Weird looking bass

[Fishin_603]

Went to a big lake Saturday morning, got to the lake around 5 and could tell the shoreline was soft so I grabbed a 8 foot plank and got on. I had been mapping out this spot for a while and wanted to fish it.  ice was sketchy and I took my time getting to my spot checking the ice, anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of good ice then crap ice on top lots of springs starting to create open water in random spots . As I got near my spot the ice got better. I set up near a small inlet surrounded by  sandy bottom and then had a drop off to about 30’ I drilled 15 holes and egged them and fished 2 holes until about 10 and had no takers so I walked about 200 yards to another spot for some lakers and caught a few and missed a few both on smelt in about 20 feet of water. I also jigged up a crazy looking smallmouth, I’ve caught smallies with black spots but nothing like this one lol cool looking fish. Around 4 I started to pick up and walked back to my holes that I egged and they were all gone! I got my jaw jackers out and put eggs on and went around to egg my other holes again and bam it went off.  I ran over and he felt decent, once he got his head up to the hole he let go 🤦🏼‍♂️ I was pissed but knew there were still some in the area so I set it back up and not 3 min later if went off again and this time snapped the line before I could get to it ... I’m still not over it. I believe it snapped because my drag was set to tight. I was rushing to get set up and never even checked it. Terrible feeling but that’s fishing. Decided to hit a smaller 2 trapper today for a few hours and just caught some perch couple nice ones so I’ll make some fish sandwiches tomorrow.

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Atta boy!

Seen it many times just a mutated pigmentation like a piebald or anything else. Healthy fish.

[TheCrittaC]

That's weird. I've never seen that before. It doesn't look like whatever that is affected its ability to eat.

[Fishin_603]

That's weird. I've never seen that before. It doesn't look like whatever that is affected its ability to eat.

Oh no he went back down the hole. Most all my fish do. I fish alone most of the time so don’t have a cameraman,I put them on the ice momentarily to snap a pic and then let them go. Never have been a fan of freshwater fish besides perch and cusk

[Steamtrain]

Cool looking Smallie!

[Dirt23]

Very cool wonder if has melanistic gene see it in mammals not quite sure of fish

[fishingidjit]

Definitely a strange looking bass! 

[bassin212]

Nice work! I typically set my drag pretty loose on the jackers and tighten it a couple clicks before fighting the fish

[missoulafish]

cool fish! I see Post Image advertisement has elevated almost to the point of excessive.

[SALMONEMIA]

Very cool post. Send that one to John Viar maybe he can explain that. That is awesome. Great post man.

[Fishin_603]

Thanks guys. good tip bassin, Maybe I’ve always had my drag set too tight because I wanted to get a good hook-set when it goes off but maybe too much.salmonemia I talked to a few guys that have caught bass like that in the past and  it’s just pigmentation of the skin. I’ve defiantly caught bass with black   Markings but not that much lol John viar I’m assuming is a fish biologists ? 

[SALMONEMIA]

Thanks guys. good tip bassin, Maybe I’ve always had my drag set too tight because I wanted to get a good hook-set when it goes off but maybe too much.salmonemia I talked to a few guys that have caught bass like that in the past and  it’s just pigmentation of the skin. I’ve defiantly caught bass with black   Markings but not that much lol John viar I’m assuming is a fish biologists ?

Yes nh fish biologist.  Good guy. He loves hearing directly from nh fisherman.  He will give you good information. 

[DConICE]

Nice report - and very interesting looking bass... thanks for the post.

[lowaccord66]

CT river down in CT has a lot of largemouth like that.

[greensider]

Saw something on news feed about that you should do a search on it