Need Your Opinions

[Smalliebigs]

We caught a bass the other day that my buddy swears is a hybrid between a Smallmouth and a Largemouth bass. I didn't think bass did that in streams.I have caught a few Meanmouths @ Table Rock. The fish did not have a patch on it's tounge, it did have vertical bars like a Smallie but it also had a faint horizontal bar like a Largemouth and was built like a Largemouth. The upper jaw extened just barely past it's eye. I would say it's a spot but it didn't look like a spot. I was sure someone here would know if SM & LM hybridize in streams and you would have opinions.It kind of looked like a Shoal bass from some creek in GA. Here are the best images I have of the fish. ::Creak Freak::

bonus video of 16 incher fighting for freedom that day :::Creak Freak:::

[flytyer57]

Looks like one very nice smallmouth to me.

[Gavin]

Think its a smallie spot hybrid.....but I'd defer to whatever Al thinks...Nice chunkster, either way.

[Smalliebigs]

Gavin,

I am am idiot, my friend said the same thing....Spot*Smallie hybrid not Smallie*Largemouth.........I think I am going to agree with you. That fish in person did not look like a smallie????

[eric1978]

Think its a smallie spot hybrid.....but I'd defer to whatever Al thinks...Nice chunkster, either way.

Yep...spot/smallie, possibly just spot, but either way, what a pig.

[ColdWaterFshr]

The fishes mother was well known around town. A respectable smallmouth from way upstream who made good margaritas and kept her smallmouth shut most of the time. The father, well, he was a bit of a rolling stone. A spotted bass who grew up with on the wrong side of the James River bridge with an inferiority complex and ran with the wrong crowd, asian carp gangstas and obnoxious largemouths. They met one warm spring night at crawdad rally just underneath that bluff pictured in the background. Well, one thing led to another, and along comes junior, shown in your pictures here.

[Smalliebigs]

ColdWater, it was well worth posting these pics for your reply alone.....thank you!!!!..very nice. Man I am still laughing!!!

[Al Agnew]

Yep, spot/smallie hybrid. Pretty common in the streams where the non-native spotted bass have invaded. I've caught a bunch of them on Big River, the Bourbeuse, and several of the direct Mississippi River tributaries. My brother caught a 19 incher on Big River a few years ago. They vary in appearance, because they tend to back-cross with both species, so you'll see some that look just slightly different from the normal spotted bass, some that are just slightly different from the normal smallmouth, and some that look like yours.

By the way, "meanmouth" was originally a laboratory cross between a smallmouth and a largemouth. Some biologists were experimenting to see if such a fish had any usefulness in reservoirs. They found that the hybrids were often extremely aggressive to the point of attacking swimmers' fingers and toes, so they called them meanmouths. They probably decided it wasn't worth pursuing, since such fish would be especially susceptible to angling pressure because of their aggressiveness. Largemouth do not, to my knowledge, cross with either spots or smallies in the wild. But smallies and spots cross fairly readily under some circumstances. So the fish that are caught in the streams and lakes of the Ozarks are "natural" crosses. A lot of anglers call them meanmouths, but they don't have the excess aggressiveness of the lab crosses of largemouth and smallmouth.

[Outside Bend]

Gorgeous fish, and it looks like it came from some fairly small water, too. Good on you.

Al- I think I've read that there was evidence of introgression between spots and largemouth in Kansas, though that could be due to one or the other being introduced outside its native range. And with the confusing history of spot systematics, it's hard to tell who saw what when.

[Smalliebigs]

Al, thanks for the insight, I knew you would know the deal. It's really interesting you saying some fish would represent a Smallie more and some would represent a Spot more.The Meanmouth thing, that is just what the guys I was with when we caught them @ the Rock were calling them. I didn't know that there was Largemouth bred with Smallmouth in a lab, it almost sounds like a Horror movie. Your brother catching a 19 inch hybrid, now that would be sweet. Although I guess it's indicative of bad things to come for smallies where this occurs. Al, I learn something new everytime you post on here....thank you