Know Your Knots - Flyfishingtails

All fish species have different
external characteristics that
make them who and what
they are. Many species of fish
exibit remarkable variation in
physical shape within a single species, like
the smallmouth yellowfish, in which mouth
shape varies considerably according to
the fish`s individual food preferance and
habitat. Other families of fish have two or
more species that can barely be told apart
by external characteristics, for example the
dusky cob and its nearly identical cousin,
the silver cob.
FIRST, THE OBVIOUS
Of the eight known species of black bass,
largemouth and smallmouth bass are by far
the most successful. While it is true that the
largemouth bass sports the largest jaws of
them all, the rest of the family have very
similar jaw dimensions.
THE FINS
Fins are vulnerable appendages. They`re
often worn and torn, and for this reason
one of the more effective ways to ID your
bass is often lost. If however your fish has
been looking after his fins, you will be able
to spot another identifying characteristic.
Least conspicuous,
perhaps, is the fact that the soft rayed portions
of the fins are larger in smallmouths
than in largemouths.
COLOUR
As mentioned, many fish show physical
variations within the species. In terms of
colour, black bass are no exception.
Smallmouth bass are often referred to as
Bronzebacks, or brown bass, while the
largemouth, I guess for want of a better
nickname, are sometimes called greenies.
DOES SIZE MATTER?
Most species of black bass have
basically the same potential for
growth. On average,
black bass
reach their
maximum size at
about three
kilograms. Fish of
this size are few
and far
between, though,
and in most locations
you
earn bragging
rights if you catch
a fish of
between one and
a half and two kilos.
The size any
fish will reach is influenced by a great variety
of factors, such as availability of food and the
fish`s ability to catch it, the size of the population,
the speed of the current it lives in and the
actual size of the body of water it makes its
home.
THE CLINCHER
The fact is, once you can recognise the most
often overlooked, and yet the most distinctive
physical difference between bronzebacks and
their flabby cousins, you can forever ignore
every one of the traits outlined above.
Smallmouth on the left,
largemouth on the right
This fish shows the vertical striping
only seen in smallmouth bass
The next time you catch a bass, have a close
look at his gill plates. If the scales on the cheeks
are only slightly smaller than those on the rest of
the body, you have in your hands a largemouth
bass.
The more you catch of both species, the clearer
the differences become. You will even start
noticing that, especially in rivers, you won`t often
catch both species in the same kind of water, or
off the same kind of structure.
THE THIRD WHEEL
Every rule has an exception. If one day you
find that the fish you pulled out of the water has
both a dark lateral stripe and fine scales on the
cheeks, then you have caught a spotted bass,
the third and apparently least successful of the
black bass species introduced into South African
waters.
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