Spotted Bass

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snookman

snookman

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 16, 2005
269
11
48
48
Fairhope, AL
Anyone keeping these? I have access to a bunch under 12", most about 8"-9". I do know that they require much cleaner water than a LMB. The population I have access to is in the Coosa River...the #1 river population in the US as far as fish of size. I regularly catch spots from 2.5-4.5lbs. Great fishery.

Justin
 
snookman;3340526; said:
Anyone keeping these? I have access to a bunch under 12", most about 8"-9". I do know that they require much cleaner water than a LMB. The population I have access to is in the Coosa River...the #1 river population in the US as far as fish of size. I regularly catch spots from 2.5-4.5lbs. Great fishery.

Justin
Click to expand...
I dont know of anyone keeping them. Maybe you should be the first ;).
 
Can't help much with husbandry, but you might be interested to know that Mobile Basin spotteds have been elevated to a full species, now known as Alabama Bass (Micropterus henshalli). The nearest native Spotted Bass (M. punctulatus) to you are in the Tennessee River or maybe one of the coastal drainages in Mississippi. Both species have been introduced to the Chattahoochee.

Be sure to follow the letter of the law when it comes to taking game fish home. Wildlife agencies may or may not care what you do with "bait" but they'll throw the book at you if you break the rules with bass.

I'd love to see these guys (henshalli and punctulatus) available in the hobby, so if you can get some and breed them, that'd be fantastic!
 
I have not tried to keep or breed these guys, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do not believe they need current to spawn. They are supposed to have similar nesting site preference to smallmouth, and smallies usually nest out of the fast current near the edge of the river. Probably just providing them with coarse gravel and letting the temperature fall in winter then rise again in spring will do the trick.

I saw you posted questions about these bass on the NANFA forum. The member there named "centrarchid" has done a lot of lab rearing of various bass and sunfish species, he would be a good source of information on this topic.
 
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