Rock bass/Goggle eye fishing

[jd1983 0]

I'm wanting to get out and target some rock bass. What are some good flies people are using for these fish?

[mikechell 0]

We've got those here in Central Florida ... and I remember catching those in Indiana, too. Like a lot of panfish, they can be had where ever you catch freshwater fish. There are three things I have discovered, though, that help to catch these fish, specifically.

(1) They seek out crustaceans more. I've caught goggle-eyes on small crayfish patterns more than any other type of lure. You'll have more luck catching one on a wet fly than on top. They like baby crayfish and insect more than minnows.

(2) They are less likely to move from cover. You've got to drop a fly right in front of them. They don't hit top water as much and they don't hit fast moving flies as much. They are panfish trying to be large mouth. Ambushing prey that gets too close, rather than chasing them down.

(3) They don't like to run after hitting prey, either. When I was a child, you knew you had a Goggle-eye on when bait fishing with a bobber if the bobber sunk half way down and just sat there. It wasn't floating freely, but it wasn't going any farther down. Just set the hook because there was a Rock Bass swallowing your hook. When fly fishing for them, you have to be very aware of your line and fly. You'll get a small tic, then nothing until you try to move the fly again, then it'll feel like it's hung up. If the fish hasn't already started swallowing it, it will spit it out.

[Iroc_Jeff 0]

I'm in Central Florida as well but I've only caught them in one dinky little canal here that I sometimes fish. I've caught them on wingless adams, foam beetles, ants, and small, deer hair streamers. So, that's pretty varied but that's my experience with them on flies.

[phg 0]

I've caught them on hare's ear nymphs and small streamers. Usually in riffles or pools along side riffles.

 

I don't want to pick an argument, but Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) are a cooler water fish, similar, in habitat, to the small mouth bass. I wouldn't think they would like the water temperatures in central Fla., although it's not impossible, as Bluegill are found from Florida to Canada.

 

I'm wondering, though, if you aren't catching other species in the family Micropterus, such as the Cooosa Bass, Shoal Bass, Suwannee bass or even a Spotted bass. The first two, especially look a lot like a rocky, but like warmer, slower moving water.

[Adventure568 0]

I've always caught a lot on chartruse wooly buggers and small crawfish patterns

[mikechell 0]

Phg ... the Rock Bass is a slack water fish ... cold or warm I am not sure. I've never caught one in swift water.

Here's one I caught last year ...

 

on the St. Johns River. It is definitely a "Rock Bass" as I have known them all my life. red spots in the eyes, yellows and browns on the sides. Pretty fish with a larger mouth than most other Sunfishes.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

We always called them warmouths, they are very aggressive, especially if something enters their nest! I would think a small wooly bugger, or a mini clousers would work, but I've caught them on foam crickets, and on poppers.

[xrayts 0]

Ambloplites rupestris (Rock Bass, Goggle Eye) is often confused with Lepomis gulosus (Warmouth, Red Eye, and in certain regions Rock Bass). Easy to see why it's confusing, huh?

For what it's worth, since JD is from SW MO, he's almost certainly talking about Ambloplites rupestris or even Ambloplites constellatus (Ozark Bass).

 

 

JD, they are an aggressive fish that can easily be caught with patterns you use for Smallies. And...they are DELICIOUS!

 

 

Mike, the pic you posted is Lepomis gulosus. They can be most easily differentiated by the number of anal spines. 6 for Ambloplites rupestris, 3 for Lepomis gulosus.

[Philly 0]

I go up to Vermont on the long weekend holidays and they are the dominant pan fish in most of the lakes I fish up there. I catch 10 rock bass to 1 bluegill or pumpkinseed. What do I go after them with mostly poppers. They take them very aggressively, at least up there. I pretty much use the same poppers or gurglers that I use for smallmouth. There are a lot of caddis on these lakes, and I've caught them on the caddis pattern I use for trout. Subsurface, I've caught them on estaz bugs, green weenies and small bait fish patterns, 2-3 inches long. One thing I've noticed is the further north I go the bigger they seem to get. I caught three last Memorial Day weekend that measured 10 inches and the biggest I've caught up there was 12 inches. I've also caught them in the fast water below the small dams that form the lakes. They are tasty but I only keep a couple when I'm up there in late May. Later in the summer, they have all these black spots in the flesh that are cysts of some sort of parasite/worm. Harmless to humans but the fillets are not very appetizing.

[ditz2 0]

I usually catch them in current. They like shiney and also small crayfish patterns fished on the bottom. They have red eyes and the body shape will not be mistaken for smallmouth or most other bass. They are short and thick. I have even caught them in riffles when they are feeding. Years ago I used small black and yellow beetle spins with great success. I personally don't care to eat them. I am guessing that a wooly bugger with a chrome chenille body would work well too.Th They normally don't hit surface baits well. I would suspect that they feed on dads, minnows, and various bottom bugs. I have caught a lot of them on a 'blind squirrel', unweighted. The creeks I currently fish are shallow. 3' is deep. they do seem to get heavier that their cousins in the same water but I have not found them to be great fighters but the added weight does make them fun on a 2wt. Subsurface is the ticket.

[phg 0]

Mike, nice fish, but I agree with xrayts, it's a warmouth. From Wickipedia:

The warmouth, warmouth sunfish, or warmouth bass, Lepomis gulosus, is a large sunfish found throughout the eastern United States. Other local names include molly, redeye, goggle-eye, red-eyed bream, stump knocker, and strawberry perch. The warmouth is not a rock bass.

The article goes on to describe the spines in the fins, 10 in the dorsal, 3 in the anal.

 

Like I said, I don't want to start an argument, but these smaller, red-eyed rock bass-like fish can be very confusing. I didn't even think of the warmouth when I made my earlier post. They are all in the sunfish family, but come from 4 different genus and numerous species. It's not really important, but the diversity is interesting.

 

As a kid, I used to catch rock bass in the Finger Lakes, so I know they do live in calm water. These days, though, I usually catch them in the New River, in western NC, fishing in the riffs.

[JSzymczyk 0]

XRay is right Mike--- I think you are catching Warmouth, but they are very similar. In the armpit of SE Alabama I used to catch the occasional warmouth in the creeks there. "Up here" we catch rock bass on just about everything. They are just one of those "extra" fish everyone catches. They don't fight all that well, they don't taste as good as most others, and can't say I've ever specifically went after them. They'll hit anything which gets in front of them. The biggest ones I've ever seen came from the Allegheny River, they hit deep diving crankbaits being trolled for walleye, some of them were over a foot long.

[Tailing looper 0]

"Up here" we catch rock bass on just about everything. They are just one of those "extra" fish everyone catches. They don't fight all that well, they don't taste as good as most others, and can't say I've ever specifically went after them.

 

+1

 

Most of the lakes in the Adirondacks are clear and rocky and have a healthy population of Rock Bass. I'd say they're known as the fish you catch when you're trying to catch something else... known as a nuisance more than anything. I don't think I ever met anyone who fished for them on purpose. They do put up a heck of a fight for the first three or four seconds then they give up and come in like a wet dish rag, mouth agape. If they could maintain the fight they put up initially, I think they'd get a lot more respect!

 

They are eager to take any kind of bait or lure. I've caught doubles several times in my youth while spin-fishing for smallmouths with small crankbaits and stick baits.

 

I will admit I've never tried eating one. Most of the ones I catch in the summer months have evident infestations of tiny, flat, dark parasites. You can see them in their mouths and throats when you're unhooking them. They look like tiny leeches.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[coinman66 0]

East central Illinois Rock Bass.

[mikechell 0]

Based on your picture, Coinman ... I can say I've never caught a Rock Bass. I was wrong. My family always interchanged "Goggle Eye" and "Rock Bass" and it's always been a fish that looked like the one I have pictured above.

 

So, my original post on this thread is all about the Warmouth and how to catch one of those. Disregard if going after Rock Bass.