Battling Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris): North America's Tenacious, Tough, Traveling Freshwater Fish

Leaping from rock to rock and skipping rocks across watery surfaces are activities which fill just about any childhood experience with creeks, rivers and streams. The first pastime can involve the excitement of slight danger depending upon the depth of the water, the distance between the rocks, and the speed of the current. The second pastime may seem more of a peaceful and safe but nevertheless challenging and mesmerizing way to spend quiet times at deserted beaches or on stream banks.

Perhaps it is such a nostalgic context that prompts some of us to try to perfect what really comes down to rock fishing. Specifically, that is exactly what anglers and fishers essentially end up doing when they attempt to track and trap the rock bass. It indeed will come down to trying to catch the rock bass as it scoots and skips from rock to rock on the bottoms of an angler’s or fisher’s favorite fishing hole.

What the common name of the rock bass is: Rock bass is the common name by which people in their daily routines refer to the rock bass. But it is not the only such designation. Depending upon the locale, the name may be replaced or supplemented by any of the following alternative common names:

· Goggle-eye, goggle-eyed bass;

· Northern rock bass;

· Red eye, redeye bass, red-eyed bass;

· Rock perch.

What the scientific name of the rock bass is: Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (October 22, 1783-September 18, 1840) is the gentleman who gave the rock bass its scientific name. Constantine was born in the Turkish city of Constantinople to a father of French descent and a mother of German descent. But as a multilingual and studious youth, he was a resident of his father’s hometown of Marseilles.

Because of the extended travels of his merchant father, Constantine was drawn to self-instruction as a way of alleviating the predictable routines of his somewhat solitary life with his younger brother in their grandmother’s house. Early on, he also was inspired to build an extensive plant collection. But he never was motivated to structure his learning through attendance at any educational institution, including the University.

Constantine made two moves to the United States of America, with the second lasting until his death. Between 1802 and 1805, he sailed to the eastern coast of North America. He stopped in Philadelphia, from which point he traveled throughout Pennsylvania and into Delaware. His purpose was twofold: add specimens to his collection and meet with botanists.

In 1815, Constantine arrived as a wealthy retired trader and self-trained natural historian in New York City. Once in New York, he became a founding member of the Lyceum of Natural History. He began rebuilding his extensive plant collection which had been lost off the coast of Connecticut just after the ship’s successful crossing of the choppy Atlantic Ocean. Two years later, in 1817, he published Florula ludoviciana; or, A flora of the state of Louisiana.

In the same year, Constantine made the first official description of the rock bass. His description of the rock bass was based upon specimens from area lakes in southeastern Canada as well as in the states of New York and Vermont. It was motivated by his growing interest in the animals of his new homeland.

Constantine chose as the rock bass’ scientific name Bodianus (Portuguese: pudor, “modesty”) + rupestris (Latin: “living among rocks”). But he was self-taught and stubborn in his choices for scientific designations which often did not survive him. Such was the case with the rock bass, whose scientific name ultimately was transformed into Ambloplites (Latin: “blunt armature”) + rupestris.

What the rock bass calls home: The rock bass is native to the following waters in Canada and the United States of America:

· Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River-southern Hudson Bay basins;

· Middle and upper Mississippi River basin northwestward from Québec to Saskatchewan and southward into Missouri and Arkansas;

· Missouri and Tennessee River basins;

· Water bodies from New York southward into Kentucky and Tennessee and through northern Alabama and Georgia all the way into southern Florida.

In Virginia, the rock bass is native to the Big Sandy and Tennessee drainages. But nowadays it may be found as an introduced fish in the water bodies of the New River and Atlantic Ocean drainages. The popularity of the introductions reflects the rock bass’ growing reputation as a gamey and sporty if not culinary and gustatory fish.

Within its native and introduced ranges, the rock bass will tolerate the following living conditions in its watery habitats:

· Clear, rocky, vegetated margins of lakes and streams as well as of pools in creeks and streams;

· Cooler waters in the north, warmer waters in the south;

· Cover of submerged objects such as boulders, rocks and tree roots;

· pH levels in the neutral range of 7.0;

· Silt-free water bottoms;

· Slow-flowing to stagnant waters in backwaters, canals and ponds;

· Water temperatures ranging between 50 and 84.2 °F (10 and 29 °C).

The rock bass can be intolerant of the following conditions:

· Siltation;

· Stained or turbid waters;

· Swiftly flowing currents and waters.

What the rock bass look is: The color-changing rock bass can be identified by the following physical traits:

Head:

Cheeks with large scales;

Dark brown to olive;

Eyes typically large, fully or partially orange or red, under each of which one dark teardrop;

Gill cover with dark smudging at the upper rear corner;

Lower jaw slightly protruding;

Mouth large;

Body:

Back and sides light silver to dark olive or golden brown with olive brown or olive black peppering which darkens or lightens according to the predominant ambient colors and which tends to form into regular horizontal patterns;

Belly silvery white with olive black peppering;

Lateral line running from the gill covers to the base of the tail and serving as a sensory organ for detecting movement, pressure changes, and vibrations;

Mature body length of 6 to 10 inches (15.24 to 25.4 centimeters), with a known maximum of 17 inches (43 centimeters);

Mature body weight of 1 to 2 pounds (0.45 to 0.90 kilograms), with a known maximum of 3 pounds 5 ounces (1.5 kilograms);

Nape pale olive to olive brown;

Stocky;

Tail fin straight-edged;

Vertebrae count, 29 to 32;

Fins, rays, spines:

5 anal fins dark-edged with 10 to 11 soft rays and 5 to 6 spines;

Caudal (Latin: caudālis, “of or relating to the tail of an animal”) fin with black margin;

Dorsal (Latin: dorsālis, “of or relating to the back”) fin with 10 to 12 soft rays and 10 to 12 spines;

Pectoral (Latin: pectorālis, “of or relating to the breast”) fin rounded, pale yellow to olive, with 12 to 15 rays;

Pelvic fin pale yellow to olive.

What the rock bass eats: The young rock bass eats insects, invertebrates, and microcrustaceans. The juvenile additionally feeds on crayfish. The adult rock bass is considered a carnivore (Latin: caro, “flesh” + -vore, “eater”) and a piscivore (Latin: piscis, “fish” + -vore, “eater”). It preys upon aquatic mites; crustaceans such as crayfish; insects, such as caddisflies; larvae of such aquatic insects as mayflies, midges and stoneflies; smaller fishes such as minnows; and snails.

What eats the rock bass: Fish and people are the main predators of the rock bass. In terms of fish, the bowfin (Amia calva) preys upon the juvenile and adult rock bass. In terms of people, anglers and fishers pursue the adult rock bass.

When the rock bass spawns: The rock bass breeds between mid-spring and mid-summer. The spawning season therefore can begin as early as April and last as late as July. It depends for its initiation a water temperature range of 60.08 to 78.8 °F (15.6 to 26 °C).

The male builds a bowl-shaped nest for the clear, pale yellow or whitish eggs, each of which measures about 0.079 to 0.083 inches (2.0 to 2.1 millimeters) in diameter. He constructs the nest near large rocks or submerged timber on gravelly or sandy bottoms along shallow shorelines.

The nest appears like a bowl-shaped depression. It is constructed by the fanning motions of the male’s anal and pectoral fins. It measures about 1.9 times the size of its male builder. It tends to be located in water 1.64 to 2.46 feet (1/2 to ¾ meter) deep.

The sticky rock bass egg develops properly through the male fanning its pectoral fins over it, for proper aeration. The male guards the nest through hatching of the fry and their independent feeding. The female leaves for deeper waters immediately after producing as many as 2,000 to 11,000 eggs. The eggs will hatch in 3 to 5 days. The fry will leave as independent young rock bass 9 to 18 days after hatching.

The rock bass becomes sexually mature at 2 to 3 years. It may live as long as a known maximum of 18 years. It will spend its entire life moving about in schools with other juvenile and adult rock basses.

What the use of the rock bass is: In terms of cuisine, the rock bass particularly cooperates with being served as baked, boiled, broiled, fried and smoked dishes. But it tends not to figure high on fish-eater lists of favorite fish to incorporate into events and recipes. In contrast, it will figure high on angler and fisher lists of favorite fish to pursue and catch.

In terms of fishing, the rock bass can be an intimidating challenge to track and to trap. But the following sparse guidelines may be of service in organizing angling and fishing activities in pursuit of the battling, fighting, wrestling rock bass:

Times:

Spawning season;

Year-round, especially spring to early summer and early to mid-fall;

Places:

Shallow waters offering the cover of submerged objects;

Shorelines during spawning season;

Methods:

Bass-type artificial baits and lures, such as jigs, spinners and spoons;

Drift fishing;

Light fly rods and spinning tackles;

Live bait, such as minnows, night crawlers and worms;

What the future holds for the rock bass: The rock bass has the admiration, respect and support of anglers and fishers if not of environmentalists and fish-eaters. Fish-eaters have the cultural power of not being pleased when angling and fishing acquaintances bring the rock bass home to eat. They have the economic power of not buying fresh, frozen or smoked rock bass.

In contrast, environmentalists thus far do not have equally effective or enduring power to exert. One reason lies in the fact that anglers and fishers really, really like the exciting adventure which the pursuit of the tenacious, tough, traveling rock bass offers to all comers. Biologists Richard E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead indeed offer the following insightful conclusions in regard to the rock bass in Virginia:

“…the introduction of this competitive, prolific sunfish apparently contributed to the demise of the Roanoke bass in the upper Roanoke drainage. Rock bass caused the decline of the much-valued brook trout fishery in Laurel Bed Lake. The lake was then drained to remove rock bass, only to have well-intentioned anglers restock them.” (p. 703)

My special thanks to fine artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the Internet; as well as to Stessily for original artwork included below.

My special thanks to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Department of Agriculture for the professionalism which is evinced in the high-caliber data and images which they make available in print and on the internet.

My special thanks also to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for the high caliber of their online resources.

Gooch, Bob. Virginia Fishing Guide. Revised Edition. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992.

Gross, Mart R. and William A. Nowell. The Reproductive Biology of Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris (Centrarchidae), in Lake Opinicon, Ontario. Copeia, Vol, 1980, No. 3 (Sep. 6, 1980), pp. 482-494. Published by American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1444526 (Last accessed november 23, 2011)

Harris, William C. The Fishes of North America That Are Captured on Hook and Line. With Eighty Colored Plates Made from Oil Portraits of Living Fishes Before Their Color Tints Had Faded. Volume I. New York: The Fishes of North America Publishing Co., MDCCCXCVIII (1898).

Hart, David. Flyfisher’s Guide to Virginia Including West Virginia’s Best Fly Fishing Waters. Belgrade, MT: Wilderness Adventures Press, Inc., 2006.

Hassan-Williams, Carla and Timothy H. Bonner. “Ambloplites rupestris rock bass.” Texas Freshwater Fishes: Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Biology. http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~tbonner/txfishes/ambloplites rupestris.htm (Last accessed November 23, 2011)

Jenkins, Robert E. and Noel M. Burkhead. Freshwater Fishes of Virginia. Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society, 1994.

“Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris.” EFISH: The Virtual Aquarium of The Department of Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences of Virginia Tech. http://cnre.vt.edu/efish/families/rockbass.html (Last accessed November 23, 2011)

“Rock Bass Ambloplites rupestris.” Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (PFBC) Gallery of Pennsylvania Fishes Chapter 22: Sunfishes, Family Centrarchidae. http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chap22.htm (Last accessed November 23, 2011)

Rohde, Fred C., Rudolf G. Arndt, David G. Lindquist, and James F. Parnell. Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994.

Copyright Wednesday, November 23, 2011 by Derdriu