Meanmouth Bass again

[Texas_Rig]

I know I’ve brought this topic up before and I’m not sure if we ever figured out the legal regulations on these fish. I fished the Friday night tournament out of Edgar Evans last night. I had a nice 17” meanmouth. I put it in the livewell not exactly knowing the regulations but I’m pretty sure legally you go by the spotted bass regulations. I talked to the gentleman running the tournament before I weighed in and asked what the size limit was. His answer was “it depends on what it looks like”. Huh? He said if it looks like a spot then weigh as a spot and if it looks like a smallmouth then weigh as a smallmouth. Huh? I said it’s a meanmouth it looks like a hybrid of both. He said bring it up here and we’ll look at it. I brought it up to weigh in and everyone agreed it was a meanmouth but it has to be 18”. It had 90% spotted bass characteristics. It was shaped like a spot, felt like a spot, tooth patch, lateral line of a spot. It’s head and back had smallmouth characteristics. I wanted a picture of this fish soo bad but the guy weighing the fish looked at it and threw it back in the water before I could say anything or argue my point. I showed the fish to several people before weighing the fish in and everyone agreed it was a meanmouth. My main question is does anyone on here have any knowledge from TWRA on these fish. I’ve searched the Internet and have found all kinds of contradicting information.

[Texas_Rig]

Btw.This is the 3rd one I’ve seen and they are the most beautiful fish you could imagine

[notorious]

I would argue Tooth Patch as a determinate.

[jaycee]

Too bad no photo. I would really like to see a visual.

[SAMBOLIE]

Did yours have red eyes or brown eyes?

There are two types of mean mouth bass.

[Texas_Rig]

I don’t know what color the eyes were.

[Texas_Rig]

Originally Posted by jaycee

Too bad no photo. I would really like to see a visual.

The best description I can give. This fish had the color of a smallmouth, head of a smallmouth, and the back of a smallmouth. The fish was shaped like a spot(football), felt like a spot(kinda rough), the lateral line of a spot which was green unlike the rest of the body, it had a tooth patch on the toungue, and had the belly of a spot and a smallmouth.

[Texas_Rig]

Looked very similar to this picture except the top and bottom half of the fish was browner and the middle lateral line was greener

[SalmonDaze]

Originally Posted by Texas_Rig

Looked very similar to this picture except the top and bottom half of the fish was browner and the middle lateral line was greener

Looks like a vanilla square back. Not many spots.