help with fish identification

[CBR1000rr]

Can anyone help me identify this fish?

It was caught in the white river around Connersville Indiana. I actually caught a couple of these between Cambridge and Connersville while kayaking.

http://i.imgur.com/7s3Blid.jpg

 

[pudly]

Here you go...

 

[CBR1000rr]

Thank you. I tried like hell to host it this way but it's difficult from my phone.

 

[Dargasonus]

Smallmouth bass

 

[CBR1000rr]

Smallmouth bass

That's what I thought as well. It has all the characteristics but I've never caught a smallie that looked like this. It's too light and the jaws don't look right. Could it be that it's so young?

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Small mouth bass / rock bass hybrid?

 

[craigkim]

I would think Warmouth. Edited: Yes, Warmouth. Your picture was so good that the dorsal spines could easily be seen and counted to confirm. I used to fish the white a lot and those were a common catch. My dad colloquially called them "Goggle Eyes".

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I still say that's a river small mouth. I thought a warmouth looked more like a rock bass.

Here's a Warmouth. Look at the black spot on the gill, and note the rounded tail fin. Then look at the small mouth above, with no black spot and more pointed lobes on the tail fin.

 

[craigkim]

I still say that's a river small mouth. I thought a warmouth looked more like a rock bass.

Here's a Warmouth. Look at the black spot on the gill, and note the rounded tail fin. Then look at the small mouth above, with no black spot and more pointed lobes on the tail fin.
View attachment 39484

Count the dorsal spines. 10. Count the anal fin spines. 3. I used to be really into fish identification and icthyology. Fish can vary so widely in coloration and morphology that often it comes down to counting spines.

 

[pjcalla]

There ARE fish in the White! I've been skunked the last couple times out. Anyway, I say smallie as well. I've caught a few that looked just like that out of the White.

 

[craigkim]

I still say that's a river small mouth. I thought a warmouth looked more like a rock bass.

Here's a Warmouth. Look at the black spot on the gill, and note the rounded tail fin. Then look at the small mouth above, with no black spot and more pointed lobes on the tail fin.
View attachment 39484

Oh, I do too. I guess I was under the assumption that small mouth had been ruled out by the OP..? Oh, well, when you assume...!

 

[HuntMeister]

definitely a bass and inclined to say smallmouth over largemouth.

 

[CBR1000rr]

Oh, I do too. I guess I was under the assumption that small mouth had been ruled out by the OP..? Oh, well, when you assume...!

I haven't ruled that one out, just saying that I've never caught one that looked like this one. Must of the smallmouth I catch are a dark brown/bronze color. Even the small I've caught are the darker brown. This one also seemed like it was a lot more streamlined than any other smallmouth I've ever caught.

I'm confident it was a bass of some sort, just not one I've ever met.

Here are some pictures of other smallmouth I've caught in the white river here in Indy.

http://i.imgur.com/qN8EOdU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ry98PhD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wkGdWO7.jpg

Here is a, what I call, a rock bass I caught in the white riverhere in Indy

http://i.imgur.com/qgT6H3Y.jpg

Neither of these fish share the same coloring or shape as the first one I posted. Could this be sure in part to the water the fish was pulled from?

 

[halfmileharry]

Definitely a largemouth. draw a line straight down from the eye to the jaw. That's how you tell a largemouth from a spot.
Small mouth is definitely a different fish.
I grew up on Dale Hollow and it has every type of bass. I learned this stuff at an early age. Largemouth, Kentucky Spot, Alabama spot, all have different characteristics.
The flowing water and time of year can fade the lateral lines in the fish and also cause a change in color to them.

 

[HuntMeister]

Actually with the mouth closed, if the upper law extends past the eye it is a largemouth. If it does not extend past the eye it is a smallie. Kinda hard to tell in the OP's photo as the mouth is open.

 

[KJQ6945]

Op, the fish is so light colored because the river is muddy. As the water clears back up the fish will darken back up.

The easiest way to tell the difference between LM, SM, and Spotted bass is to close the mouth. On a Largemouth, the jaw bone extends past the eye. A Spotted bass the jawbone is even with the eye. A Smallmouth the jawbone doesn't extend to the eye.

The fish is a Smallmouth.

 

[nate77]

Small mouth, they don't develop their bronze color, and taller body, until they get some size.

 

[Bennettjh]

I'm going to say small mouth as well.

 

[A-savvy]

It's a Smallmouth, the outer ring in a Smallmouth's eye is usually red like the one in the OP's picture. I have seen them turn there skin that color before but it was at night when I caught him. I have heard that they will turn that color at night or when there on a light sandy bottom.

 

[CBR1000rr]

It's a Smallmouth, the outer ring in a Smallmouth's eye is usually red like the one in the OP's picture. I have seen them turn there skin that color before but it was at night when I caught him. I have heard that they will turn that color at night or when there on a light sandy bottom.

This makes complete sense. The section of river I was fishing was nothing but sand. The water was fairly clear considering all the rain we got but the bottom is sandy as hell.