fish identification question

[bob46]

I always have a problem telling a spot from a largemouth and a warmouth from a rock bass any tricks.

[Shimano4Life]

Jawline on the bass question. Largemouth jaw lines will extend past the eye when the mouth is closed -- spots' jawlines will not extend past the eye.

As far as the other question.......I have no idea......???

[Embrey]

thought a war mouth WAS a rockbass

[slobslayer]

According to the FWC a warmouth and a redeye is the same and wikipedia says a rockbass and a redeye is the same. So it stands to reason that a warmouth and rockbass is also the same. Shimano4Life is correct on the largemouth ID. There are other ways but the jaw is the quickest and easiest way to tell the difference.

[walkeraviator]

Kentucky Bass have dorsal fins like a smallie with a shallow notch as largemouth have the shallow notch... but as has been said teh only fool proof way to tell is close their mouth and see how far the jaw extends...

[hairball]

I just looked at the poster I got from KDFWR and the warmouth has 3 spiny rays on the caudal fin whereas the rock bass has 5.

[slimshad09]

They all look the same in grease

[crappiepappy]

I just looked at the poster I got from KDFWR and the warmouth has 3 spiny rays on the caudal fin whereas the rock bass has 5.

Right you are, Hairball !! They are two different fish, but confused with each other all the time.

See the info on #9 vs #10 in this PDF :

http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/pdf/kyf...vPath=C101C138

(warning to dial-up/dsl users, you may have a bit of a wait for this pdf file to load )

... pappy

[first2fish]

A spotted bass or kentucky bass as they are sometimes called have a rough patch on their tongue and a lm does not. This is the easiest way to tell.

[Bobby Headrick]

First to fish;a small correction, using the tooth pacth does not work with spots as there are largemouths that also have a patch, caught on yesterday on Barren, it jaw line was past the eye, it had a patch on tongue. A lot of tourneys now only go by the jaw line as it is proof positve of species.

[offdtop]

First to fish;a small correction, using the tooth pacth does not work with spots as there are largemouths that also have a patch, caught on yesterday on Barren, it jaw line was past the eye, it had a patch on tongue. A lot of tourneys now only go by the jaw line as it is proof positve of species.

ie.. mean mouths, they are cross breed, in fact you can catch a "mean-mouth" that looks like a large mouth or a smallmouth yet different but have the color characteristics

[Bobby Headrick]

This was no cross we caught,it was pure largie. at Yatesville lake you will catch largies with a tooth patch and that lake does not have a lot of spotted bass. It could be teh cross with nothern and southern strains that cause this, as a lot of our fish are crossed together now. Yes those mean mouths are in lake Cumberland, saw two weighed in this year in different tourneys, also caught a small one myself, they are cross with smallie and spot, they spawn around the same time and around the same depth as smallies, so crossing can and is happeing.