Need Your Opinions

[Al Agnew]

Thanks...I guess it's the old teacher in me...I taught for seven years. Or maybe I'm just a Cliff Claven...at any rate, I'm blessed or cursed with a great memory for stuff I find interesting.

[Mitch f]

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

I caught a nice one this year on the Meramec,just under 18" that just absolutly slammed a jerkbait. They fight like hell! I've seen quite a few on the lower Meramec.

Someone at the SMA told me that he talked to an agent who said if you catch one to throw it up on the bank. Not me, he's probably still swimming.

[eric1978]

You're not talking about the one in your pic, are you Mitch? That one looks like mostly smallie to me, definitely not worthy of destroying...at least IMO. Plenty of smallie genes there to pass on.

[Mitch f]

You're not talking about the one in your pic, are you Mitch? That one looks like mostly smallie to me, definitely not worthy of destroying...at least IMO. Plenty of smallie genes there to pass on.

Eric, They weren't talking about this exact fish, but in general. I showed this pic to Al at the SMA Bronzeback banquet and he said it was probably 3/4 smallie.

The funny part about this fish is that as soon as the fish was visible my brother said "WOW, What A NICE SPOT!" I told him" NO, THATS A SMALLMOUTH!"

[Al Agnew]

It's an interesting question as to whether you should throw the hybrids up on the bank. And I wonder if the average conservation agent would count that fish as a spot or as a smallmouth.

On the one hand, it does have spotted bass genes. If it mated with a spot, you'd have hybrids that are 5/8ths spotted bass. If one of them mated with a spot, you'd then have 13/16ths spotted bass.

On the other hand, if it mated with a smallmouth, you'd have 7/8ths smallies, and if they mated with smallmouth, you'd have 15/16th smallmouth.

Only real "fact" is that it has some spotted bass genes, it's not a pure smallmouth. The few genetic studies that have been done on streams where spotted bass are invading and interbreeding is that a fair percentage of the apparent smallmouth have at least some spotted bass genetics.

Personally, I don't kill hybrids, but I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing by not doing so.