What Sort Of Bass Is This?

[esox niger]

I noticed the fish had a pointy lower jaw....Lower Missouri River. I'm no expert but seems like a straight up striper with the solid lines and football shape...not very round though...

[Feathers and Fins]

WOW, That looks like a sunshine but you are in the wrong part of the country for those, so i have to go with striper.

[jdmidwest]

White Bass.

Good eating and fun to catch. Cut out the red meat.

[Bill Butts]

Wow, that is a tough one to call based only on the photos.

I think FnF had a point that the symetry sure looked like a Sunshine Bass (Hybrid - egg from White Bass/sperm from Striper) as opposed to the original and most common strain which is the opposite.

Interestingly the photos where the fish is on the beach certainly looks like a Striper (not stripper), but the hand held photos make the body look more White Bass-like.

My guess is, since there are just slightly broken lines on the upper front half, that it is actually a Hybrid Striper which are more commonly found in that river.

Check out the websites that show how to distinguish Stripers, Hybrids and Whites based on the tooth patches on the back of their tongue, that way next time you catch one you let us know for sure.

When they're that size, they all taste pretty much the same.

Awesome that you caught it with fly tackle, keep up the good work!!

[fishinwrench]

Nice!

Surely he wasn't in there all by himself..... see if you can do it again and get a accurate ID on those bad boys.

[jdmidwest]

It is hard to tell, you need to see the lines clearly and count the fin rays to identify.

That is the first time I have heard a hybrid called a sunshine bass. I have seen them called wipers.

[Bill Butts]

Original strain was developed thru a dual effort of fisheries biologists from SC and TN, if I understand correctly.

In SC it was called the Palmetto Bass (name of state tree), and in TN it was called the Cherokee Bass (name of first lake they were planted in TN).

This Hybrid Striper is derived from Striper eggs and White Bass sperm.

Years later, biologists in FL developed a "reciprocal" strain using the opposite sexes, and called it the Sunshine Bass.

Interesting, the original strain has physical shape more similar to a White Bass (deep body and not a long tail), whereas the reciprocal strain favors the body shape of the Striper (longer tail section and not deep bodied).

The closest state that I know for sure has experimented with stocking the reciprocal strain is OK, where biologists have done at least one 5 year study comparison of growth rates of the two strains, and determining which strain is least likely to migrate down river (called entrainment) during periods of high flows thru river/lake systems. That study was on Kaw Reservioir on the AR River system near Ponca City OK. Last conversation I had with one of the research biologists, they had already determined there was little difference in downriver migration, but the original strain were definitely growing at faster rates utilizing the same food base.

Incidentally, in 2005, the ODWC stocked 690,000 of the reciprocal Hybrids in Grand Lake in order to re-establish a quality Hybrid fishery based on public requests.

Regarding the name "Wiper", it is used by many fishermen and some state fisheries departments. It is simply a name given either version of the hybrid strain as you can pretty much tell. Personally, I believe it is a disrespectful and derogitory name for the hardest fighting fish, pound for pound, in freshwater. My 2 cents.

Hope this helps shed some light on one of our great gamefish.

[jdmidwest]

Hybrid Bass have broken lines along the top by the dorsal fin. Spine on the gill cover and distinctive teeth on the back of the tongue.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hybrid-striped-bass-wiper-whiterock-bass

White Bass have the unbroken lines and single heart shape teeth on the tongue.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/white-bass

Striped Bass, dorsal fins are separated. Tongue patch like the hybrid.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/striped-bass

Looks like a nice white bass to me.

[esox niger]

I get the hybrids all the time but sometimes I get a "hybrid" who's stripes aren't broken...just always makes me wonder....I though Hybrids and Stipers had two tooth patches....I've also heard that the Striper's (thanks Bill) second anal ray is 1/2 the size of the 3rd ray while a white bass's second ray is 2/3 the 3rd ray. photos look like 2nd is 2/3rds of the 3rd. Don't know if that clarifies it. Its just the unbroken stipes that makes me question but the stipes are not solid like a striper so i go with Hybrid striped bass of one kind or another no doubt they are reproducing...I posted photo's of juveniles with broken stripes in a different thread somewhere...

could be a big white....but I think the whites i catch are much taller from belly to spine...body of a hybrid....stripes of a white, I should have looked at the teeth , we will never know....

[esox niger]

Nice!

Surely he wasn't in there all by himself..... see if you can do it again and get a accurate ID on those bad boys.

the fish have been few and far between this year...I'm sure I will run into a few more but the non-broken stipe ones are pretty rare.