Musky Trout Hatcheries LLC.
279 Bloomsbury Road • Asbury, NJ 08802 • Warren County
ph: 908•479•4893    fax: 908•479•4855   •   musky279@yahoo.com

Large Mouth Bass

The Largemouth bass is a species of fish. Also known as Black Bass, Green Trout, Bigmouth Bass, and Lineside Bass.The largemouth bass is in fact, not a bass. It is not a member of the bass family, but it is a member of the Sunfish family.

Physical Description

The largemouth bass is marked by a series of dark blotches forming a ragged horizontal stripe along the length of each side. It can also be totally black. The upper jaw of a largemouth bass extends beyond the back of the eye. The average largemouth bass weighs 1 to 2 pounds and between 8 and 18 inches long. The largest of the black basses, it has reached a maximum recorded overall length of 38 inches, and a maximum recorded weight of 22 lbs, 4 oz. It can live as long as 23 years.

Reproduction

Largemouth usually spawn in shallow bays in the spring when the water temperatures reach about 60° F. Females can lay up to a million eggs during each spawn in a shallow depression in the ground formed by the male. The male will then guard the eggs and, after they hatch in five to ten days, the fry, driving away any predators that come too close to the nest site.

Senses

Lateral Line: The Lateral Line is a series of pores located alongside the bass. This set of pores is used to detect vibrations in the water. This is sensitive enough to detect the speed, size, and shape of another fish.

Sight: Largemouth bass have color vision and they mostly use their sight in clear water. However, in low visibility conditions bass do not use their sight as much as their sense of vibration though their lateral line or their sense of smell. Depending on water clarity, largemouth bass can see anywhere from 100 feet to 5 feet.

Hearing: Bass have ears located inside of their skull. However, because sound travels through water much better than air a bass has a very keen sense of hearing.

Smell: Bass use smell to detect prey or predators. Their smell is very sensitive and if they smell a predator nearby they will swim away from the area. And, therefore, if they smell prey they will go in search of it and eat it.

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The bluegill is possibly the most common and most widely introduced sunfish in the world. It originates from North America where it is popular as a game fish.

The body is typical of all sunfish. Deep, robust, and cichlid-like. The mouth is small and the front of the dorsal fin is spiny as it is in all other sunfish. This is a very fish-like fish.

The coloring is a dusky olive-green with five to seven dark vertical bands which fade as they approach the middle of the fish. There is a black opercular spot just behind the top of the gill. Often there is another black opercular spot on the back of the dorsal fin. In many bluegills there is various moddling patterns of dark and light scales with an orange to red sheen. The belly is a creamy color. The pectoral and pelvic fins are often pigmented with white.

To catch bluegills, the best method is to dip-net young specimens which always hug the shore with dense vegetation and other hideouts. Of course they can always be caught with angling, though you should exercise caution when attempting this. It might be possible to trap bluegills too.

The bluegill is a hardy fish which adapts well to captivity as long as they have the opportunity to set up territory and space. They can be fairly aggressive (especially larger specimens) so it is best to keep a pair of adults by themselves or with other large centrachids. They look great with other sunfish particularly bass, but exercise caution for bass are specifically designed to eat bluegills and similar pan-fish. Other tank mates could include our native catfish, and just about any other hardy game fish which is slightly the same size and can take care of itself. They aren't picky about water quality as long as it's well oxygenated, fresh, cool and clean. They accept any food as long as it's fairly meaty and nutritious. Worms and shrimp seem to be their favorite. Overall this fish presents little trouble in an aquarium and is a good starter fish for your native tank. Very adaptable and hardy.

Breeding can be accomplished as long as they are conditioned with nutritious live food and kept in a large tank by themselves with favorable conditions. They spawn in a typical sunfish method: dig a nest (substrate should be suited for this), deposit the eggs, which are guarded until the offspring can fend for themselves - much like cichlids. Of course a pond works the best for this.

The bluegill is a wonderful native fish which is as intelligent and interesting as most cichlids. They make a wonderful forage fish and garden filler. Good for beginners.

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Channel catfish are North America's most numerous catfish subspecies. They are also the most fished types of catfish, with approximately 8 million anglers in the USA targeting them per year. Channel catfish have a top-end size of approximately 40-50 pounds. The world record channel catfish weighed 58 pounds and was caught in 1964. Realistically, a channel catfish over 20 pounds is a spectacular specimen, and most catfish anglers view a 10 pound fish as a very admirable catch. Furthermore the average size channel catfish an angler could expect to find in most waterways would be between 2 and 4 pounds. Channel catfish flesh is prized by many anglers and the popularity of channel catfish for food has allowed the rapid growth of aquaculture of this species throughout the United States.

Channel catfish are well distributed throughout the United States and thrive in small rivers, large rivers, reservoirs, natural lakes, and ponds. Channel catfish are omnivores who can be caught on a variety of natural and prepared baits including crickets, night crawlers, minnows, shad, chicken livers, frogs, sunfish, and suckers. Channel catfish possess very keen senses of smell and taste. In addition channel catfish have taste buds distributed over the surface of their entire body. These taste buds are especially concentrated on the channel catfish's 4 pairs of barbels (whiskers) surrounding the mouth—about 25 buds per square millimeter. This combination of exceptional senses of taste and smell allows the channel catfish to find food in dark, stained, or muddy water with relative ease.

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Yellow perch have rough scales. When looking through a microscope, the scale look like a plate with growth rings and spikes on the top edges. Externally the anatomy of perch is simple enough. On the dorsal side of the fish, there consists a upper maxilla and lower mandible for the mouth, a pair of nostrils, and two lidless eyes. On the posterior sides are the operculum, which are used to protect the gills. Also there is the lateral line system which is sensitive to vibrations in the water. They have a pair of pectoral and pelvic fins. On the anterior end of the fish, there are two dorsal fins. The first one is spiny and the second is soft. There is also an anal fin, which is also considered spiny, and a caudal fin. Also there is a cloacal opening right behind the anal fin. All perciform fish share the perch's general morphology.

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Both species of crappie, as adults, feed predominantly on smaller fishes, including the young of their own predators. By day, crappie tend to be less active and to concentrate around weed beds or submerged objects, such as logs and boulders; they feed especially at dawn and dusk, moving then into open water or approaching the shore.

Crappies are highly regarded game fishes and are often considered to be among the best tasting freshwater fishes. Because of their diverse diets, crappie may be caught in many ways, including casting light jigs, trolling with minnows or artificial lures, or using bobbers. Crappie are also popular with ice-fishermen, as they are active in winter.

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