Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Well yes, sure I'm concerned about the future of this lake, but come on....... If their is a guy out there somewhere, who doesn't already know that Pardee produces big Smallies, he must be living under a rock on the far end of the lake..... and a guy like that is certainly not going to hurt things much more. It reminds me of > "I caught this big Largemouth on the Hud.... But shhhhh... it's a secret" ! LOL, Okay buddy

8.5 lbs, weighed on my Berkeley digital first, then on my certfied digital Salter at 8.50, to confirm.




Stoked !

Fish

Beautiful fish, congratulations Chris!

what a beauty, congrats on your catch!

WOW...... beatiful fish Chris.....that girl is a Pig....... Congrats !!!

Mike

And I do mean the FISH!!

Congrats Chris!

a mule?

Wow... man that is a incredible fish. That fish has incredible color and patterns... Congrats Chris. Beautiful fish and great pictures too.

Amazing fish chris!!! She sure is a fat one!!!

Wooch,

what makes it a mule? I know there has been alot of talk about spot/smallie cross lately...but how can one truely tell....is it just by opinion....

A mule is a cross between a spot and a smallmouth. are there spots in Pardee? Looks like a smallmouth to me.

them beady red eyes and every other feature on it look like a smallmouth to me but im no fish expert....

Wow Chris what a wonderful SMALLMOUTH! Congrats on such a true trophy fish.

As you know some guys come in and try to take away from ones accomplishments.... citing "Mule" I personally think you look nothing like a Mule and that your smile says it all !!! Congrats!

i am still amazed every time i look at that fish. it is a BEAST not a mule!

That fish is incredible! Looks like it swallowed a balloon and displaced it perportionatly about its body.

Wooch, you have to steal everybodys thunder dont you definatley a SMALLMOUTH and a PIG at that nice fish!!!!!!!!!!!!


cleb

C'mon Wooch, anyone who knows anything about mules, knows that they rarely git over 3.5 pounds, and rumor has it, they are sterile. Still wondering what makes me laugh? HAR ! HAR! HAR!


Very nice fish Chris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!! thats a hog, Way to go!!!!!

Nice fish for sure Chris

Damn thing looks like it swallowed a football

WOW!! very nice Chris! congrats bro!

looking at the belly on that thing makes me want another beer!! lol
good job bud!

Great Fish Chris!

Nice fish! Great looking pics

http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/fw/fishpic ... 20bass.jpg

Its amazing how much the body looks like a LM, yet the head is absolutely a SM. I've never seen a smallie with such a dominant lateral line but that head is clearly smallie. I wonder if smalllies and largemouth cross breed like smallies and spots do.

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/out ... yes-2m.jpg

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/out ... -hayes.jpg

There's a picture of the world record smallie and it actually looks a lot like your fish. That angler looks a lot like you too! Is that your granddad? LOL!

Great fish Chris! Thanks for sharing.

.....NaCl

That is a fat fish there!! All I can say is congrats .

Good job once again Chris..You are the true hawg hunter and never you continue to amaze me..Crosses do get eggs Cooch..The jackasses at Melones are shaped just like that fish in the spring..

The pic is awsome, Who ever takes your pics does a really good job.

Do you have any pics of that hog you caught outta Rancho. Its been a while since i've seen it, I'd love to see it again.

W O W ! is all I can say!

G-man,
The rancho seco fish photos are on his website. trophybassonly.com

Chris -

That is awesome, I do not care what kind of fish it is!

The natural hybridizaiton between LM and SM is rare due mostly to substantial differences in their habitat and seasonal preferences. But, they DO occur. Most reported instances are in Texas lakes and LM SM hybridization in laboratories have proven that viable hybrids are possible. Here are some interesting links below.

In a small lake like Amador with its dominant LM population, any smallie that washed in from Pardee (or was planted by some bonehead angler) would have to spawn with a largemouth. The offspring would be viable and, if it survived to adulthood, could easily explain the marking on Fish Chris' beautiful fish.

Here are a few of the links:

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0045-8 ... 0.CO%3B2-S

http://www.fishin.com/articles/meanmouth.htm

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0045-8 ... 2.0.CO;2-M

http://www.uta.edu/ra/real/editprofile. ... onlyview=1

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactShee ... ciesID=396

I also contacted the Biology Department at the University of Texas where Dr. Hellier researched bass hybridization. Waiting to hear from them.

.....NaCl

Great job Chris. That fish is ginormous. I'd take that over a 10 lb largemouth any day. Your still the shiznit

I can't imagine the fight in a smallie that big must have been one hell of a ride!

question is did it fight better than the teeners you've been catchin'

Beautiful fish Chris.

Hey can i barrow that pig for my Oroville tourney coming up? Nobody will notice right?

Great looking girl tough man!

Absolutely gorgeous fish, regardless of exactly what it is. And yes, even though hybridization may produce non-viable gametes (sex cells), the female will still produce eggs and the male sperm, they just can't fertilize due to what is known as a triploid meiosis condition (occurs if the genome numbers of the parent fish don't match correctly, a la donkey and horse). But based on what we've seen lately, my guess is hybrid as well. If you have a chance, take a good look at the record smallie caught last year in February by comparison (sorry, I don't have the pic), and I think you'll see a distinct difference. JMHO...

RR [/img]

NaCl, Pardee flows in to Hogan, not Amador, then on to the Belota Weir.

THAT IS AN AWESOME FISH!

Pardee flows into Camanche..There is also water pumped into Amador via a pipe that enters at that back of the Carson arm..

Much thanks to all of you Needless to say, this one might take a few days to wear off..... but you can bet I'll be recharged and ready to go at it full steam ahead by Monday

Oh and about the whole "hybrid" issue;
I'm really curious about this myself. Most of us have seen and / or caught, some of these weird "intermediate looking" bass, at one place or another.

But several things come to mind. First, taken from one of the articles that NaCl posted the link to (thank you Dean) > An “oddâ€

Ooops, I knew that but types Hogan.

Mokelume River = Pardee and Camanche

Calaveras River = Hogan and Belota Weir

Not too smart today; brain on vacation! Actually all those big fish just blew my mind!!

Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:51 am Re: Whooooo Hooooo !!!!!
Sorry to disallusion you dude, but that's not a smallie, it is a mule. Besides that when I fished that lake every weekend in the early eightees, I caught a true smallie bigger than that. You guys seem like you can't keep secret. Not to mention my blacks.
_________________
"Everyone smiles in the same language"

wooch wrote: Nice fish anyway Chris, I know it gave you a tussle with your muscles. Most people never get um to the boat because their drag was set too tight or bad line or not keeping the right rod pressure.
Commanche lake has a lot of cross-breeds (largemouth/smallies) and Pardee has some also. To find out the fish you have , you have to first, see the visible difference and then count the scales from the pectoral fin to the anal fin. There is where you will find your MULE. The smallie that I caught in there was a true smallie, but yours is definetly something to share, thanks for your photo. Keep stroking them. I don't go there any more because I concentrate my efforts on Folsom and the Delta. If you wish I can email you some GPS coordinates of the waypoints I have. I know every nook and crannie in that lake.

They had gps coordinates and waypoints in the early 80' ??.. I remember that.......... always wished I had one!

Wow Chris !! -- That is truly an incredible trophy !!!



Are you gona have a mount made of it?


Congrats again !!

Fish Chris wrote:{what happens in Pardee, stays in Pardee :-}

That one got a big chuckle out of me... LOL

Fanastic fish there Chris... congrats!

Hopefully this will work... I'm a total novice at the picture thing. Here's a pick I found of the Pardee record smallie from last year vs. Fish Chris' awesome beast...

Feb. 2006 record smallie:



Fish Chris' beast:



Besides the obviously distinct lateral line on Chris' fish, look at the difference in the size of the anal fin. The dorsal fin is also very clearly represented on the 2006 fish, but lays flat on Chris' fish, very much like a big largemouth (and Chris, did you notice whether or not the two fins were connected?). While the two monsters are similar in many ways, they are quite different as well. Fascinating!

RR

Hopefully this will work... I'm a total novice at the picture thing. Here's a pick I found of the Pardee record smallie from last year vs. Fish Chris' awesome beast...

Feb. 2006 record smallie:



Fish Chris' beast:



Besides the obviously distinct lateral line on Chris' fish, look at the difference in the size of the anal fin. The dorsal fin is also very clearly represented on the 2006 fish, but lays flat on Chris' fish, very much like a big largemouth (and Chris, did you notice whether or not the two fins were connected?). While the two monsters are similar in many ways, they are quite different as well. Fascinating!

RR

Whoops! Sorry about the double...

RR

another interesting comparison....





look the same to me

either way, both amazing fish!!!

I have to agree. Those markings look identical. If it's not the same fish, it just found it's twin. Let's hear it for catch and release.

They may not be the same fish, but ......It sure looks as though they are..

mac

They are close, but the tail fin on Chris's seems different a bit shorter, not quite as long as the others.