The Spotted Bass Invasion
*****see bottom of this article for my Youtube videos on Spotted Bass *******
I have caught Spotted bass in Several NC rivers for years. Mainly the Cape Fear river system where the NCWRC stocked Kentucky Spotted bass from 1977 to 1981. They stocked 310,000~ in Advents Creek, Parkers Creek, and the Upper and lower Little Rivers. These stockings were made due to some creel surveys made in the late 60's where they found that these streams lacked a high level sportfish.
These fish stocked in these 4 tributaries of the Cape Fear river eventually made their way to the Cape fear and populated it. I started fishing the Cape fear around 1990 or so and my catch of Black bass was 90 percent Largemouth and 10 percent spots. 10 years later and this had reversed!!! 90 percent spotted bass to 10 percent Spotted Bass. They had taken over!!!
Cape Fear Kentucky Spotted Bass
Yadkin Spotted Bass
Then the Catawba System got Alabama Spotted Bass(now known as the Alabama Bass) and they have taken over there as well.
I think the next system to get then was the Roanoke river system as Belews Lake has them and the Dan and Staunton Rivers have a few. Where they have really taken off is downstream on Lake Gaston . Now, I don't fish Lakes much as I am a river fisherman and maybe 3 or 4 years ago I caught my first Spotted Bass in the Roanoke near Weldon . This was a slight shock to me but I guess it was expected sometime.
This is the first Spotted Bass I caught in the Roanoke a few years Back 2020 or so.
Fast forward to this year(2021) and I caught a 4 lb Alabama Bass in the Tar river. A river I fish a lot and had never caught one there before. Then on a later trip caught several in the 3 lb range and mentioned this on the Face Book page called the THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY BLACK BASS CONVERSATION COMMITTEE seen here at The American Fisheries Society Black Bass Conversation Committee This page is run by some Biologists and Fisheries Scientist and I know one of them named Steve Sammons. They are dedicated to trying to preserve genetic stocks of bass as spotted bass are being relocated to waters where they are taking over and hybridizing with Shoal Bass in the Flint/Chattahoochee drainage and Smallmouth bass in others wiping them out and outcompeting and hybridizing with Largemouths. They are also hybridizing with others. When he saw my post about Spotted bass in a new water he contacted me as he had already contacted the NCWRC and they wanted to find out where this new water was. Steve gave them my contact info and Kurt Rundle a Biologist with the NCWRC called me and asked where I caught them. I informed him on the location and he confirmed that these were the first reported from that area. The NCWRC has done shocking every year including this year in this area and these are/were the first.
The first one which is a BIG Spot probably going 4 lbs. .
So, what's the Big deal with Spotted bass in a New location? As mentioned, they are invasive and hybridize with other Black Basses and can wipe them out in some instances. Most rivers where they are non native they have outcompeted the other Native Basses and taken over. Lake Chatuge is one example in NC where they have wiped out the Smallmouth bass.
Maps courtesy of USGS.GOV showing the spread on Alabama Bass.
Here is an Alabama bass I caught on 082022 in Downtown Columbus Ga. These are not native to the Chatahoochee River .
