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Warmouth? Rock Bass or Roanoke Bass? Flathead?

9K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  BankFish'nFool 
#1 ·
Hi Folks: This novice needs some fish ID help.

Caught these three today just below Few's Ford in Eno River State Park.

(A) Is this a warmouth? Three anal fin spines, three stripes radiating from eye area, bass-like mouth (but in sun fish family), seems to have face and fin plate scales, spotted scales are grouped in splotches rather than stripes.

If it is not a warmouth, then what and why? (KEV2380 has recently asked about an Eno Warmouth he caught and it looks mighty similar.)

(B) Has 6 anal fin spines (distinctive), spots on scales forming stripes, no scales on face-fin plate... but is it a ROCK BASS or a ROANOKE BASS? How to distinguish?

(C) Is this guy a FLATHEAD CATFISH? If not, what and why. Is that a teeth plate visible in the bottom picture?

** I would caption the bottom half of picture 'C' as: Kiss me quick! :^)

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#3 ·
Somehow I missed the brown bullhead when I looked in the fish profiles. Anyway first time for me...and I see they are recommended for the table. :^)

On the Roanoke Bass, can you say how to distinguish from Rock Bass? The reason I'm asking is that when I posted YouTube videos in the past with what I think are Eno Roanoke Bass, some people have said: ROCK BASS! :^)

jlr gave this link today in another thread: Centrarchid Project, Mayden Lab .... but that key doesn't have Roanoke Bass as an endpoint ... so my fish keyed out as Rock Bass.
 
#5 ·
If there were Flathead cats in the Eno there would be zero Bullheads as they taste like candy to a big Flathead........there would also likely not be much left of the Roanokes, sunfish, or largemouth bass either. But it's all a moot point as everyone knows the Eno is devoid of fish as are most, if not all, N.C. Piedmont flows. I've had to resign myself to only fishing rivers in northern S.C. to catch decent bass on a regular basis of many varieties. Outta state tags purchase ( read $$$ ) trumps Crappy fishing most ever single float.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Rock Bass Explained!

Warmouth is a separate species of sunfish MNBassman. :D

You have three subspecies of rock bass, and a related species that used to be considered a subspecies. The Roanoke, ambloplites cavifrons, is native to a few drainages in Piedmont North Carolina and South Central Virginia -- the Nottoway River in Virginia is its most populous river. It is different in very small ways from your Minnesota rock bass, ambloplites rupestri, because that's is its closest relative.:) The other species of concern here also have the genus name AMBLOPLITES:cool:. The regular rock bass, rupestri, can be caught up and down the east coast and into the Midwest and deep south;); the Ozark bass, ambloplites constellatus, lives in Arkansas and Missouri:eek:; the Shadow Bass, ambloplites ariommus, of Alabama and drainages south of the Tennessee River (go Army of the Tennessee):cool:. The Shadow Bass, is no longer considered a subspecies, but a totally different species of rock bass:rolleyes:. It really looks the most different of the four fishes.
 
#11 · (Edited)
my reading material say's a rock and a roanoke are very close to the point of counting anal spine' s and scales on gill plates with out seeing it in person i would say that A is a warmouth due to the coloration from the pick mor bloated then defined B would be roanoke's or most of the old folks i know generalize them as red eye bass ( sort of like all panfish are bream or bluegill ) the last the cat i guess is a bullhead yellow or brown probably brown like i said these are my choice's based off the pics and not first hand account's in a slight agrance with nats' dad flat heads would really thrive do to the amount of forage in the eno but they are not in the upper reaches to my knowledge but there are fish there and some people ( ) catch trophy's and they travel widely over a few state's to do it they are accomplish but a trophy for 1 isn't alwasy a trophy to the next i have seen 3 lb lm bass hanging on the wall and woundered why ?
 
#14 ·
another sort of ID for people that commonly wade the eno...


I always see these small to mid sized fish swimming in schools of around 3 or 4 pretty much hugging the bottom. the most distinct thing about them is that they have ~3 dark blotches/stripes that gor down their sides, and the fish is of a light color aside from this. See them commonly wading the first part of west point at the common entrance to the river. They never bite anything and scoot away really quick kind of in circles and theyll rest again shortly thereafter.


i think they are cool, i dont know if my description is very helpful ill have to take video next time im out there
 
#15 ·
Haven't fished the eno, but it sounds like they could be shad. They're filter feeders so won't generally bite on anything. Pretty sure I've seen something similar on crabtree creek below the Lassiter dam, in a small group of about 4 or 5. They seem to be relatively narrow fish, move pretty quickly, and the ones I saw jumped clear out of the water a few times.
 
#16 ·
Man, I LOVE fishing lassiter mill

sorry I had to get that out there :)

But I have seen shad in the Eno and these dont look like shad, if they are they are definitely not the same species. I just think they are so cool id like to observe one in hand

they are only in the rocky parts, and lassiter mill is definitely rocky so yo u may definitely have seen these same fish there. I havent though lassiter is a little deeper than the this part of the ENO, but lassiter has some nice gar to wade in there with

i need to go back there soon.
 
#17 ·
Try using a beetle spin or inline spinner. The rock/roanoke bass will hammer them and right before dark is the prime feeding time for them. As fast as you can cast they will hit, providing there are more than 1 in that spot which it seems there are.

<*)))))>{
 
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