Just
incase you have trouble telling them apart!The True Bass
Just
incase you have trouble telling them apart!
From Top to Bottom: Yellow Bass, White Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass
(Morone saxatilis)
Common Names - striper, rockfish, rock, linesides.
Description - The striper is the largest member of the temperate bass
family. Body coloration is olive-green to blue-gray on the back with silvery to
brassy sides and white on the belly. It is easily recognized by the seven or
eight prominent black uninterrupted horizontal stripes along the sides. The
stripes are often interrupted or broken and are usually absent on young fish of
less than six inches. The striper is longer and sleeker and has a larger head
than its close and similar looking relative, the white bass, which rarely
exceeds three pounds.
Subspecies - There are no recognized subspecies.
Range - The striper on the Atlantic Coast has a range from the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, N.Y. to the St. Johns River in northern Florida and in the Gulf
of Mexico from western Florida to Louisiana.
Habitat - All Florida populations of striped bass are river dwellers
rather than anadromous (normally living in salt or brackish waters, but entering
freshwater streams to spawn). The species has been widely introduced in numerous
lakes, rivers and impoundments throughout the world. Stripers prefer relatively
clear water with a good supply of open-water baitfish. Their preferred water
temperature range is 65 to 70 degrees.
Spawning Habits - Spawns in March, April and May when water
temperatures reach 60 to 68 degrees. Stripers are river spawners that broadcast
millions of eggs in the water currents without affording any protection or
parental care. During spawning, seven or eight smaller males surround a single,
large, female and bump her to swifter currents at the water surface. At
ovulation, ripe eggs are discharged and scattered in the water as males release
sperm. Fertilized eggs must be carried by river currents until hatching (about
48 hours) to avoid suffocation. Fry and fingerlings spend most of their time in
lower rivers and estuaries. Because striped bass eggs must remain suspended in a
current until hatching, impoundments are unsuitable for natural reproduction.
Freshwater populations have been maintained by stocking fingerlings, and,
despite initial difficulties in hatchery procedures for obtaining females with
freely flowing eggs, a modern technique of inducing ovulation with the use of a
hormone has been successful.
Feeding Habits - Stripers are voracious feeders and consume any kind
of small fish and a variety of invertebrates. Preferred foods for adults mainly
consist of gizzard and threadfin shad, golden shiners and minnows. Younger fish
prefer to feed on amphipods and mayflies. Very small stripers feed on
zooplankton. Like other temperate bass, they move in schools, and all members of
the school tend to feed at the same time. Heaviest feeding is in early morning
and in evening, but they feed sporadically throughout the day, especially when
skies are overcast. Feeding slows when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees
but does not stop completely.
Age and Growth - Stripers are fast-growing and long-lived and have
reached weights of over 40 pounds in Florida. Sexual maturity occurs at about
two years of age for male stripers and at four years of age for females. They
can reach a size of 10 to 12 inches the first year.
Sporting Quality - The striper tends to be an underrated trophy sport
fish among many Florida anglers. However, for fishermen who have caught this
species there is no disputing the striper is a superstar among freshwater
fishes. Live shad and eels are excellent baits for catching big stripers. Other
popular baits include white or yellow bucktail jigs, spoons, deep running
crankbaits and a spinner with plastic worm rig. Popping plugs are best when
stripers are schooling at the surface. As a sport fish, specific bag and size
limit regulations
apply, and you can register a qualifying catch as part of the Florida Game and
Fresh Water Fish Commission's "Big
Catch" program.
Eating Quality - Stripers are excellent eating fish and may be
prepared in may ways. Smaller fish are usually fried and larger ones are baked.
(Morone chrysops)
Common Names - stripe, silver bass, striper, sand bass, barfish.
Description - The white bass looks similar to a shortened version of
its larger relative, the striped bass. It is silvery-white overall with five to
eight horizontal dusky black stripes along the sides. Stripes below the lateral
line are faint and often broken in an irregular pattern. It differs most
noticeably in being shorter and stockier with a smaller head, and the dorsal
fins are set closer together. The white bass has a deep body, strongly arched
behind head; deepest between dorsal fins.
Subspecies - There are no recognized subspecies.
Range - General boundaries are the St. Lawrence River in the east;
Lake Winnipeg in the north; the Rio Grande in the west; and northwest Florida
and Louisiana in the south. It has been stocked within and outside its natural
range. In Florida, white bass are found only in the Apalachicola and Ochlockonee
river systems.
Habitat - White bass are found in large lakes and streams connected
to major river systems and in rivers with moderate current. They prefer clear
water with a temperature range of 65 to 75 degrees. Man-made impoundments have
greatly favored the white bass, but the species is one that can become
overabundant and stunt.
Spawning Habits - Male white bass migrate upstream in large schools
to a dam or other barrier in early spring, followed shortly by schools of
females. Spawning occurs in moving water over gravel shoals or a hard bottom.
Large females may lay as many as half a million adhesive eggs that stick to
rocks and gravel. If no water current is present white bass have been known to
spawn on wind-swept sandy beaches. After spawning, they abandon their eggs and
provide no parental care. Fry hatch in only two to three days.
Feeding Habits - White bass are primarily piscivorous. Fry feed on
zooplankton first and within a few weeks larger crustaceans and insects are
eaten. Larger fish prefer to feed on minnows and thrive on open- water baitfish
like gizzard and threadfin shad. Like the striper, white bass move in schools
and feed most heavily around dawn or dusk.
Age and Growth - Although white bass may live up to 10 years, few live beyond three to four years. Females grow slightly faster and probably live longer than males. The average size is one pound with fish over two pounds considered large.
Sporting Quality - White bass are hard hitting, fierce fighting fish.
Their aggressive nature combined with their schooling tendency make them one of
the easiest fish to catch. Several tips to white bass anglers should include:
use light tackle for maximum enjoyment; use flies, spinners, small plugs or
minnows for bait; and locate feeding schools which usually occur toward evening
in shallow areas. As a sport fish, specific bag and size limit regulations
apply, and you can register a qualifying catch as part of the Florida Game and
Fresh Water Fish Commission's "Big
Catch" program.
Eating Quality - The flesh is similar to that of the striped bass and
may be prepared by frying, baking, broiling, or stewing.
World Record - 6 pounds, 13 ounces, caught in Lake Orange, in Orange,
Virginia, in 1989.
(M. chrysops x M. saxatilis)
Common Names - Striped bass hybrid, wiper, whiterock, palmetto bass
(Cherokee Bass in Tennessee)
Description - The sunshine bass is a hybrid produced by crossing a
female white bass with a male striped bass. Sunshines closely resemble both
striped bass and white bass making identification difficult, particularly for
young fish. When comparing adult fish, the sunshine has a deep body and an
arched back similar to the white bass. Sunshines can often be distinguished by
broken or irregular stripes on the front half of body and straight lines on the
rear half of body. A mid-body break in line pattern occasionally occurs.
Subspecies - There are no recognized subspecies since the sunshine
bass is an artificial hybrid. Some states including Florida produce a hybrid
called palmetto bass which is a cross between a female striped bass with a male
white bass.
Range - Sunshines are stocked throughout Florida. The largest fish
are from northwest Florida, but sunshine bass have produced fisheries as far
south as Lake Osborne in West Palm Beach.
Habitat - Sunshines appear to prefer areas within lakes and rivers
similar to striped bass and white bass. Older sunshine bass require cooler water
during summer months.
Spawning Habits - Sunshines do not reproduce naturally. They are
hatchery-produced by Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission biologists and
stocked in selected river and lakes. Sunshine bass were developed by the
Commission with two goals in mind. The first was to control abundant gizzard
shad populations in nutrient-rich lakes. The second goal was to create and
maintain a new fishery that would supplement existing native species. The
sunshines have served those functions in the Apalachicola River system, one of
only a few northwest Florida rivers containing enough shad and thermal refuges
to ensure optimal growth of sunshines. In most years since 1975, sunshine bass
have been stocked in Lake Seminole and the Apalachicola River.
Feeding Habits - Like stripers, sunshines are voracious feeders and
consume any kind of small fish including threadfin and gizzard shad. Young fish
also feed on mayflies and crustaceans. Sunshines also travel and feed in schools
with peak activity in the early morning or evening.
Age and Growth - Sunshines are probably best known for their rapid
growth. They have attained weights of six to seven pounds by three years of age.
Sporting Quality - As a sport fish, sunshines are known for their
good fighting ability. Live threadfin or other small shad and shrimp are by far
the most effective bait for sunshine bass. Artificial lures such as crankbaits,
bucktail or feathered jigs, spinners and spoons also do well. Topwater lures
also are effective when fish are schooling near the surface. Trolling with
artificial lures often helps locate fish when surface feeding is slow. As a
sport fish, specific bag and size limit regulations
apply, and you can register a qualifying catch as part of the Florida Game and
Fresh Water Fish Commission's "Big
Catch" program.
Eating Quality - Similar to striped and white bass.
World Record- 24 pounds, 3 ounces, caught in Leesville Lake,
Virginia, in 1989.
