# All Natural Bass



## castmaster00 (Oct 23, 2007)

are shoal bass native to ohio? i have reason to believe that i caught one last year over the summer. i know what smallmouth that size look like but around the lips was turquoise. i caught it out of springfield lake, which is a natural lake. the water was really clear that day and i pitched a tube on a treble hook to the edge of a weed bed and caught a believed shoal bass from the bed as it swiped out at it. i got into an argument with a guy fishing there that it was a largemouth. yeah right.


----------



## bgrapala (Nov 1, 2008)

Shoal Bass are native to florida and georgia. I highly doubt that they would be able to survive a winter this far north. I could be wrong though. If I was a betting man I'd bet it was a smallmouth.


----------



## jcustunner24 (Aug 20, 2007)

Definitely not a shoal bass - they only live in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and they primarily spawn in rivers, not lakes.


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

sadly ohio only has the three major species, northern largemouth, northern smallmouth, and spotted. The smallies are native to pretty much every stream big enough to sustain them within the state, the spots native to pretty much ever trib to the ohio, especially those with more silt and woody debris, except the upper portions of the gmr, the extreme upper portions of the scioto, and the upper parts of the musk. drainege. largemouth were probably the least common out of the three, due to the lack of natural lakes in ohio. they probably would have only occured in numbers in the sloughs off of some major streams and maybe off of erie, or in some of the natural sinkhole lakes.
odd to think that a few hundred years ago our state was smallies, musky, sturgeon, catfish, and walleye all over. now its studded with little man made lakes and sunfish, largemouth and bullheads, except for the lakes that are stocked to maintain native musky, are some hybrid


----------



## castmaster00 (Oct 23, 2007)

could it have been a pet that someone released? it was just one summer anyway......


----------



## Cabin Fever Lures (Jan 14, 2009)

Like riverKing said, Ohio has Northern Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Spotted bass. I'm pretty sure that a shoal bass would not have been able to survive a winter up here, and I don't know if it would be legal to keep one as a pet here.

-CFL


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

castmaster has a valid point, though they wouldnt survive the winter there was for a time a hatchery in pa that was selling either shoals or redeyes (they could have mis ID them who cares). but in theory some fool could have bought some had no ethics, broken a few laws and put them in the lake you fished and you caught one. not exactly likely and we will never know without a pic, my guess is it was a goofy looking largemouth
wouldnt have been a pet, most guys that would have a smaller micropterous sp. in ohio would be a...big nerd, and though this is a generalization, us big nerds never release a fish from a tank for fear of disease, never mind the fact that they would be an invasive.


----------



## castmaster00 (Oct 23, 2007)

riverKing said:


> us big nerds never release a fish from a tank for fear of disease


think that that is how some of these viruses are getting round?


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

i doubt it, most of the diseases are probaby coming from things like ballast tanks, possibly mismanged aquaculture ect. though they could come from a foolish aquariest. most of the problems caused by a single person are things like invasives, someone catches a few grass carp in the river and puts them in his pond in another drainege thinking (incorrectly) that all grass carp are sterile. or a common one, "bucket biologists" think its a great idea to put bass in this creek or lake ect. over the next hill because they never catch any there and the dnr is to "stupid" to stock them, and they spread and compete with native fish. that same senario is now a big fear because of VHS. then you get into the boat issues with zebra mussels, vhs again, and other problems; and with trout fishing new zeland mud snails and didymo. but these are all things for a different topic, sorry for the side track.

back to the topic, no pics? that would be pretty crazy if it actually was a shoal


----------



## peple of the perch (Sep 13, 2004)

my guess would be a smallie. They look quite alike


----------



## castmaster00 (Oct 23, 2007)

think it could've been a mutated smallie? something could've happened in the egg. you never know.


----------



## striperswiper (Oct 14, 2008)

peple of the perch said:


> my guess would be a smallie. They look quite alike


Actually the shoal bass look alot like spotted bass only they are more of a tropical bass like the peacock bass also another thats not native to ohio but they are somehow getting in the waters it very well may have been Shoal ive been catching them in some of the deeper lake around here Hammertown i caught and verified with the ODNR that it was in fact a shoal a buddy of mine caught a stringer full of them no real size around 1lb each it came as a big surprise to us i wouldnt be able to tell you how they are getting in the water or how they will have survied the winter ?????
But like riverking said it was probly just an odd looking largemouth


----------

