A convenient way to distinguish between a largemouth bass and a spotted bass is by the size of the mouth. The spotted 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. It is most active at dawn and dusk.Carnivorous, feeding on crayfish, fish, and immature aquatic insects. They are in the same genus, Micropterus, the "black basses." The spotted bass is a large, elongated fish with a large mouth. In Missouri, nesting activity is most intense from mid-April to early June. The Kentucky Bass is a species of Micropterus punctulatus. The current record spotted bass, caught in pine Flat Lake, California, weighed 10.27 lb.Many anglers who catch a spotted bass mistake it for a largemouth due to the coloration although there are subtle differences. Both Spotted Bass and Largemouth Bass can be found in central and eastern United States. Although a large proportion reach maturity within a year, spotted bass found in spawning areas are usually three to four years old.
The upper parts are greenish with darker mottlings; the lower sides and belly are whitish with dark spots arranged in streaks. Most fish in Missouri “look” like fish and could never be confused with anything else. The belly is white with rows of dark spots that give the fish its name. Kentucky spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus) was designated as the official state fish of Kentucky in 1956 (also called just "Kentucky bass," though it is one of four species of black bass swimming in Kentucky waters). Centrarchidae (sunfishes) in the order Perciformes (perch-like fishes)The spotted bass is a large, elongated fish with a large mouth.
Preferring cool and warm mountain streams and reservoirs with rocky bottoms, the spotted bass feeds on In 2010, the scientific community officially recognized a separate subspecies of spotted bass, native to the The Alabama spotted is highly prized as a gamefish and average size is much larger than the more common Kentucky spotted bass. It is abundant in most large Ozark reservoirs, where it generally is found at depths greater than those occupied by other black basses.In cool, spring-fed streams, however, it is largely replaced by the smallmouth bass. A member of the sunfish family, Kentucky spotted bass live primarily in streams that have clear water and moderate to swift current. Its native range extends into the western Mid-Atlantic states and it has been introduced into western North Carolina and Virginia. They appear in the smaller streams after high water in the spring and return to larger waters in the fall.At any given locality, spotted bass begin nesting a few days later than smallmouths.
The spotted bass also has small black spots below the lateral line unlike either the large or smallmouth bass. Rock and gravel are usually chosen as suitable spawning areas at water temperatures of 57-74°F. In large Ozark reservoirs, this species is more abundant than the smallmouth bass.Although its habits are much like those of the smallmouth, the spotted bass is a more active fish. The spotted bass was introduced to the Thee River, Olifants‐Doring River system, Western Cape Province, South Africa as game fish before 2007 and rated as In backwaters and floodplain lakes along streams, it is largely replaced by the largemouth bass.In the Bootheel lowlands, this is the most abundant species of black bass in flowing waters.
Common names: Kentucky bass, Kentucky spotted bass, northern spotted bass, Alabama spotted bass, Wichita spotted bass, smallmouth bass. Bass often catch their prey by ambushing from a place of hiding. Spotted bass can be found deeper than smallmouth bass at depths up to 100 ft.Spotted bass seem to segregated by habitat type from closely related species such as the large and small mouth bass.