Spotted Bass (Micropterus punctulatus)

The Spotted Bass or Micropterus punctulatus is often confused with the much more common Largemouth Bass. Their bodies and coloration are similar, but the Spotted Bass can be distinguished by its smaller mouth, and a rough patch of teeth on the tongue.  A sure way to tell the difference between the two though is the fact that the Spotted Bass's mouth DOES NOT extend past it's eye like the Largemouth Bass. Also known as the Kentucky Bass, Spotty, Leeman and Spots, they also tend to have more spots on their bodies than the Largemouth. 

This freshwater fish is from the Sunfish family of Centrarchidae.  This species of Bass is only found in a few places in the world including the Mississippi River Basin, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and they have also been introduced in Southern Africa. The Spotted Bass prefers waters with rocky bottoms where they feed on insects, small fish, frogs, worms and crustaceans.
Spotted Bass can grow to about 25" (64 cm), and weigh in at about 10lbs (4.6kg). They are not a very long-lived fish, only living to about 7 years max. When they reach sexual maturity at around three or four, the female will lay between 1,150 and 47,000 eggs. After this, the male Spotted Bass will guard the eggs for about 4 weeks to ensure that nothing eats the young fry. If you are fishing for Spotted Bass be ready for their fight which is said to rival it's close relative the Smallmouth Bass!

If you have any fishing tips or recipes about the Spotted Bass please leave them in the comments below...