when I first caught him, I immediately thought it was a LMB, and since I am trying to remove all that I catch, I decided to use him as bait to see if I could catch anything. After I reeled him back in, I looked a little closer and starting thinking it could possibly be a hybrid, so I threw him in my bait trap until I could get a picture. I got a feeling he split his fin while in there or while on my hook.

My bet is offspring of last year(2009).

Yes CJ agree...man i hope this is last year if not then super slow growth.

I am hoping it was from last year, because if not, then I had LMB in there longer than I thought. My pond was never supposed to have LMB in it, but my buddy thought it would be a good idea to help control the GSF population, and he took it upon himself to stock the largemouth without telling me. I noticed them when I was cruising around the shoreline this spring, and he confessed when I asked him about them.

So the big question... How is this going to affect my SMB population, and what (if anything) can I do to maintain my SMB recruitment?

EDIT: Oh, and by the way Greg, congrats on your recent news!

It seems that the general thought is that LMB will eventually overtake the SMB, in essence squeezing out the SMB.

This may not have to be the case if you manage the LMB by removal. You probably won't get all of them, but you can keep them in check, I think.

Well, atleast one positive, if the LMB take over; I will be able to save a fortune in BISA dues.

We are toying with some kind of retroactive dues system, so please don't get your hopes up. bbjr, you like surprisingly every other B.I.S.A. member is way, way overdue in paying up.

I had a feeling that was coming.

It seems January 2011 is when it's really going to sting.

I caught a 13" LMB yesterday and it weighed 1.6lbs. I checked it against Greg's RW chart and it shows a RW of 138%! I am wondering if I should start managing for the LMB instead of the SMB (just kidding on that part, SMB are still my goal).

EDIT: Correction, it weighed 1lb 6oz, for a RW of 119%, still not too bad, though

Yes a nice bass. This should make you happy. I would venture a guess it menas you have few lm bass in the pond.

So what would be the preferred forage for this bass, given its size?

Any of the multitude of typical LMB forage species out there, in a size smaller than he is.

I read somewhere that a smb m x lmb f offspring wasn't sterile. If thats true, wouldnt it be possibe to start a strain of meanmouth with a larger gape size, rendering it able to eat/control larger bluegill. That would be the ultimate pond fish imo. Probably drastically cost prohibitive, but theoretically possible?