Spotted Bass

Spotted bass are most often mixed up with largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, and the mix-up is understandable since they sit right in between the two. The easiest check is the mouth: on a spotted bass, the upper jaw lines up under the middle of the eye or just behind it, never past the back edge like on a largemouth. The dark blotchy stripe down the side is made of connected diamond shapes rather than one smooth solid band, and below the lateral line you will see rows of small dark spots that give the fish its name, a pattern largemouth do not have.

Compared to smallmouth, spotted bass usually run darker and greener with that visible side stripe, while smallmouth are typically bronze or brown with vertical bars instead of a horizontal blotch pattern and have no spots on the belly. Spotted bass also have a patch of teeth on the tongue, a small rough tooth patch that both largemouth and smallmouth lack, so if you can get a finger in the mouth, that patch confirms it. Body shape is another clue: spotted bass are more slender and cylindrical than the deep, compressed body of a largemouth.

Spotted bass favor clearer, cooler water than largemouth, and they like current. Look for them around rock bluffs, bridge riprap, gravel points, and the tailraces below dams. In reservoirs they suspend over deep structure like humps and channel edges rather than sitting tight to shallow cover.

In North Carolina they turn up in Piedmont reservoirs like Lake Norman, Lake Wylie, and Badin Lake, plus a number of river systems where they were introduced. They are considered invasive in some western NC waters, where they compete with and hybridize with native smallmouth.

Shad, crayfish, and small baitfish make up most of the diet, with crayfish being especially important around rocky bottom. They feed more on current-oriented forage than largemouth do, and they will chase baitfish in open water over deep structure.

Fish deep and rocky rather than shallow and grassy. A shaky head or a small football jig dragged slowly along rock piles, points, and channel breaks is the standard approach, especially in summer when fish stack on deep structure. Around current, a crankbait or a jig worked through riprap and past bridge pilings draws strikes.

In cooler months work main lake points and bluff walls with a jerkbait or a drop shot rigged with a small finesse worm. Spotted bass hit hard and pull well above their size, so use a slightly lighter touch on the hookset than you would with a largemouth.