Hybrid bass in Nokomis?

[tom_w]

I feel a little silly bringing this up, but I need more experienced eyes than mine to look at this. A few weeks back, I caught about a 1 pound largemouth in Nokomis. But it had a not-so-clear horizontal line and a small mouth. The mouth actually seemed to be the size of a smallmouth bass' mouth. It seemed odd, so I took some photos.

I kind of stopped thinking about it because I assumed it was just a largemouth with a small mouth. But then I caught a fat smallie in Nokomis last night, so it seems a hybrid is feasable. Can anyone give me feedback?

It doesn't look like the mouth goes well past the eye:

[tom_w]

Here's the smallie from last night:

[Craig Plummer]

Its a Not-so-Largemouth Bass

[jwhjr]

Its a Not-so-Largemouth Bass

LOL

[Ralph Wiggum]

Its a Not-so-Largemouth Bass

Agreed.

[EBass]

Spotted bass have a smaller mouth, but I didn't think they were up here. Could be the city water??

[tom_w]

Well, they (hybrids) CAN appear anywhere. It just looked a little different and the mouth was so [PoorWordUsage] small...

Hybrid is different than spotted bass.

[joeyquicksand*]

just a largemouth with a small mouth.

thats funny like your teeshirt.

[Trucker Jim]

Smallies in Nokomis? cool!

[matthothand]

From what I can tell it is a largemouth with a plain old smaller mouth. Perhaps it's a faster growing fish?...Slow growing fish tend to have larger than average heads in comparison to their bodies and the same is true but opposite for faster growing fish.

[ricqik]

I've caught plenty of largemouth with smaller than usual mouths, along with largemouth with larger than usual mouths. But your fish is definately a largemouth.

[tom_w]

Ok, I caught another one today that had a very, very small mouth. It also had a toothy patch on it's tongue. I made sure to check. I had no camera this morning so I'll try to get another and get better pics. I am thinking it is a largemouth, it's just weird.

[ricqik]

Now your fish are getting wierd.

[tom_w]

Yeah, I think it is weird. I have caught a lot of bass in my life and these seem odd. I could understand that a bass grows quickly and then the head is smaller compared to the body, but on these the mouth is smaller proportionally. Plus I felt the toothy patch...

[SluggoMaster]

That is definately not a spotted/KY bass. The markings are quite different, tooth patch or not. A spot looks more like a smallie than a largemouth most of the time. The "spots" on a spot is another indicator.

[ricqik]

Are you talking about the rough patches in the throat? I know the tungue is smooth but the rough patch in/on the throat is used for crushing.

[LazyIke]

How deep and near what kind of structure did you catch the smallie? I live nearby and have caught nothing but LM and muskie. Cool.

[tom_w]

The smallie was near no special structure. West side of lake off shore 20 feet. Perhaps 6-10 feet deep. My buddy at the dnr suspects someone may have transplanted some smallies from the river or something like that. They may be far and few in between. I heard of one other being caught though.

I live by as well. We should share secrets. I have few though.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I grew up fishing the city lakes.. my theory is this. I actually think the fish grow faster in the city lakes because of the stunted panfish they eat.. thus growing faster. I think the body outgrows the head. Just a theory of mine..

But the fish in your first pict is 100% Largemouth.

[Kaby Mud Bug]

I live right by Nokomis too and caught this Large Mouth bass on fathers day. Just wanted to share...

[TonkaBass]

Biggy!!!!

[slipperybob]

LB!

[Tom7227]

Here's the deal - all those liberals in Minneapolis talk so darn much the fish never get a chance to get a word in edgewise. Without the chance to flex the jaw things just stay small. Go to outstate where everyone has a different opinion and you'll find bass with huge jaws.

[tom_w]

And small minds.

[tom_w]

A biologist emailed me this:

"but is not marked like any pure spot, largemouth or smallmouth.

Looks like a hybrid LMB vs SMB."

So at any rate it seems I may have caught a hybrid. Not a spotted.