Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Minnow ID

I'd appreciate an opinion on this little guy I caught in my pond. He looks like he has some largemouth in him, but he looks off (maybe he's just young). Wondering if he's a meanmouth bass. You can see him in the middle of the aquarium pic and off to the left of him is a largemouth (I think). You notice the lateral line is much fainter, and his tail shows black highlights. He doesn't look like a smallmouth to me either but again maybe he's just young. And maybe you guys will tell me he's not a bass at all.

Thanks much.

That does not look like a minnow. If I was a betting man I would wager it is a Large Mouth Bass.

I was thinking large mouth bass with less exposure to sun light.

Sorry, I meant "minnow" in the slang sense of a fingerling/fry.

So ok, sounds like the consensus is a largemouth which was my first guess. The variation just made me second guess especially when viewed side by side with other guys. In fact I've got a tank for of these guys and all but 2-3 of them are alike. These guys just sorta stood out as different.

I just looked up what a mean mouth bass is and that fry is about as close as you can get. It doesn't look like the other LMB in the tank.

There are natural coloration patterns in every spawn of LMB fry.