When he first started seeing spots in Lake Gaston, guide Rick Morris says he was thrilled.
“I started noticing them in 2013 a lot of 10-14” fish. I’ve heard that anglers brought them from Alabama and stocked them, which means that they are the same as the Coosa River strain that gets huge.”
The Virginia native BASS Masters Classic qualifier that now guides on Gaston told me that if you put a smallmouth and largemouth in a tank the smallmouth will beat the largemouth up. And if you put all three in a tank the spot will have the others backed up on the corner.
Needless to say, Morris is one angler that is very happy to welcome spotted bass to Gaston.
Fisheries biologists are a little more wary of the apparently illegally introduced fish.
Kirk Rundle District 3 Fisheries Biologist and Evan Caravan District 3 Assistant Biologist Inland Fisheries Division for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission told me in a recent interview they just started seeing spotted bass in Gaston about two years ago but noted they had heard anglers started seeing them before that.
“We don’t want them here, but they’re here to stay. Some well-intended angler unfortunately put them in here. This is illegal. Anyone stocking any fish into a public lake here needs a permit, and we definitely would not have done that,” noted Rundle.
The career fisheries scientist noted spotted bass tend to push the largemouth’s back into the coves and outcompete them.
“They kind of take over. After so many years of consistently catching 4-5 pound largemouth bass you will begin to instead catch a lot of spotted bass around two pounds.”
“They could attain state record size. They tend to be more aggressive so anglers might catch more of them than largemouth. I do think anglers want to catch a larger largemouth, though.”
What about further crosses between the spots and the largemouth’s?
“We are seeing hybrids between a largemouth and spotted bass now. That’s a problem. You get a black bass mess.”
Rundle noted spotted bass are established in Lake Norman and the catch rate for largemouth has gone down since they were introduced.
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR) District Biologist John Odenkirk monitors lakes in the northern Virginia region like Lake Anna. He notes anyone that stocks fish into public waters must possess a valid stocking permit, something that would have to be reviewed by the VDWR. Odenkirk notes it would be unlikely that the agency would ever allow anglers to legally stock spotted bass into most reservoirs.
“The spotted bass is basically a hybridized largemouth that tends to stunt and over-populate in most waters. I would be very hesitant to upset the good balance in a lake like Anna with a predator species that doesn’t get nearly as big as largemouth bass do there now.”
Many anglers who catch a spotted bass believe they have caught a largemouth bass undoubtedly because the coloration is similar, both having a greenish hue and a broad stripe of diamonds or blotches along the midline of the body.
The spotted bass or Kentucky bass, like all black basses except the largemouth, has scales on the base portion of the second dorsal fin, its first and second dorsal fin are clearly connected, and its upper jaw bone does not extend back to or beyond the rear edge of the eyes.
The spotted bass is also often confused with the smallmouth bass as well, but it lacks the vertical bars that are present on the sides of the body in the smallmouth. The spotted bass also has small black spots below the lateral line (the rear edges of certain scales are black) unlike either the largemouth or the smallmouth.
There are three strains of spotted bass; the Alabama (Coosa), the northern and the Witchita (up for debate some say this subspecies is actually a hybrid spotted bass and smallmouth).
The Coosa strain of spotted bass differs from the northern strain of spotted bass that is often found in the region’s rivers in that the former grows much larger than the latter and fares better in reservoirs.
So what are the Gaston spots feeding on that is helping them to thrive?
“I think the spots eat just about anything. We got three kinds of shad and crawfish. I’m not an expert on what they are eating but we have them up to five pounds so they are eating something,” Morris told me.
With that in mind Morris explained the Coosa spots will hit just about anything he’s throwing including c-rigs, buzzbaits, crankbaits and they love topwater. Morris says the best lure is a seven-inch ZOOM Shaky Worm in green pumpkin.
Gaston’s tournament anglers have done a good job distributing the fish throughout the lake, Morris notes. The fish are particularly prevalent from the Eaton’s Ferry Bridge down to Pea Hill Creek on the main lake.
“They like deep water, so main lake bluffs are good. They also like current. They like to school all year long, too, so when you catch them it’s more than one, always,” the Virginia guide explained.
Morris notes spotted bass spawn just a little deeper than largemouth and don’t go as far back in pockets, instead preferring rocky stuff spawning sites near the mouth of coves and creeks. The female of the species also guards eggs on the nest with her mate for a day or so after she lays them.
The historic record for Virginia spotted bass is just 6-10 from Flanagan Reservoir. The modern record is 4-7 from Claytor Lake. The North Carolina state record is 6-5 and was caught in Lake Norman in 2003 by an angler using a ZOOM Finesse Worm. The world record is 10-4.
Morris says it’s a matter of time before the state record falls to an angler fishing his home water.
“Gaston will be the next trophy spotted bass water in the region. We are already seeing five pounders, so six and sevens are coming soon.”
Other Virginia lakes that harbor spotted bass include Buggs Island/Kerr Resevoir and Disascund.
