# rock bass vs warmouth bass



## steelbandit

I've been trying to find some pics on how to tell the diff between rock bass and warmouth bass, i found a few pics but i'm still not sure if i'm getting them mixed up! i caught a ton of huge rock bass on the st.clair this year in some of the canals pre and post spawn, and now i think there where warmouth because they where almost black and didn't have all the spots that most of the rocks i'm caught! any help would be great on how to tell these two fish apart!

thanks...

p.s there are two pics i have of the fish i'm talking about in my pictures along with a white bass a some perch can anyone verify if the fish is rock or war..


----------



## steelbandit

here is a link to one of the fish i'm talking about!!
http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=71621&ppuser=18881


----------



## WALLEYEvision




----------



## steelbandit

thanks man, what are your thoughts?


----------



## alex-v

steelbandit said:


> thanks man, what are your thoughts?


My thoughts? Oh, on the warmouth bass.

I cannot tell from the pictures but I just plugged in "warmouth bass" into google.com and came up with several sites with pictures.

Seems to me one of the DNR publications had pictures of rock and warmouth to help tell the difference.


----------



## WALLEYEvision

Here's a link to a website the has pics of the _Sunfish_ family (scroll down the page for more pics): http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/rockbass.html


----------



## steelbandit

by the pics i'm leading towards rockbass because of the patterns, does anyone know of a spot to catch warmouth bass?
i'm putting togeather a drift wood wall mounth with all our michigan pan fish on it i'm trying for two of each species, i'd like to get some war mouth on it , if anyone knows a spot on the east side of the state please let me know!!!


----------



## dobes

Those fish in that pic sure look like they have been dead for a while , Were they still good to eat?


----------



## waterfoul

In my experience, rock bass look like the one being held up on the left side of the picture. Warmouth look similar but tend to have a yellow chin/belly and run smaller than rockbass. This is a Warmouth ( guess I will add that this fish was ID'd by the MDNR as a warmouth after I sent a picture asking what it was):


----------



## fishinmachine2

Rockbass!!

Scott


----------



## Oldgrandman

waterfoul said:


> In my experience, rock bass look like the one being held up on the left side of the picture. Warmouth look similar but tend to have a yellow chin/belly and run smaller than rockbass. This is a Warmouth ( guess I will add that this fish was ID'd by the MDNR as a warmouth after I sent a picture asking what it was):


Yeah, thats what I call a warmouth. Rocky's stay kinda silverish with black lines sometimes and stink to high Heaven. Warmouth's (like the pic by waterfoul) look like a sick sunfish with a larger mouth.


----------



## fishindude

waterfoul said:


> In my experience, rock bass look like the one being held up on the left side of the picture. Warmouth look similar but tend to have a yellow chin/belly and run smaller than rockbass. This is a Warmouth ( guess I will add that this fish was ID'd by the MDNR as a warmouth after I sent a picture asking what it was):


I'll 2nd what mike says. Here's another pic of a warmouth.


----------



## WALLEYEvision

*Rock Bass*









*Warmouth*


----------



## steelbandit

dobes said:


> Those fish in that pic sure look like they have been dead for a while , Were they still good to eat?


dobes all the rock bass we have been catching on the st.clair river have been black like that, where where only out on the water for about 3 hours, and the lund has a live well in, the fish were not dead till we got them home!

does anyones know of a spot over on the eastside , inland lk pref, to hook up on some war mouth?


----------



## jakeo

The pond behind my fathers house holds warmouth and yes they are fun to catch and eat, The bone structure is a bit different from your sunfish and IMO they get softer quicker then gills. 
Now up at Wamplers, I have taken many rockbass and was keeping them for awhile untill I got to taste the difference. Yes IMO they are fun to catch but ask me if I will keep another.....NOOO.
Whats the difference.....Ihave no idea because they both fight very well but as far as tablefare.....warmouth taste better to me.
This is my opinion and will still enjoy catching them but I guess its up to each person whether or not they add them to their limit.


----------



## steelbandit

is it a local pond or a priv pond?
i'd like to catch a few warmouth and add them to a panfish drift wood mount i'm working on?


----------



## tackle hound

I know I'm late on this post, but the easiest way to id the rock bass from the warmouth is the warmouth has 3 spines on the anal fin, the rock bass has 6.

I just learned this tonight online, so I'm not gonna claim I knew this all along.

I had to look this up tonight after catching 2 Warmouth Bass today on a 4 inch swimbait, and someone that asked me what they were wanted to know the difference between these and a Rock Bass. Even being a fish taxidermist for 25 years, I didn't have a convincing answer for them.

I always identified the Warmouth by the "war paint" stripes on the gill plate and breast that it gets its name from. Counting the spines on the anal fin makes it a lot easier and more scientific.


----------



## StumpJumper

I don't think you can confuse the two once you are familiar with both. I've never seen a warmouth even remotely resemble a rockbass. Warmouths look like a funky crossbred sunfish, rockbass are usually always silver with the black specs and red eyes. Maybe warmouths have red eyes too though, I haven't caught one in awhile..


----------



## Secret Lure

This thread is the 1st time I've ever heard of a warmouth. I caught this fish about 2 weeks ago. I'm assuming its a rock bass but this thread got me all confused (in a good way since knowledge is power)










*Secret Lure*


----------



## Crayfish Trapper

Secret Lure said:


> This thread is the 1st time I've ever heard of a warmouth. I caught this fish about 2 weeks ago. I'm assuming its a rock bass but this thread got me all confused (in a good way since knowledge is power)


It's a rock bass.


----------

