# Hybrid White Bass???



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

We have been running into a fish on Somerville that has me puzzled. They look like a White Bass, stripes are WB and the tongue is WB...but that is about where the similarities end. Their body shape is long and slim like a Striper, but their head is small. They are 14 to 16" long. Their bone structure is very heavy. And the fillets are like two strips of bacon! A 12 to 13 inch normal WB will yield much better fillets. Lastly they have more green on them than a White Bass or Hybrids. 

We catch one or two almost every trip. 

I cut this photo from a cleaning table shot. I need to get a better picture.


----------



## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

We get those on Livingston also and usually they are males. Long and lean. Sometimes the meat will be a white color.


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

I remember someone mentioning catching one mid summer. That was one reason I posted this. There is a good chance we will catch one this weekend. If we do I will take a better picture.

I'm wondering if these are successful breeding of White Bass and a Hybid. Making it 3/4 WB 1/4 Striper, that's why it has such strong WB features. 

Theory sounds good any way!


----------



## ML56 (Dec 30, 2008)

There are indeed mixed breeds with tounge patch of a whitebass in Somerville.
The split on young hybrids tooth patch can be difficult to see, the wardens on Somerville told me to use tooth patch, one warden on Richland Chambers said to throw back any fish with broken stripes, or he would ticket us, regardless of tooth patch. Where ever you fish it may be wise to ask local wardens when you see them on the various lakes how they enforce I.D. laws. I saw that you post on TFF also, at the top of the striped/whitebass forum is the best hybrid/whitebass I.D. thread I have ever seen,very informative and nice pictures of tooth patch's.-Mike


----------



## Ken.Huynh (May 30, 2014)

I have the same question too. I catch them regularly on Somerville. Single tooth. One strip to tail. Some have a few broken line and some donâ€™t. But it feel too heavy and too close to hybrid since it big. At time it feel risky so I threw them back. 

Capt C. I would have threw a few of your back since the line too close to hybrid. 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

I rarely keep anything... (Heck, I rarely catch anything)... 

but, what is the rule on Somerville? You can't keep hybrids? I know that you can on Conroe.


----------



## ML56 (Dec 30, 2008)

richg99 said:


> I rarely keep anything... (Heck, I rarely catch anything)...
> 
> but, what is the rule on Somerville? You can't keep hybrids? I know that you can on Conroe.


Just have to be 18" or longer, daily bag limit 5 state wide. I don't know of any other restrictions except when mixed with stripers, I believe it's 5 total fish
EX. 3 hybrid+ 2 stripers, your at daily limit.


----------



## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Captn C said:


> I remember someone mentioning catching one mid summer. That was one reason I posted this. There is a good chance we will catch one this weekend. If we do I will take a better picture.
> 
> I'm wondering if these are successful breeding of White Bass and a Hybid. Making it 3/4 WB 1/4 Striper, that's why it has such strong WB features.
> 
> Theory sounds good any way!


A hybrid cannot breed, both male and female are sterile. That is natures way of keeping strains pure.


----------



## denimdeerslayer (Feb 23, 2012)

As said above those are most likely whites. I always check tooth patch. Next year should be more troublesome with the last released hybrids getting up to whites keeper sizes. Right now they should be really big of really small as Somerville missed a few years stocking.


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

bigfishtx said:


> A hybrid cannot breed, both male and female *are sterile*. That is natures way of keeping strains pure.


Isn't that what they said about grass carp in Conroe? They ended up reproducing I believe.


----------



## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Whitebassfisher said:


> Isn't that what they said about grass carp in Conroe? They ended up reproducing I believe.


I am not sure if the grass carp was a true hybrid. You can cross closely related strains and they breed. Like crossing Brahman cattle with European breeds creates a hybrid that is fertile. Try crossing a cow with a buffalo and they are sterile, just like Mules.

They stocked hybrid stripers in Coleto creek lake and they didnâ€™t breed.


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

bigfishtx said:


> Captn C said:
> 
> 
> > I remember someone mentioning catching one mid summer. That was one reason I posted this. There is a good chance we will catch one this weekend. If we do I will take a better picture.
> ...


If you search around I think you find they have surprised biologist and can reproduce.

There was a thread here on 2cool that discussed it too.

In Somerville if you threw back every WB that had broken lines you would go home nearly empty handed every time.

I've been checked by the warden twice without incident.

In my eye the Hybids really stand out. Three weeks ago we had a quad hook up...three Hybrids and one x-large WB. I called all three Hybrids before I checked tongues. All 4 fish were roughly 16" long and easy to tell apart just looking at them.

Going tomorrow and hope to get some better pictures.


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

ML56 said:


> There are indeed mixed breeds with tounge patch of a whitebass in Somerville.
> The split on young hybrids tooth patch can be difficult to see, the wardens on Somerville told me to use tooth patch, one warden on Richland Chambers said to throw back any fish with broken stripes, or he would ticket us, regardless of tooth patch. Where ever you fish it may be wise to ask local wardens when you see them on the various lakes how they enforce I.D. laws. I saw that you post on TFF also, at the top of the striped/whitebass forum is the best hybrid/whitebass I.D. thread I have ever seen,very informative and nice pictures of tooth patch's.-Mike


Yeah Mike I actually posted this there first. It is a great thread for ID'ing Hybrids and it has helped to make it easier for me to tell one from the other.


----------



## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Interesting.


----------



## SeaOx 230C (Aug 12, 2005)

Combine the fact they are fertile with the knowledge that there are also pure strain white bass and in the case of Lake Livingston pure strain striped bass all spawning in the same locations. 


The possible variations are many. Pure strains mixing with various levels of hybridized strains.


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Got lucky today and caught all three...22" Hybrid, 16" Hybrid WB (what I'm calling them) and a standard issue 12" WB.

The White Bass went into hiding this morning. I hit every spot I've ever fished, some I had only looked at the first time I went to the Somerville". I found nothing at nearly every stop.

Any way...Hybrid is on the left, Hybrid WB in the middle and WB on the right. The tongue picture is the Hybrid and the Hybrid WB. Pretty easy to see both fish are not Hybrid Stripers. Also notice how dark the tongue is. King size WB are mostly white...


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

It looks like the tongue picture didn't load properly...


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Captn C said:


> It looks like the tongue picture didn't load properly...


I still can't see it...I did this on my POS phone...on the lap top this morning..

If you look closely there looks like a line down the middle of the fish I'm calling a Hybrid White Bass...which adds to my thinking this is is 3/4 White Bass...1/4 Striper caused by a Hybrid spawning with a White Bass...


----------



## ML56 (Dec 30, 2008)

I see split a on both, by the book, both pics are hybrids. As I stated earlier in this thread, the smaller hybrids are tough to see(without removing tongue from fish's head). Between my fat thumb and getting some light in the fish's mouth, and getting rear tooth patch where it's visible, it's tough. The upper photo's rear tooth patch does have a much more triangular shape than the lower pic, as well as a different color.-Mike


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

I agree it is a Hybrid, but I don't think it is a 50/50 Hybrid. I believe it is a naturally bred 25/75 cross between a White Bass and a Hybrid Striper.

I have looked at several 16" Hybrid Stripers and the tongue looks just like the lower fish tongue that was in my 22" Hybrid Striper. So I don't think the top fish would one day suddenly transform into the perfect double stripe tongue patch.

I couldn't see the split when I had the tongue out and took the picture, I couldn't even see it on my phone, but once I had the picture in my computer...cropped it and re-sized you could see it. So there is no way to see it on a fish flopping around on the boat.

I need to get a true White Bass and get a close up of their tongue to see if they have a fine line down the middle too. They might or might not I never knew to look that close.

I plan to send the picture to TP&W to see what they say.


----------

