Mojorig

Will the ky bass and smallmouth inter breed at spawning time?
The reason I ask when looking down in the livewell at both their backs have the same markings.

Yes, they can hybridize. The offspring are commonly referred to as ‘meanmouths.” They are starting to become more common.

Cool!

That would definitely be one mean fish.

Thank you.
Can a meanmouth look like a ky and a smallmouth too?
Would there be any way I can tell whether its a mean.
I know its a smallmouth when I put it in the livewell and I know its a ky when I put it in the livewell also.But when looking down in the livewell I cann't tell which is which by the markings on their backs,they look alike.

Never mine..
Found them on the internet...thanks

Is there a lenght limit on the meanmouth?
I fish spring,current,eleven and strawberry.

do smallmouth have teeth on their tongue like a ky?

I fish for smallies in these cold arkansas streams every year and its so fun. All my Ky's are caught at the mouths of the warm creeks or just inside them. Not sure about this "meanmouth" stuff? First i have honestly heard of it.

Not sure if this is a good thing b/c the pure breed smallmouth may someday be gone.I think inter breeding during the spawn with all bass that the record books may have to reveiwed or rewitten.

Is the meanmouth counted as a smallmouth when going by limit and lenght limit?
If I caught a record smallmouth and it turns out to be a meanmouth will it kicked out of the record?
Same Q'tion on the large mouth,if its a mean will be counted as a record largemouth?
If I have 10 meanmouths under 14in in the livewell will mr green jeans fine me for having over the limit and under lenght limit on smallmouth.
Last Q'tion what does agfc look for when telling the differents between the smallmouth and meanmouth?
What I have read about meanies its best to go with the smallmouth limit and lenght b/ c some have tooth some don't.

Type in meanmouth on google images an you can tell em apart pretty well. I gotta say they are a cool looking fish. 3 horizontal stripes and then rest vertical along down the fish.

Turtlebait,

I will have to get that info for you from the WOs. I know how I would answer those questions but I am not the one with the ticket book. It may take me a couple of days, sorry.

Ok thank you.

I already did a search,your right but it doesn't really mean anything when telling them apart.It seems if a smallmouth male and a ky female will produce something different from a male ky and female sm.It seems one will have a tooth patch and the other want.Have to send it to the lab for A gene check I guess lol.

Sorry for the delay in answering these questions.

First, I want to say that I didn’t realize that you were talking about catching meanmouths in river. Those are not as common as you see in reservoirs. For example: In the 11 point River during the fall of 2011 and 2012, sampled sport fish over 40 miles of river each year. We sampled over 1000 smallmouth bass and 400 spotted bass (Yes we seen a bunch of crappie too). I don’t recall seeing any meanmouths. That doesn’t mean they aren’t out there just means they are rare. In streams, they use different spawning habitats. In reservoirs during high water events they tend to use the same type of spawning habitats, making it easier to hybridize.

Now to your questions, I have discussed this with our Fisheries Administration in LR and Enforcement Captions in the areas you mentioned. Here is their answer: An angler should go with the most restrictive regulation. For example, if an angler catches a suspected mean mouth (spotted bass x smallmouth bass cross) and there is a 15” minimum length limit on smallmouth bass and no length limit on spotted bass in lake or river X, the fish should be at least 15” if the angler intends to harvest the fish. This would hold true for creel limits as well. Also, if an angler has concerns about whether a fish is legal for harvest or not, they can simply throw the fish back.

As for the record smallmouth and testing for genetics, we will have to wait till that time comes. Some states are doing the genetic testing on smallmouth and spotted bass records and some are not. As for Largemouth record, I don’t see that happening. Those are extremely rare and will not reach the size of a really big Florida largemouth bass.

For telling the difference between a meanmouth, spotted, and smallmouth bass, I am comfortable doing it most of the time. The only reason I am is I did my master work on spotted bass in the white river chain of lakes. I have seen thousands of spotted bass. However, there is not tried and true method of determine a meanmouth. They are not always as easy to ID as they look in pictures. Most of the time they look like you cut a smallmouth and spotted bass in half and glued the top of the smallmouth to the bottom of a spotted bass. Eventhough I say I am comfortable doing that doesn’t mean I don’t see some from time to time that I have a hard time identifying.

Finally, everyone don’t use teeth on the tongue to ID spotted bass that could result in a incorrect identification. I have seen largemouth bass with teeth on their tongue. When in doubt always use the mouth. The spotted bass mouth ends at the edge of their eye. A largemouth’s mouth ends way past the eye.

I hope this information helps!

Yes every good answer,thank you.
Yes the glueing as you say but not as white belly like the ky.
We caught sm almost solid black to a pretty copper brown,black is rare tho.
I read up on the meanmouth in other states and was hoping testing would not be important enough to do so.If I read between the lines in your post the mm will (can be)be a sm in the rocord books.

catch a bunch of what appears to be largemouth bass with tooth patches on their tongues on the st. francis. Always assumed those river bass were largemouth/ spotted bass hybrids. were they? Also, how come almost every bass i tongue hook dies rapidly?? I know there is a whopper blood vessel there.

If the jaw bone goes past the eye its a largemouth....even with eye its a ky