Anyone catching any smallmouth like these?

[SmartWeed]

I'm curious to learn if anyone else is catching any smallmouth bass from the Snake River with black spots or black coloration. I might have posted this photo a couple of years ago, but here is a smallmouth caught in 2010 that had a half black head. The fish had a head that was half black and half normal color. It's body was normal color.

Two years later, almost to the day, I landed this 17" smallie today. It was black all over. It was perfectly healthy and fought very hard, jumping twice. The fish took a topwater in very shallow water. I had seen it feeding before I cast to it, but was unaware of its coloration.

Note that the stripe pattern is there, but it is covered by a black tone. The fins and tail were also black. Here is a closeup of its head. Note that its eyes are also black. This fish was colored all over in this manner. Here's a closeup of the head.

When I caught the 2010 fish I contacted Idaho F&G and sent them the photo, but they had little information about this. I have discussed this fish with other smallie fishermen around the country and others have been caught nation-wide with similar colorations. No one, however, seems to have an answer as to the cause of the coloration. The fish caught today was the third one I have caught with black colorations this year. Of the others, one had overall black coloration and the other had two black spots.
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[hizah]

I've caught some with big dark patches also. Mostly at swan, but I've seen large mouth with splotches on them come out of the cal delta.
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[gstott]

I caught this guy who was fairly dark about two weeks ago, but this was due to tannic water in that river system.

[inline "big smallie small.jpg"]

This blog post should answer your question about black spot.

http://fatboysoutdoors.blogspot.com/2012...assoh.html
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[chrome_junky]

I might be wrong but I think smallies change the color of their skin sort of like a chamillion but not quite as extravagant.
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[gstott]

I agree. The water where I caught that fish looked like red tea because there are a lot of bogs and marshes that drain into it. That dark back would really make it more difficult to see from above.
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[fish-o-holic]

I have caught some nice bass with black spots and red eyes. Someone told me they were eating lots of crawdads. Who knows. I dont care what they look like as long as i am catching them.

Here is a bass i caught this year that looks like it bred with a perch. It dont look as yellow in this picture.
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[forgiven]

Some are lighter and some darker but I have not caught anything as dark as that one. The one with the black head is unlike any I have ever seen.

It's probably just mild genetic differances. Like people... some of us are lighter and some of us are darker in color but we are all the same under the skin![]
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[ilovesmallies]

i caught one last week at strike that had about a 2 inch black spot on the body. see them a few times each year. i like someones theory that eating crawdads causes it or redeye. then at strike they ALL would have it because they are shitting red chunks all over the boat, on my shirt and even took a shot in the eye area, last trip when you pull them in. we occasionally catch the "super black bass" as we call them.
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[MADDOGG]

I caught that one with the black head last year.
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[SmartWeed]

I'm not discussing color phases in smallies. I'm well aware of the many differences in coloration which seem to depend on water color, depth the fish comes from, time of year, etc. I'm talking about black blotches or even an all black fish like the one I caught yesterday.

The mentioned blog is well worth reading, but doesn't answer any questions - it just shows that no one has an answer as to the appearance of these black spots, which are occurring in many watersheds throughout the country. I have been corresponding with Dr. Bill (who posted the first response to the blog) for a couple of years. He believes the coloration is closely tied to water quality. I'm not sure I agree. The Snake is healthier than it was 50 years ago when Simplot's phosphate dumping caused the water to foam.

I have been fishing the Snake for over 50 years and never saw a black spot until 2010. For the past five years I have caught thousands of smallmouth every year. I see a few fish shading toward black every year, but I have never seen a fish as black as the one yesterday.

And finally to make the black headed fish even more unusual, the black half of her head ended in a perfectly straight line down the center of her forehead. The black followed the gill plate exactly, with no overflow on its body.
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[gstott]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to say that the black spots are a natural color variation, that just happened to be the darkest smallmouth I've caught, it kind of reminded me of the fish in the 2nd and 3rd pic. Black spot does seem to be increasing all across the country lately. I did catch one or two out in Minnesota from a clear lake that had some very small black spots on them. I'm not too worried about it at this point though. It doesn't seem to harm the fish, they just look odd. Especially that black headed one.
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[Jimbojump]

Hey SW, I have caught smallies from Indiana to Idaho and everywhere I have fished them, their coloring is all over the place. Even in the Snake around marsing I have been amazed at the variances of coloring. One may just be bronze solid and another with a ton of tiger stripes as I call em...I really think its just a matter of genetic mutations and adaptations to the body of water they live in. All it takes for a genetic mutation is one adult anomally with dark coloring to spawn more of the same...over time the whole species is affected...what is the cause? Who knows...Why did 100,000 fish come up dead in one little section of the river in Arkansas and F&G released the river for fishing the same day...why did 5000 blackbirds who dont fly at night fall out of the sky in a close proximity to the fish in Arkansas. Vet said autopsy showed the birds died from blunt force trauma to the head and chest...5000? Spread over a square mile? Uh huh...I have a theory but it just makes me look conspiratorial...LOL
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[SmartWeed]

[quote MADDOGG]I caught that one with the black head last year.[/quote]

Where did you catch it, and how do you know it was the same fish? How big was it? Did you take a photo of it?

It would be interesting to know because most experts seem to believe these colorations are a temporary thing.
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