nickajack meanmouth?

coldfront · December 19, 2021, 04:00:16 PM

think I caught one saturday. little rain, really balmy conditions. down on the river 'cause they were letting some current out. lots of little guys... smallmouth, spots...
last week when I put the boat away I didn't put it on the charger... so wasn't long and my TM was not 'tm-ing'...

this might be a meanmouth... but for purposes of creel limits, TWRA says 'if it's brown it's a smallmouth'. boy, sure is tough to tell... I'm going meanmouth. but she's still swimmin.

for reference, a spot and a smallie from last week...

Donald Garner · December 19, 2021, 04:33:14 PM

Congrats on the catching and tks for sharing those pictures with us also. Nice looking bass there

zippyduck · December 19, 2021, 04:53:16 PM

Thank you for the great pics. Good comparative post.
Definitely a meanmouth.

loomisguy · December 19, 2021, 04:57:23 PM

I catch a few here on Table Rock. I would agree it's a meanmouth.

coldfront · December 19, 2021, 08:20:32 PM

am always a little fascinated with all the colors/textures that these fish have when I look really really closely at them.

TNDiver · December 21, 2021, 12:00:24 PM

Curious how it got the name mean mouth? Also how do you distinguish it from the others? I can see the lack of a definable lateral line and the mouth is more like a small mouth, but what else?

Smallie_Stalker · December 21, 2021, 12:30:07 PM

Quote from: TNDiver on December 21, 2021, 12:00:24 PM
Curious how it got the name mean mouth? Also how do you distinguish it from the others? I can see the lack of a definable lateral line and the mouth is more like a small mouth, but what else?

I remember reading a story about that but it was a long time ago.

I believe, (but could be wrong) that the name comes from them being a cross breed between a northern strain small mouth, that are supposed to be more agressive, or meaner than southern strains with either a Florida strain largemouth (those being more aggressive than the northern strain) or a spotted bass (also agressive or mean). I don't remember which one it was. I'm learning more towards the spotted bass

I am 99% sure about the smallmouth part. Not very sure about the other part though.

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coldfront · December 21, 2021, 12:38:08 PM

Quote from: Smallie_Stalker on December 21, 2021, 12:30:07 PM
Quote from: TNDiver on December 21, 2021, 12:00:24 PM
Curious how it got the name mean mouth? Also how do you distinguish it from the others? I can see the lack of a definable lateral line and the mouth is more like a small mouth, but what else?
I remember reading a story about that but it was a long time ago.

I believe, (but could be wrong) that the name comes from them being a cross breed between a northern strain small mouth, that are supposed to be more agressive, or meaner than southern strains with either a Florida strain largemouth (those being more aggressive than the northern strain) or a spotted bass (also agressive or mean). I don't remember which one it was.

I am 99% sure about the smallmouth part. Not very sure about the other part though.

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urban legend (although I think I've seen this in print) is that 'back when' the fisheries folks went through a period of looking at hybrids (green sunfishxbluegill, redearxbluegill, white bassxstriper... etc) they crossed smallmouth and spot. got a very aggressive fish that had a tendency to 'bite' folks while they were swimming.
hence 'meanmouth'...
running a google search on 'how the meanmouth got it's name' ... got me to this
https://www.kentuckynewera.com/article_3d4ab2f9-0ea4-5ef1-9a67-3e2e0cdc6c46.html

Smallie_Stalker · December 21, 2021, 02:10:30 PM

Quote from: coldfront on December 21, 2021, 12:38:08 PM
Quote from: Smallie_Stalker on December 21, 2021, 12:30:07 PM
Quote from: TNDiver on December 21, 2021, 12:00:24 PM
Curious how it got the name mean mouth? Also how do you distinguish it from the others? I can see the lack of a definable lateral line and the mouth is more like a small mouth, but what else?
I remember reading a story about that but it was a long time ago.

I believe, (but could be wrong) that the name comes from them being a cross breed between a northern strain small mouth, that are supposed to be more agressive, or meaner than southern strains with either a Florida strain largemouth (those being more aggressive than the northern strain) or a spotted bass (also agressive or mean). I don't remember which one it was.

I am 99% sure about the smallmouth part. Not very sure about the other part though.

Sent from my One Plus 9 Pro 5G using Tapatalk
urban legend (although I think I've seen this in print) is that 'back when' the fisheries folks went through a period of looking at hybrids (green sunfishxbluegill, redearxbluegill, white bassxstriper... etc) they crossed smallmouth and spot. got a very aggressive fish that had a tendency to 'bite' folks while they were swimming.
hence 'meanmouth'...
running a google search on 'how the meanmouth got it's name' ... got me to this
https://www.kentuckynewera.com/article_3d4ab2f9-0ea4-5ef1-9a67-3e2e0cdc6c46.html

Thanks CF. Gives a little bit of cred to my own "aging memory bank" at least partially working right.

No matter what the real story is I hear they put up a good fight so I wouldn't mind tangling with one.

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topdsm0138 · December 21, 2021, 03:57:17 PM

Quote from: Smallie_Stalker on December 21, 2021, 12:30:07 PM
Quote from: TNDiver on December 21, 2021, 12:00:24 PM
Curious how it got the name mean mouth? Also how do you distinguish it from the others? I can see the lack of a definable lateral line and the mouth is more like a small mouth, but what else?
I remember reading a story about that but it was a long time ago.

I believe, (but could be wrong) that the name comes from them being a cross breed between a northern strain small mouth, that are supposed to be more agressive, or meaner than southern strains with either a Florida strain largemouth (those being more aggressive than the northern strain) or a spotted bass (also agressive or mean). I don't remember which one it was. I'm learning more towards the spotted bass

I am 99% sure about the smallmouth part. Not very sure about the other part though.

Sent from my One Plus 9 Pro 5G using Tapatalk

I'm going to lean twords spotted bass. The spotted look just like our largemouth except for 3 small differences. 1) The back of the mouth, when closed, does not extend past the eye like with largemouths. 2) The dorsal fins on a spotted are not "seperated" like on a largemouth and 3) The spotted bass has a row of "teeth" on it's tongue. Those are the 3 easiest ways to tell them apart. Our (FL) spotted bass rarely get over 3lbs, but they are a lot more "energetic" and fun to catch because they love to jump and dart more than our largemouth (just pulls like a log/tank).

loomisguy · December 23, 2021, 05:30:49 AM

I have no idea where the name came from but they are a smallmouth/spot cross.

Wizard · December 23, 2021, 09:37:49 AM

I did a thread on Meanmouth about 5 years ago. A Meanmouth is the average of genes between a Smallmouth and either a Largemouth or a Spot. This average is also called the statistical Mean. Thus, the term Meanmouth.

Wizard

coldfront · December 23, 2021, 09:58:38 AM

Quote from: Wizard on December 23, 2021, 09:37:49 AM
I did a thread on Meanmouth about 5 years ago. A Meanmouth is the average of genes between a Smallmouth and either a Largemouth or a Spot. This average is also called the statistical Mean. Thus, the term Meanmouth.

Wizard

and it gets more complicated at times. a better term (from an ichthyological perspective) would be 'intergrade'... as genetics mix. and then backcross... etc. happens a LOT with bluegill and green sunfish for example.
i think if I understand this correctly, there's a few general areas on table rock where habitat and species mix and meanmouth frequency is higher?