Small Mouth Bass

I've often thought that if we can stock millions of carp and other variants into our still waters, wouldn't it be a good idea if we could also consider a game fish too.

I am thinking of course of the Small Mouth Bass (Micropterus dolomeiu) a species which was originally native to the northern parts of America, particularly in the area of the great lakes. This fish over the past 100 years has been successfully introducedto many other parts of North America, Southern Africa, Scandinavia and even Japan. The Small Mouth Bass is actually not a truebass at all. It is a member of the American Sunfish family which includes the Largemouth Bass, Crappies, Bluegills and Pumpkinseeds. It is a fine and very handsome game fish which can reach double figures in exceptional circumstances. However a 2 pounder is a good fish and a5 pounder is a whopper. I have been fortunate in a past life to have caught them to 6 1/4 lbs.

Unlike the Largemouth Bass which prefers a tropical climate, smallies thrive in cool water conditions and would be ideal for stocking clear water gravel pits and reservoirs. They are self propogating and have fairly high fecundity. One stocked the populations would be self sustaining - unlike rainbow trout which require costly restocking.

These fish are top of the apex predators, feeding on insects, crustaceans and small fish. Probably their favourite food are crayfish. They have rudimentary pharyngeal teeth and have no problem eating fairly large crustaceans such as signal crays.

They are also extremely good eating, the flesh resembling Dover Sole, with a texture similar to zander.

But unlike zander, these fish fight! In fact I would put the small mouth bass as one of the hardest fighting freshwater fish, size for sizeon the planet.

So what do you think? Would stocking a large land locked gravel pit with Smallmouth Bass as an experiment be a good idea?

I though the Yanks stocked a few pools in the UK with small mouths, they certainly stocked many of the dams in Cyprus I recall, then again because they are self propogating this could limited stocking, would they have an effect on indeginous sps and take up available indigenous niches

Mate, I did an investigation regarding the smallmouth bass "myth" in England a few years ago and could find no solid evidence that these fish had ever been stocked in England. Largemouth Bass yes, but these fish are totally unsuitable for our climate.

Carp have far more negative effects on indigenous species than bass. I know this and have seen first hand the damage that carp can do in other parts of the world.

ah I see, yes the black bass appeared in the Brook Bond fishes series

I think you will find that the bass stocked into Cyprus waters were largemouths. I think at sometime you caught a few of these fish. Confirm the description of the species.

Large Mouth Bass:

Green in colour, mouth very large and is set back behind the eye. The two dorsal fins are seperate.

Small Mouth Bass:

Bronze in colour with a distinctive orange to red iris of the eye. Both dorsal fins are joined, mouth does not extend beyond the eye.

Male small mouth bass have distinctive dark bars down the flanks as well as dark "arrowhead"markings on the head around the eye. Females grow a lot bigger than the males and are often coloured very similar to tench.

yes I think they may have been large mouth, I have some photographs of thjem somewhere on film

The black basses have most interesting breeding habits.

The male makes a hole or nest on a sandy or gravelly bottom. Then he ushers in a female where they mate, the female dropping her eggs and the male his milt which fertilises the eggs.

The male then has a heck of a job to prevent the female from eating her own eggs and eventually shoos her off, not without some bruising. The male will then stand guard over the clutch of ova until it hatches. He will defend to the death those eggs, the main enemies being female bass, carp and catfish.

I have caught many male bass in my life that have been bleeding and battered.

There is no mother care for the young in the bass world!

Ron the answer is very simple they are immigrant fish and the chances of getting a section 30 to stock such fish is about 0.

And you really can't say with any authority they would have no impact on the native fish fauna.

So it's time to pack you kite away, as it won't fly!

Because our indigenouspike, perch and zander are for more beautiful creatures anyway...thats reason enough for me...

get ready for the zander rant....

Ah well, I can dream I suppose!

/forum/smilies/thinking_smiley.gif

Barney Z's indigenous?

Don't thinkunder the EA's classification (100 years) they're naturalised yet!

Ron the answer is very simple they are immigrant fish and the chances of getting a section 30 to stock such fish is about 0.

thank god for that. at least some one has a brain somewhere.

Ron what is this obsession of yours with polluting our waterways with fish which aren't even native to europe.

why do you insist on denigrating european native species while celebrating and encouraging the destruction of habitats worldwide by american fish. Then have tyhe gall to call your self some kind of conservationist. It is americaonophilia combined with the desgusting 1930's snobbery that so called game fish are superior to all other species at it most blatant and damaging.

"Barney Z's indigenous? - Don't thinkunder the EA's classification (100 years) they're naturalised yet!"

Iknow Phil - hence my second post /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Only you responded though....

Zeds are a lovely fish though, I wish there were a few in the NorthWest..

That could be arranged /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

how long do they last in the post ?

" I wish there were a few in the NorthWest.."

So move!

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On seconds thoughts, stay. Your carbon footprint is far too big Barney.

Zeds are a lovely fish though, I wish there were a few in the NorthWest..

Give it time Barney, they're in the canal system and most of the system is now linked. Adaptive radiation!

and a few big buckets...

I keep looking at the Mersey and thinking how much like a large fen drain it looks !!!!!

and its now full of silverfish...

Ron. I think the answer may be that, where Smallmouth Bass have been introduced, it has been a total disaster. I'm not saying carp and zander haven't been, but we don't need any more alien species roaming around - sprinkling alien species around is like playing Russian roulette with the environment.

The Japs have had an ex[pecially bad time with these fish, and are trying to find ways to eradicate them.

(extract from recent paper)

Smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu, known as one of the world's most disastrous invasive species, was introduced into Lake Aoki, central Japan in the last 10 years and is of concern for the conservation of the native biodiversity. We investigated spawning and brood defense under novel conditions to devise measures to eradicate a local population of this species.