Fishing with my grand daughters in a nearby lake we caught a couple of 6" fish which were very dark in overall color with bright yellow rear and tail fin tips, subtle emerald green horizontal strips, with heavy body structure and mouth like Rock Bass. This got me wondering. How would this fish do in my 1.5 acres pond with SMB, YP, And RT? They don't seem to be as prolific in the lake as the thousands of BG.

My experience with rock bass in ponds is they don't compete well with LMB and never pull off successful spawns. In a pond with just SMB, if there was suitable spawning habitat, they may sustain themselves naturally.

They will compete with your smaller SMB for food just like GSF would, they do have some big old mouths on them. However I don't think they will reproduce with near the efficiency as GSF so the high numbers of fish won't be there. With an established larger population of SMB to control any reproduction by the rock bass, adding a few as a novelty probably won't cause many issues. Just be careful the fish you stock from the wild are healthy and you don't introduce any unwanted nasties...

I'm sure they won't hurt too much but I agree that you should watch out for disease carrying wild fish. I'm interested in adding a few too, but don't know anything about them, do any of the experts here know anything about them? I've only caught a few while smallmouth fishing.

I don't believe I've ever heard of a Rock Bass expert. Neat fish though.

I can't stand them. We call them a "drag fish". they hit when you are fishing for bass, and for a second you think you have a nice bass. They then flop on their sides and you drag them in.

We count them as negative points when fishing. They are kind of cool looking, but I would not want them in my pond. We have too many in the lakes up here. the meat is blander than BG, though a bigger fillet.

tmk, check this thread out:

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post15271

you might find some useful info in between the banter.

p.s. yer original description sounds like a green sunny.

here is a picture of a typical rockbass or "red eye" as we call them.



I agree with DIED that the bright yellow does not sound like a rockbass. I also looked online and several sights said that they get to be about 6-8 inches and only a pound. Obviously they have never caught a Michigan Rock Bass! I catch a bunch in the 10-12 inch range that push 2 pounds.

I also wonder if TMK is actually talking about a rock bass? Emerald green coloration and bright yellow on fins are not typical of rock bass and more like green sunfish or their hybrids.

I agree, sounds like a GSF and not a rock bass to me...

I'll see if we can catch another and take a picture. From what I see in the rock bass pictures the shape is consistent but the colors are not. I can not remember if the eye was red. Forgot to look. I have never heard of a green sunfish.

Hang around. You will find that green sunfish are the most lauded, cussed and discussed fish on the Forum.

Well allow me to introduce you to the most wonderful sunfish species on this planet.

When grown properly this species gets well over a pound and is IMHO the best fighting sunfish around.

Here are some of the GSF that DIED has grown...





Here's one from my pond...



Although the green streaks are not easy to see in these photos, the GSF has beautiful emerald green streaks that run from the mouth backwards. The green streaks, the yellow fin tipping and the huge mouth are identifying characteristics of this magnificent species (although some of the characteristics also appear on hybrid sunfish).

Dare to walk a different path and embrace this superior species.

I have always liked these fish, can you tell me what the secret is to get them over a pound, and how long that takes.

I have a feeling that I may have been sold these instead of Hybrids.

Thanks

No and No. Only because I don't know. Our pond had huge GSF in it when we purchased it. I don't know what the growth rates are in GSF so I can't tell you how long it takes to get them to the one pound size.

Here's what I do know (which admittedly isn't much)..

Our pond had only GSF, LMB and Bullheads in it when we purchased it. The LMB were very low in relative weight. The pond had lots of vegetation (way too much in fact) and the GSF had plenty of places to hide from the LMB. The end result was skinny LMB and huge GSF.

The "farm pond" near DIED was the pond that he transferred his GSF breeding stock from. To the best of my knowledge, it also only had LMB and GSF. That pond had a normal amount of vegetation and the LMB were (and still are) quite healthy. I believe that DIED has caught 8+ pound LMB in that pond.

A few years back I added BG and RES and unfortunately this seems to have taken it's toll on my GSF. If I had it to do over again I would not have stocked the BG as these pond rabbits seem to have out bred my GSF. The RES we almost never see, I'm sure they are in there but we haven't caught one in a couple of years. We added the RES to deal with a snail/parasite issue which they have taken care of quite nicely. We added the BG to fatten up the LMB which they have done but seemly at the expense of the GSF.

GSF will readily take pellets. DIED purchased the BG and RES at the same time that I did. The BG and RES were both pellet trained and so DIED began pellet feeding. The GSF instantly took to eating feed.

DIED's GSF have bred like crazy and he is in the process of culling the smaller GSF. DIED still has 1+ pound GSF. I am no longer sure if I do or not as I haven't caught a large GSF in a couple of years.

If I had it to do over again I would have only added the RES and would have maintained a LMB/GSF/RES pond and would have set traps for the Bullhead (we have some HUGE Bullheads in the pond, DIED caught one that he estimated to weigh in at 4 pounds).

So where most do not care for the GSF, you would have preferred to have not added the BG.

That is interesting.

Like I said when I get a chance I need to post some pictures and let the experts weigh in. For me I have a hard time telling the small GSF from the HBG.

I guess the easiest why for me to tell is if there are a ton of fry than I probably have GSF since HBG 90% male.

Thanks

I've wondered about Rock Bass in ponds myself, these are one of my Favorite river fish, I love how they fight! Find some rocks with a nice current, you hang something that takes off and fights like a 3 or 4 pond smallie or Lmb and pull out a 1.5 pound Rock bass instead lol. They get up to 2 pounds which Inst bad, If I ever manage to get the land and be able to place 2 ponds, one will have a lot of rock/pebble with Smallie and rock Bass as its predators.

I say try it but I'd put some rock and pebble or gravel on one side to promote spawning. They really like Currents so I'm not sure how ponds will affect them, maybe catch small ones, they may be able to adapt better.

Up north you can catch rock bass in reservoirs, so they can tolerate none moving waters. I have messed around by stocking small numbers of rock bass into ponds. They survive, but don't thrive. Then again, if a pond was designed more for them they may do better.

We have rock bass in some of our natural lakes around here. Typically they thrive in the same lakes that have good populations of smallmouth bass.

Slightly off topic but interesting. Around here we have Rock bass and Roanoke bass, I actually never knew this till last year. Its no telling how many I caught and figured they were Rock bass, they even have the same nick names and look similar but Roanoke bass are only found in cetain areas of VA and NC in smaller numbers.

Sadly rock bass out compete Roanoke bass and are quickly displacing them where they have been introduced outside their native range.

From what I see here, this is a fish that locals refer to as a "goggle-eye." It thrives in streams in SE Missouri, such as Current River, Black River and many small tributaries. Logan Creek and Black River especially have a lot of them and these 2 streams supply Clearwater Lake. I have fished Clearwater for many years and have never caught one in the main body of the lake. I am sure they would survive there, but I think they prefer moving water. They are fighters and they make excellent table fare. I doubt that they would thrive in a farm pond.

I've caught a good number of Rock Bass in MN and WI, usually while fishing for Walleye (although I once caught one while bass fishing with a buzzbait... go figure). I don't think they handle LMB predation very well, but they can get over 8" and are maybe a nice bonus novelty fish.