Spots to 12" possibly

[Al Agnew]

All you have to do is go to some of the fishing groups on Facebook to see how little so many people know about identifying fish.  And even more appalling is how many of them are sure they know and are completely wrong, but will argue with you about it even after you carefully explain to them why the fish isn't what they think it is and instead is a different species.

I wrote an article for my blog several years ago on how to tell spots from largemouth at a glance.  I can tell them 100% as soon as I lift them from the water, and can't remember the last time I wasn't sure about a bass in MO.  It isn't those things that so many anglers go by like tooth patches and maxillary in relation to the eye or shallow or deep notch between the dorsal fins.  It's two simple things about the general appearance; the rows of small dark spots, one on each scale, below the dark blotchy horizontal band, that form thin dark lines.  And it's the area of scales between the dark horizontal band and the lateral line, which are always rather prominently dark-edged (well, technically the base of each scale is dark, but the effect is to make those scales look like they have dark edges.)  In largemouth, there may be small darker spots on the scales below the horizontal band, but they don't connect with each other to form those thin dark lines.  And the scales just below the lateral line in largemouth are not dark-edged.

I once took a lady from the Nature Conservancy on a float trip on upper Big River.  She had never fished in her life, and knew nothing about fish.  It was one of those days when you couldn't keep the spots off, and the largemouth were also active, as well as smallmouth.  I probably caught 70 or so altogether.  So when I caught the first few, I told her what they were.  She asked how I could tell and I explained, but said, "I'll bet, if we catch enough today, by the end of the day you'll be identifying them as soon as I pull them from the water.  You can guess each time I catch one, and I will only tell you if you are wrong or right; I won't tell you why anymore."

And by the end of the day she was identifying all three species flawlessly.  Her only failure was when I caught a couple hybrids near the end of the day.

https://riversandart.blogspot.com/2019/08/how-to-tell-spotted-bass-from.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawJkG2ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHtEmEZFMFarpAFFkJv_FlG-94BVqI7VprLwJwIu_5qnt1nk_TREP3Se4BPyT_aem_bL2zNGSrXqm4FfqpDpcUdw

 

[rps]

From what I have read, size limits are designed to provide fish species to maximize growth based upon fishing pressure and forage availability. At some times, that formula is used to give access to other species an advantage.

Let us talk frankly. Spots kept Tablerock a destination after the virus killed the big largemouth. Since then, no study has shown spots have limited or prohibited the comeback of largemouth. Instead, the normal progression of new lake to older highland lake has favored spots and smallmouth. How many of you who fished tablerock in the 60's s ever caught a smallmouth?

Different lake, different time.

Heaven knows the forage base on Tablerock can support even more bass and walleye than swim at present. Fishing pressure is the restraint factor. For 20 years, the 15 inch bass and the 18 inch walleye limits have given us the best combination.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

P.S. If you reduce the number of spots, what happens to the meanmouth numbers?

Just my 2 cents.

[snagged in outlet 3]

9 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

 

All you have to do is go to some of the fishing groups on Facebook to see

 

My wife just recently got us on FB.  We never had a reason to get it until we were kind of “forced” to.  A glaring issue I’ve seen on these groups is how many people keep fish.   Or are unintentionally killing them due to time out of water for pictures or poor handling.   I’ve never seen so many fish covered in grass, sand and gravel.  I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.   And those that question why guides would suddenly be keeping limits of 12” spots just look on FB.  

[tjm]

On 4/12/2025 at 6:51 AM, snagged in outlet 3 said:

And those that question why guides would suddenly be keeping limits of 12” spots just look on FB.  

How many of those grassy fish are posted by guides?

  

On 4/12/2025 at 6:51 AM, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I’ve never seen so many fish covered in grass, sand and gravel.

That's why I stopped going to RRSP during the C&R season. But that just stopped me from seeing them, the C&R  season is still popular.

[snagged in outlet 3]

12 minutes ago, tjm said:

How many of those grassy fish are posted by guides?

  

That's why I stopped going to RRSP during the C&R season. But that just stopped me from seeing them, the C&R  season is still popular.

Plenty of grip and grins on docks with guide info signs.