Another Float With Wheat

[Trout Commander]

Went over my head, sorry

The 3 ninja icon's were used at the end of the comment to indicate a tone of Jest. Like Chief already said he was just ribbing Eric.

[eric1978]

For those of you who are interested, I emailed Kevin Meneau last night to ask him about both the mutated smallmouth and also the assertion that Gasconade fish seem to have characteristics exclusive of similar nearby watersheds such as the Meramec. This was his response:

I've seen this type of issue before, in several MO watersheds. However, the incidence is rather rare (much less than 1%). It is not clear if this is a result of genetic mutation or environmental condition (metals from mining). Given we see this issue from several watersheds, I would lean toward environmental condition, rather than something genetic.

I'm not aware of any evidence which establishes specific strains or appearances of smallmouth bass, by watershed. Given the relative geographic isolation of the Meramec from the Gasconade, it may be possible. But, I've not seen anything definitive.

[fishinwrench]

For those of you who are interested, I emailed Kevin Meneau last night to ask him about both the mutated smallmouth and also the assertion that Gasconade fish seem to have characteristics exclusive of similar nearby watersheds such as the Meramec. This was his response:

I've seen this type of issue before, in several MO watersheds. However, the incidence is rather rare (much less than 1%). It is not clear if this is a result of genetic mutation or environmental condition (metals from mining). Given we see this issue from several watersheds, I would lean toward environmental condition, rather than something genetic.

I'm not aware of any evidence which establishes specific strains or appearances of smallmouth bass, by watershed. Given the relative geographic isolation of the Meramec from the Gasconade, it may be possible. But, I've not seen anything definitive.

Now THAT is the politically correct way to say...."How the **** would I know"?

If I knew how to talk like that, jjtroutbum would like me.

[eric1978]

Now THAT is the politically correct way to say...."How the **** would I know"?

Yep, that's basically how I took it, too.

[Mitch f]

For those of you who are interested, I emailed Kevin Meneau last night to ask him about both the mutated smallmouth and also the assertion that Gasconade fish seem to have characteristics exclusive of similar nearby watersheds such as the Meramec. This was his response:

I've seen this type of issue before, in several MO watersheds. However, the incidence is rather rare (much less than 1%). It is not clear if this is a result of genetic mutation or environmental condition (metals from mining). Given we see this issue from several watersheds, I would lean toward environmental condition, rather than something genetic.

I'm not aware of any evidence which establishes specific strains or appearances of smallmouth bass, by watershed. Given the relative geographic isolation of the Meramec from the Gasconade, it may be possible. But, I've not seen anything definitive.

Eric,

Thanks for the follow up!

All Kevin would have to do is actually fish the streams a few times to able to discern differences in the fish. I really wonder how many times and how often they perform electrofish samplings. My opinion is the samplings are very incomplete.

[Chief Grey Bear]

My opinion is the samplings are very incomplete.

Why do you say that?

[Mitch f]

Why do you say that?

Hold that thought

[Al Agnew]

If you've ever went with them on an electroshocking survey, you'll know that it's somewhat hectic, and they aren't examining fish very closely to look at differences in appearance, let alone doing genetic studies of them routinely. The surveys are done mainly to look at population densities, size structure, and growth rates. While some genetic studies have been done on smallmouth in the streams where spotted bass are encroaching (enough to show that a lot of the smallies have a few spotted bass genes, signifying a significant level of hybridization), I don't know of much that has ever been done comparing one river system's genetics to another's.

Keep in mind our long discussions consisting of a lot of guesswork on strains and subspecies of smallmouth in the Ozarks in past threads. While the Gasconade and Meramec systems are right next to each other, by water they are separated by a good chunk of the Missouri River, which was rather inhospitable to bass in the past. So that's what Kevin means by the geographic isolation of smallies in the two streams. Smallmouth in the James and Buffalo should be a lot more similar in genetics than smallmouths in the Gasconade and Meramec, even though the James and Buffalo are farther away from each other as the crow flies. They are connected (or they were before the big dams) by the smallmouth friendly White River.