Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Largemouth with Bi-Color Tail

First post, so please be gentle.

Today my wife and I took our first stroll around the edge of the lake on our new property and saw plenty / several / lots of nice LMB in the 10 - 14" range but they all had black, or dark, coloration on the end of their tails. We spotted them from 2" - 3" fingerling size up to the bigger ones. The lateral lines were nice and well defined, but I don't know enough about the different LMB strains to know which ones have the dark tail tips. I grew up in FL but did my fishing in the ocean. Now that we own the lake, it's about 3.5 acres, I'm getting edukated on fresh water fish.

I'm just down the road from Greg and Matt at AES and they're going to come out for an audit, but I'd like to know more about the LMB now, before they come out.

Thanks,

Chuck

Welcome to PB.

There are two recognized subspecies of largemouth bass, the Florida and the Northern. These subspecies blend genetically in areas of overlap and subspecies can be positively identified only biochemically. The young fish often have a black/dark tail edge.

Not as familiar with FL LMB, but have caught many while in FL. From all the LMB I have ever seen swimming in the water, no matter which subspecies, they all have a dark edge to their tails. I would say that is normal and doesn't indicate a subspecies. As Eric said, the only truly accurate way to differentiate between the subspecies is through genetic testing.

Gents,

Thanks for the info.