Need Help

[MasterAxe]

I caught this fella the other day on the James River...need help identifying.

My assumption is that it is a smallmouth, but the markings were not the same as the others we caught, that we know were smallmouth.

Thoughts?

[MoCarp]

elk river drainage smallies look like that, blonde gravels make them color that way me thinks, if its jaw extended past its eye it may have been a Neosho strain...Unsure if they are in the James, as I only have fished it near TR for white bass/walleyes

[fishinwrench]

Plain ol' smallie.  

[RSBreth]

Even within the strain of Smallmouths in the James there is wide variation of markings. Wait until you catch a "War Stripe Blondie". Very sandy color overall but with dark gill cover stripes. - very cool.

[Al Agnew]

Yep, that's a typical light color pattern.  Note that the same fish might be totally different in color the next time you catch it.  Each individual can change color within seconds, from very dark to very light, with the vertical bars and other markings either obscured or absent, or very prominent, or anywhere in between.  In truth, the dark, prominent markings that we associate with smallmouth are actually a sign of some kind of stress (or excitement--fish in the throes of spawning will be prominently marked).  Typically, when just hanging out in the water, they will be almost unmarked.  Often, they will get those vertical bars showing up while being reeled in (stress).  But when you see them just swimming in open water, the markings are very seldom visible.

Another interesting point...note that in the photo, that fish has very bright red in its eyes.  The bright red usually shows up only on fish that are in that light color phase.  Darker smallies will have much darker eyes with little or no red showing.  The reason for this is that the same mechanism that makes the fish darker or lighter also makes the eyes either dark or red.  It works like this: the fish's skin holds pigment cells, called chromatophores.  They include cells that hold red, yellow, green, and other pigments in tiny spots within the cell.  They also include melanophores, cells that hold black pigment.  And the fish can change the dispersal of the tiny spots of pigment within these cells, especially the melanophores.  They change either from stress or other mood changes, or from reaction to the surrounding environment, and it's unclear how much conscious control the fish has over these changes.  But if you picture a melanophore cell, it contains these tiny black dots.  When the dots are all tightly clustered in the center of the cell, they allow the other colored cells to show through, but when they are dispersed throughout the cell, they make the cell itself appear far darker, and obscure the other pigmented cells.  So those dark markings in smallies appear when the melanophore cells within the dark bars of the skin have dispersed their little black dots, and disappear when the dots are clustered tightly in one spot in the center of the cell.  And in the case of the eyes, the melanophore dots do exactly the same thing, either "covering up" the red cells in the iris with dark melanophores, or letting the red show through when the melanophores are tightly clustered in the center of the cell.

A smallmouth will usually be shaded on the back to match the color of the bottom over which it swims, or on the back and sides to match the color of the water itself if the water is murky.  Go up north and catch them from water stained dark from tannins, and they will be very dark and brownish.  Catch them over clean gravel and clear water in the Ozarks and they will be very light  yellowish bronze on the back and sides to match the gravel.  Catch them in deep, murky water over a bottom covered in dark algae and they will be dark greenish bronze on the back and upper sides.

Just another characteristic that makes smallmouth and other fish so interesting to me!

[Bass Yakker]

Holy cow!  That sounds like Homer Circle stuff right there!  Good stuff man.