green sunfish the fisherman fishing planet baits

Roanoke bass are native to the Roanoke, Chowan, Tar, and Neuse river drainages in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1997, Virginia also imposed an 8-inch minimum on rockies, but only in waters where they co-occur with Roanoke bass, a related species that's considerably rarer, and easily confused. Their popularity with stream anglers also led them to be featured on the cover of the 2010 Missouri Fishing Regulations Handbook. Rock bass reach peak popularity in Ozark streams, where biologists with the Missouri Department of Conservation found harvest rates on 'goggle-eye' high enough to impose an 8-inch minimum-length limit on several waters. Eminent ichthyologist David Starr Jordan wrote of the rock bass in his 1905 treatise, A Guide to the Study of Fishes: 'This species is preeminently a boy's fish, though it is by no means despised by anglers of mature years.' Often exceeding a half-pound, they give a good tussle on light tackle.

They eagerly strike livebaits and small lures, and frequent shallow shorelines in early summer, around spawning time. Across the North Country, this fish often represents a kid's first catch. The northern rock bass is the most widespread rock bass species, commonly found in waters from New England and southern Canada to Mississippi.

Not many anglers recognize that there are four species of what we can lump as rock bass - members of the genus Ambloplites - most closely related to several sunfish species, including spotted sunfish, warmouth, and green sunfish. Although rock bass don't rank high on the most-wanted lists of today's anglers, they're a fascinating group of fish and fun to catch.

Green sunfish the fisherman fishing planet baits