Unusual Snake River Smallmouth

[SmartWeed]

On 7/13 I caught the smallmouth in the photo below. It was 17" and in good health. From the belly, I'd say it was a recently spawned out female. The side of the head shown was jet black, even the eye. The other half of the head was normal coloration. Most of the fins were also black.

I have discussed this with smallmouth fishermen back east and apparently several fish have been caught back there with black heads or black tails. Theoretically, this condition is caused by and infection caused by loss of slime. Handle your fish carefully if you plan to release them.
Has anyone caught similar fish in the Snake?
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[evelynn]

very strange! man you really catch big bass[fishon]
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[REAL_RAT_FINK]

Never heard of that before, good to know though!
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[dublmmz]

Never seen anything quite like that either. I will check around with some of the other Smallmouth anglers I know for more information.

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[maniac]

I have caught several Smallies with those dark patches on them, both on the Snake and other places as well.
I don't know what the reason for it is. Normally you will see the males turn quite dark, almost black, but the darker coloring covers the whole fish, not just a patch.
Good Luck and good fishing!
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[SmartWeed]

I too have caught quite a few smallies with black blotches on their body - or a very black looking fish all over. This 19" fish was caught about an hour before the blackface fish. Note that it has a large black blotch on its back.

The blotched coloration is very different from that 1st fish that has a very defined black face, with the coloration following the gill plate line.

I had some fisheries biologist friends consult with the head fish disease biologist with the USFWS, and he felt the black face was genetic and not related to any disease.
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[flygoddess]

I caught that fish once!!! LOL
I think it is genetic also. The fish seems healthy enough...don't they change colors for environment?

Cool as heck though. I keep thinking "MAMMY" when I look at it...[laugh][laugh]
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[SmartWeed]

don't they change colors for environment?

There are lots of smallmouth that are darker than others and really look blackish in the water. Their color can obviously change, for I have tried to photograph some of these very dark smallies by putting them in my livewell while I get out my camera. I get all set up and take the fish out of the livewell and it is back to normal bronze colors. It seems to take place in the span of 5 to 10 minutes. This has also been the experience of many other smallie anglers.

Those very dark fish, however, show all the typical striping and bars of the usual bronze smallie.
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[windriver]

Very interesting topic on my favorite fish.

Thanks

Windriver
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