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RazzaMaChaz

Redeye Bass = patterns and info.

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I'm moving to Rock Hill SC in a couple weeks. I've seen some tantalizing references to a fish in those parts called a Redeye Bass. This is not the same thing as the Rock Bass. Anyway, I'd like more info on patterns used and habitats - rivers, lakes/ ponds, etc?

 

Anyone?

 

 

 

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I catch lots of rock bass in my backyard creek in PA. I've also caught lots of red eye bass in SC. I know for some reason South Carolinians like to say they are not the same. To me they are the same they just grow a little bigger down south. I guess there could also be some minor genetic differences but they are basically the same. They are sunnies. They are found in rivers and lakes. They eat anything and everything. They strike with anger and enthusiasm but once they realize they are hooked they lay over on their sides and let you reel them in. I don't fish for them on purpose but there are days where the Rockies keep your fly from getting to the bass

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I catch lots of rock bass in my backyard creek in PA. I've also caught lots of red eye bass in SC. I know for some reason South Carolinians like to say they are not the same. To me they are the same they just grow a little bigger down south. I guess there could also be some minor genetic differences but they are basically the same. They are sunnies.

 

No, they're not the same, and they're only sunfish in the sense that all black bass are sunfish. They're a southern relative of smallmouth, and look a lot like them (the only quick way to tell the difference is that red eye bass have white on the tail.)

 

Rock bass ("red eyes", "google eyes") are "sunnies" in every sense of the word, being closely related to bluegills, etc. They look like a bluegill colored like a smallmouth.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redeye_bass

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_bass

 

I'd fish for red eye bass exactly the same as I'd fish for smallmouth, in the same habitats (moving water.)

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I've only had a chance to fish for them once when I was hiking in East Tennessee back in the late 70's long before I took up fly fishing. I caught a few using small Rapalas. Thought I was catching an off color smallmouth until one of the guys I was hiking with told me they were redeye bass. Apparently they don't get very big in the smaller rivers and creeks, with 8 to 10 inches being the average size. If I were to fly fish for them I'd use the same flies, poppers, sliders, large spiders and small bait fish patterns for the smallmouth and largemouth in my local creek. Rock Bass are definitely another critter. I've always thought of them as a northern fish. The further north I fish for them the bigger they seem to be. I've seldom seen them bigger than my hand here in SE PA. On a lake in the Poconos back in late May I caught several that were 10 inches or a bit larger. Same up in Vermont and in Ontario. Those bigger ones put up a decent fight on a fly rod.

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I find myself corrected. I did a quick google search and found a red eye bass and also a rock bass that is also called a red eye bass but is in fact a rock bass. Seems I was catching rock bass in SC and not the red eye as the real red eye apparently has a limited range. I hope I didn't add to the confusion surrounding the red eye bass in SC. it's always a good day when you learn something new.

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I did a quick google search and found a red eye bass and also a rock bass that is also called a red eye bass but is in fact a rock bass.

 

Just to confuse things further, the warmouth, which looks somewhat like a rock bass, is also called a red eye.

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Here's a picture of a rock bass I caught up in NE PA back in May.

 

post-309-0-01510200-1499485123_thumb.jpg

 

 

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Here's a picture of a rock bass I caught up in NE PA back in May.

 

attachicon.gifP5210058-2.jpg

 

 

It may just be the picture, but I only count three spines in the anal fin, which would mean it's a warmouth, not a rock bass.

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It's definitely a rock bass. It's anal fin is collapsed in the picture. The rows of dark spots on the side are another characteristic. Here's another picture of a rock bass. I caught this one in a local creek.

 

post-309-0-49008000-1499540668_thumb.jpg

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Like I said, I wasn't sure from the photo. The second is definitely a rock bass.

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Common names can be confusing, with similar or identical names applied to different species. What I think you're referring to as redeye (or Coosa bass- M. coosae) look a little bit like a smallmouth, a little bit like a spotted bass. They're native to SC as well as AL, GA, parts of TN and NC, and they've been stocked in a few southeastern streams outside they're native range, ostensibly because they can persist in smaller creeks than the native smallmouh. I've only fished for them in Tennessee, and few exceeded twelve inches- not tackle busting smallmouth, but a neat fish that lives in some awfully pretty streams.

 

Like smallmouth they tend to hang out in moving water near boulders, logs, and patches of emergent aquatic vegetation. They tend to eat aquatic bugs and crayfish, maybe the occasional small fish. The ones I found weren't picky- buggers, leeches, and sparkleminnows all worked well. They weren't shy about taking anything off the top, either- large sponge spiders, small Gurgler-type flies, small deer-hair sliders or cork-bodied Sneaky Petes, and those light blue Shenandoah Popper patterns (don't know how else to describe it, but googling "Shenandoah Smallmouth Popper will get you images) all worked well.

 

Good luck!

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