[AndroDoug]

I do not fish the Portage Lakes that often, but hit them a few times a year with a friend of mine who has a nice 25HP BassTracker. The lakes are the most convenient for us to hit.

Last year I caught a nice size LM in Turkey foot that had HUGE growths on it's lips. It was disgusting. It looked like cauliflower ear. I didn't want to lip him! He was thin, but at least 17 inches. I think whatever had invaded him was affecting his survival. That was the first time I had seen something that grotesque on a fish, I just blew it off as a one time thing.

Today (Monday) we hit Turkeyfoot and East Res, and caught 3 big LM with significant problems. One had these red nodules the size of peanuts all over the back of his tail, and another had swollen growths on his lips like the one the year before. I also caught a super-nice 4 pounder that was the UGLIEST bass I have ever seen. His lips were pitch BLACK, his fins were blackened, and had black blotches all over his body. This was some kind of disgusting fungus. He was otherwise perfectly healthy and fought as strong or stronger than any bass I have ever caught. It was a blast to try to get him in.

Is there something going on at these lakes? Or are these common, natural maladies that occur to bass everywhere, and I just haven't come across before??

I can't stress enough, these fish, although nice 2-3-4 pounders, where the most DISGUSTING looking fish I have ever seen. I wish I had my camera to show you these guys.

 

[TheKing]

My guess is that you need to take one to the wildlife district office and let them take a look. Not to eat until somebody figures it out. I don't blame you a bit for not wanting to come in contact with it. There are some othere here that fish this lake and they might know what it is.

 

[fishingful]

i catch a few out their ever year i call them big head bass the head of a 3 or 4 lb bass with a body of a 1 lb some have sores some do not and some have the tips of the tails chewed up and red nasty looking tips of their fins as for the black spots i have caught bass out their as well as other lakes with the black spots on it but they dont have sores on them just a different coloration on them and they are healthy i fish out their from sept to feb..........jim

 

[Big Daddy]

I'd call Phil Hillman, ODNR fisheries biologist for the answer to that. If there's that big a problem, I'm sure they'd like to know.

 

[ARGEE]

with portage lks.surrounded by thousands of houses its hard to tell what all is in those waters.

 

[Zanini]

I was at Mogadore last night and caught a few bass with black blotches around the mouth area. I didn't think anything of it. I hope this is not related to a problem that could damage our local fisheries.

 

[HAIRJIG]

Could the black blotches in the mouth be something like a bruise from a fish that was caught and released?
Sounds like something else is going on too. Wonder how much weed killer and fertilizer is washed in from residents lawns?

 

[Big Daddy]

I have a meeting Friday with ODNR at the Dist. 3 offices. I'll bring it up. Are there any other questions you guys would like me to ask? Be nice!!! LOL.

Carl

 

[AndroDoug]

I will be interested to hear what they have to say. I am sure with the many tourneys they have there, bass get brought to the scales with these maladies. I am not the only one to have caught them.

I have heard stories where LM have darker colorations, but this bass with the black on it seemed like a fungus to me. To be more precise, the center HALF of both lips were black, the edges normal. All fins were black. And there were rounded areas of black on his flanks, some overlapping. One flank had more blotches than the other. Real weird looking fish. My buddy and I were joking that "was the ugliest bass we have seen"! But he was big and strong and very lively.

 

[johnboy111711]

I caught some bass at pymy last week with the black blotches. I always figured they were just a genetic variance as i have seen it at other places and at all times of the year. I haven't seen any fish floating anywhere, so thats a good sign.

 

[ncraft150]

I fish Portage all the time and have never seen any problems. If the bass are shallow they will be darker and if they are deeper they will be lighter. All the bass I caught Sunday afternoon were dark, healthy, and I noticed nothing. I caught them all shallow. I'll be in two tournys in August out there. I will pay close attention at weigh-in.

 

[AndroDoug]

Just so you know JohnBoy, 99% of the time a fish dies, it sinks. It is then eaten by the scavengers. When you see a fish floating, it is usually a rotted carcass or it died somewhere other than in the water and got bloated and then returned to the water.

What is the life expectancy of a bass? 7-9 years or something? How many bass are in mogadore? 2-3 million? If fish floated when they died, the surface of mogadore would be awash in hundreds of dead bass daily! Not to mention the thousands of panfish daily that would be floating along side of them!

Of course I am exagerrating, just having a little fun! But dead fish usually sink.

But back to Portage, some other people have HAD to have seen this in bass caught there. This was only my second time out there this year. There are guys who fish it nearly daily. I can't be the only one who has caught a fish with a problem, let alone 3 (my fishing partner got the one with the red nodules on the tail). The nodule fish and the "cauliflower lip" fish may be infections caused by injuries from catching and handling. But if the black bass was a color variation, wow, what an ugly variation!

 

[AndroDoug]

NCraft, this bass was caught in a shallow inlet just south of the Old State Park parking lot. It was the channel just past that little building in the south corner of the lot. It was caught just off some pads on the right side going in, about half way down the inlet. Maybe 4 ft of water. It went about 3.5 to 4 lbs.

 

[ncraft150]

I caught four fish in that area alone Sunday. They were all real black in color. I did not notice anything. I will keep my eyes and ears open though. Looking forward to what information Big Daddy gets.

 

[johnboy111711]

andro:no pics! thanks for the information on the sinking fish, i kinda had that one figured out though, my comment was more of a sarcastic comment. As for the bass with the growths on their lips, it's a possibility that they became disformed while rooting for crawfish in rocks. Alot of the fish i catch in rivers have their lips and parts of thier fins rubbed raw. But all were of a healthy weight, unlike yours.

 

[fishingful]

when i have seen the black lips and black spots on the body they have been just coloration nothing unhealthy about the bass at all no rotting lips or sores...jim

 

[ARGEE]

Maybe Those Fish Were In Las Vegas..now You Know How Bass Got Its Name. :d