Fisherman's Tale - FishingTN.com Tennessee's Fishing and Boating Community

Texas_Rig · #1 08-17-2018, 05:59 PM

I titled this post "Fisherman's Tale" because I'm gonna tell you a story that of course I have no proof of because my dumb a** forgot to take a picture. From the research I've done since last night I'm absolutely positive that I caught a mean mouth bass last night at Center Hill. I was fishing a little tournament last night and caught a little 14 inch spot. I never could cull that fish. I lost a nice chunk that jumped at the boat and my partner broke off a 4lber at the boat with 10 minutes to go in the tournament. The fish jumped over the net and broke his line. My fault for doing a bad net job.

Anyways, we go weigh our fish and I'm trying to put our fish in the weigh bag. That little spot almost jumps out of the livewell. When he did, I looked at my partner and told him we messed up because that wasn't a spot at all and it was a smallmouth. So I finally get a hold of him and look at him. I've never seen a fish like this before. This fish was built just like a spotted bass but was different. His head and belly looked like a smallmouth. His head had stripes, his belly wasn't bright white. He had those little marks under his chin like a smallmouth. But everything else looked like a spot. He was marked up like a spot. He had a tooth patch like a spot. And he felt like a spot. For those that are familiar with smallmouth and spots you know that a smallmouth feels soft and slick. This fish had course scales just like a spot. Anyways that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

BTW. The quality fish are showing up at night at the hill. The last 3 night tournaments I've fished our weights were 17lbs 1ounce, 16lbs 3ounces, and 13lbs 13 ounces with having that small mean mouth in the bag last night. They let me weigh it as a spot.

luckystratos · #2 08-18-2018, 10:15 AM

That sounds like one messed up/cross bred fish.
That is some dang good weights if that's 5 fish limit. Hope you got some $$

Texas_Rig · #3 08-18-2018, 04:48 PM

It's actually a beautiful fish. If you google some images you can see what they look like. I have some friends that fish as much as I do and we have our own little tournament about 2x a week.

thehick176 · #4 08-18-2018, 06:51 PM

I've heard conflicting stories about the regs on Mean mouth. I've heard if they have a tooth patch, treat them as a spot. If not, they fall under the Smallmouth length limit. There has been quite a conversation about them on a few east TN fishing boards.
Beautiful fish nonetheless. If they get as big as Smallmouth and the attitude of both, well, you better use braid Lol

Texas_Rig · #5 08-19-2018, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thehick176

I've heard conflicting stories about the regs on Mean mouth. I've heard if they have a tooth patch, treat them as a spot. If not, they fall under the Smallmouth length limit. There has been quite a conversation about them on a few east TN fishing boards.
Beautiful fish nonetheless. If they get as big as Smallmouth and the attitude of both, well, you better use braid Lol

They get pretty big. I just wish I had taken a picture. I was so intrigued at the time that it never crossed my mind. I had this fish out of water several times looking at it and at some point my mind went to wanting to release it so it wouldn't get too stressed. The most beautiful bass I've ever caught without a doubt!

Texas_Rig · #6 08-19-2018, 02:59 PM

One thing I forgot to mention was that it also had blotches on the top of its back like a smallmouth. I have no doubt that it was a hybrid species and I'm honored to have caught it. It looked very similar to this fish except it didn't have as many blotches on its back, it had more stripes on its head, and it was colored up a little more like a spot.

luckystratos · #7 08-19-2018, 03:42 PM

That is a beautiful fish

YETI-14 · #8 08-22-2018, 05:15 AM

Congrats
Very cool looking fish

SAMBOLIE · #9 08-22-2018, 10:49 AM

I would like to catch one of those.

tylerreid1234 · #10 08-22-2018, 06:22 PM

I caught this one in a creek a couple years back... I catch smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass in this same creek but this one looked like a combination of all of them. Does this one look similar to the one you caught?

Texas_Rig · #11 08-22-2018, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tylerreid1234

I caught this one in a creek a couple years back... I catch smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass in this same creek but this one looked like a combination of all of them. Does this one look similar to the one you caught?

That fish looks like a spot to me. I caught a fish that looked just like that one a couple years ago that. At the time I remember thinking something just wasn't right. I posted a picture on here and everyone said it was a spot. I wish I could describe it better to what I saw. None of the other fishermen that night at weigh in had any other explanation except that it had to be a hybrid species. It was just that obvious.

spottedbass · #12 08-23-2018, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tylerreid1234

I caught this one in a creek a couple years back... I catch smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass in this same creek but this one looked like a combination of all of them. Does this one look similar to the one you caught?

This is just your regular spot. I've caught a ton of those in creeks.