Has Anyone Ever Caught A Rockbass Or Goggle Eye Out Of The Little Niangua?

[kayaker]

I have fished the LIttle Niangua a lot and have never caught a rockbass/goggle eye. Always thought where you find smallmouth you find rockbass, just seems like that on all the other streams. Strange the Big Niangua has them but I never caught one on the little. Anyone ever catch one.

It definately has a bunch of green sunfish in it though.

[Al Agnew]

It should have them, but actually many fisheries people believe that the streams running into the Missouri River and their tributaries may not have had native goggle-eye (of any of the three species) until they were stocked back in the days when both smallmouth and goggle-eye were widely stocked. (That may also be the reason that some SWMO streams have shadow bass, even though the main area of shadow bass distribution is in the SE part of MO.)

[fishinwrench]

Nope, not a single one for me out of the LN below Green ford, but there are some around Mule shoe. Never understood why they are never caught down further, Tavern creek has them in the upper reaches also but not so much further down. There's something to that but I dunno what it is. Moreau river is the same way.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Al, like wrench, I seem to find the Shadow in the upper reaches of the waterways around here. From a site I was reading the other day, it stated that the Missouri and upper Arkansas Shadow's were an isolated pocket from the rest of the population.

I am of the belief though, that just as the Neosho found its way to this area from the Arkansas River, the Shadow my have also followed the same path.

[mic]

What the hell is a shadow bass?

[Outside Bend]

What the hell is a shadow bass?

There's three species of rock bass in the state- northern rock bass, shadow bass, and ozark bass.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, most people don't realize that there are three species, and it wasn't until just 25 or so years ago that the biologists even figured it out. You can tell the difference if you know what you're looking for, but mostly you can go on where you caught it. Meramec and Gasconade river systems, it will always be a northern rock bass. Castor, St. Francis, Black river systems, a shadow bass. Upper White river system, including James, Kings, North Fork, Crooked, and Buffalo, it will be an Ozark bass. Over in Chief's SW MO streams, it could be an Ozark bass or a shadow bass. (I think...I don't have my reference books with me, so if I'm wrong about any of those, somebody will probably let me know!)

[Stoneroller]

on the rock bass the rows of spots along it's side will be darkest and largest below the lateral line.

The ozark bass has it's darkest rows of spots along it's side and back, not so much along it's lower sides and belly.

the shadow bass usually lacks the rows of spots and has irregular vertical splotches.

There is likely some hybridization between species which can make identification more difficult and keep in mind, when fish are caught they display different color characteristics depending on stress level. So a fish on a hook after a fight isn't always the normal coloration.

[Al Agnew]

Oops, did some checking and in Chief's SWMO streams, it'll either be a northern rock bass or a shadow bass.

Stoneroller, I think another characteristic that's fairly easy to look for is that northern rock bass have distinct, almost unbroken rows of dark spots on their middle and lower sides, basically one spot for each scale. On Ozark bass the spots are fewer and very irregular, not in distinct rows at all. One source I read described the spot pattern on Ozark bass as more like freckles. Shadow bass have rows of spots, but they are much more broken and interrupted. There was probably some interbreeding in the past as the different species were stocked in streams outside their original range, but pretty much the only streams where there would be any confusion is in SW MO. In the Spring River, Shoal Creek, and Elk River and their tributaries, along with the Oklahoma streams running into the Grand River, there could be intergrades between shadow bass and northern rock bass.

Stoneroller is right, in that all three species can change pattern and color to some extent. But usually, shadow bass will have very distinct, large, irregular dark blotches like big patches all over their back and sides, while the northern rock bass is less likely to have big blotches. Ozark bass are a little longer and slimmer than the other two species.

[Wayne SW/MO]

It's hard to tell in the TR rivers because Rockbass made there way into the lake.