Possible Hybrid Spottie or birth defect??? open to suggestions...

[GOTFISHUES]

good day/evening all,

well i was invited to hop on a skiff the other day so i jumped at the chance, being a shore fisherman i dont fish below me that often, and the guy taking me has many moons on the water, so i hoped to learn a thing or two. i knew we would be fishing a drift so that meant my techniques were out, and not to affluent with lead head swimbaits, aside from what i learned from fellow FNN member HuntnFish, and S.D.F. member TheKID, this was going to be a learning experience. well my buddy Mark, put us or should i say him on fish immediatly, he was three on by the time i got my first, so here are a few fish then well get back to the hybrid....


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240001.jpg



http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240004.jpg



http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240003.jpg



heres our first double


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240005.jpg



one of my better ones

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240006.jpg


mark with a decent one

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240008.jpg


another double


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240007.jpg


a close up of one o'mine


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240010.jpg


mark easing his way manually threw a fireline snafu'

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240009.jpg


then out of nowhere we run into a school of calicos, heres one of mine

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240011.jpg


and then it happens, i ask if we can hit up some rocks since thats where i feel most comfortable, hes down so we roll over to a landsided jetty, two fish were caught there but of course mark gets the first one, but this fish faught pretty darn hard, more so than the others i saw him fighting. when he lands it were both like what the ..... is up with this fish. never had either of us seen a spottie like this, it had a pointed head small mouth its under gills looked liked whiskers, heres the pics...


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240012.jpg



http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240013.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240014.jpg


so there it is, have any of you come across a spottie or other variant like this, im thinking different type of bass dude stuff mixing with spottie eggs, or birth defect, any suggestions welcome.

but since i have fishues' i couldnt stop after we brought the boat back, ended up tossing out berkley trout worms on two pound into the docks and meeting these two little guys.


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240017.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240015.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240016.jpg



all fish were released to grow up and have more strange offspring, i enjoy the colorations on the baby bass, another question i had, do any of you know what causes some of my spotties to have yellow coloration around the mouth, usually i find this on bigger fish, thought it might mean spawning or something. usually they have a white or greyish mouth. well thank you for your time and hopefully i might have me some surf fish to share next time. take care


and thanks to mark for teaching me a thing or two, it was an awesome time wetting lines.


GOTFISHUES

[fightfan]

lately....i've been catching a lot of spotties with the yellow mouths too........but i have no idea what it means

nice fishing report by the way

[Rooster]

During mating season, males will turn a high contrast black and white with white chins and jaws and prominent white spots below their dorsal fins and females will have golden hues and yellow chins and jaws.
Also, depending on location, spotted bay bass will change from female to male.

[sonarbp]

Great report!!!!

About this spottie....

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240012.jpg



http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240013.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/GOTFISSUES/200806240014.jpg

I think it just might be a birth defect. It looks like it doesn't have any problems eating.....he looks nice and healthy besides the funny little mouth....kinda like it got his head smashed between two rocks.

I think the spotties you have been catching with the yellowish tint might be due to the amount of grass and weeds in the water. I noticed that when I catch spotties in an area that is high in weeds and grass the spotties are more of a yellowish color. But when I catch spotties in areas that have less weeds the are darker in color. I am not sure this is true.....just my idea why!!!

sonarbp

[fish_sauce]

RoosterTailRoid is right on about the subtle color changes and sometimes the sex changes that takes place...with calico and kelp bass, you will also see some orange coloration near their mouth and gill area too during spawning season.

Regarding the fish with the unusual mouth...its most likely a birth defect...ive run into several spotties with similar conditions like that before...since they predominantly stay in shallow bay waters, they're subjected to a lot of the toxins and pollutants...as well as abrupt water chemistry/temperature changes...so i wouldn't be surprised to see the bay bass population affected by it...i've actually managed to catch quite a few spotties that have grown to full legal size with one or both of its protective gill plates missing!!! :Confused:

awesome report, dude! ;)

[sonarbp]

Hey guys,

been doing a little bit of research on spotties and this is what I found:

Spotted Bay Bass, Spotted Sand Bass, "Calico"
Cabrilla Pecosa, Cabrilla de Roca
(Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)

Spotted Bay Bass, Spotted Sand Bass, Paralabrax maculatofasciatus: The Spotted Sand Bass is characterized by an overall yellowish-tan color, covered with numerous orange, black and brown spots that coalesce to form mottled bars on its sides. The belly is white, and the third dorsal spine is elongated, about three times longer than the second dorsal spine.

Here is the link:

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/spbaybass/spbaybass.htm

Still doesn't give a real answer why some are darker than others.

sonarbp

[crappiemike]

Way To Go On Those Harbor Bass!!!
Nice Spotty's You Got There.......

[doyoufishmuch]

Looks like a fun day on the water. Nice job and great report!

[steve092]

Good job out there!

That's a weird looking spottie!

[soulsurfer]

Looks like that spottie is trying to grow a goatie. nice JOB on the fish. congrad !!!!

[flyngby]

Looks like a nice day on the harbor and some great Spotties as well!!!!!! They are great fighters on steroids!!!!!

Nice to get out with someone with knowledge on you first trip.

Keep up the reports!!!!!!

Steve

[GOTFISHUES]

i appreciate all your thoughts and comments, this was a wierd fish, caught on a fun day on the water. im still warry as to the cause of the coloration differences and why that fish looked the way it did, shes still out there so, thanx again and good luck to you all.

GOTFISHUES

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

congrats on all them fiash !!!! looks like a day to remember and ya got some knowledge to bring home as well.

As far as that fish is concerned, I am no expert but it looks to me like a simple birth defect or an injury of sorts when the fish was real young, I can't really sign off on a theory that it was a "mutant" caused by any pollutants or anything of that nature....

Check this redear I caught yesterday while bass fishing....not as wierd but you can see it was injured as a youth but grew into full maturity w/o issue....nature survives the craziest things..it seemed like it was full of eggs
Gary
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn284/garywuebben/goonwderek-gary7-8-08redear1.jpg