Identifying fish here in TN
 

is a red eye bass and a rock bass the same thing? and are they actually bass?

I saw something in the water (harpeth) that was atleast 3 feet long and it wasn't a gar....it had a much fuller body.

Click on the species and it shall enlarge.
http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFi...otoGallery.htm

Uummmm ... <'TK><
 

haha...sorry no that was meant to be
multiple questions :D

is there a difference between a rock bass and a redeye (and are they both actually bass?)

and then what the heck did i see that was 3+ feet long and thick..not a gar....or was it an alligator gar or a walleye? it was big and full bodied like the alligator gar pic a
t the link you posted.

Not 100% sure but I believe Red Eye and Rock Bass are the same, though there is the Warmouth as well which is similar and may be called a Rock Bass as well. They are both in the Sunfish family along with the Largemouth and Smallmouth basses, and not in the true bass family which includes the yellow bass, white bass, and striped bass.

I would say you saw a carp or drum, though 3' would be large for a creek fish.

Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) is also known as redeye bass and google eyes

Coosa Bass (Micropterus coosae) is sometimes called redeye bass, only native to SE TN but has been introduced to some highland rim streams

the 3 foot fish wasn't the redeye/rockbass. I'm just trying to figure out what I'm actually catching. I think it's rock bass...at least based on the link someone posted earlier.

The big fish a different question all together.
it was a very long but still full bodied fish that I saw...i've seen several gar in this little section of the harpeth but they are very slender. This fish wasn't slender like that.

Colors of the big fish?



Crips or bloods??

Ive caught this species on the Caney a lot. I call it a red eye.

http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFi...nNegus_jpg.jpg

Dakota, to me that would be a red eye, goggle eye, rock bass.

Let Mike Dial chime in here, he's the resident creek expert.

I've been calling those redeye too only based on the eyes but after looking at pics i decided those are rock bass....I cast over by some rocks and I see them dart out from beneath the rocks, grab the bait and take it straight back under the rocks... so rock bass seems to fit :)

I'm not sure what color it is. I don't think I can really tell the color of the fish until I get them out of the water. Do we have alligator gar in the harpeth?

What you are seeing is carp.

No gator gar. Like Blink said, probably carp.

Those redeye are excellent table fare