Largemouths are not the only black bass that call Lake Jocassee home. The smallmouth, redeye and spotted bass that live in the lake frequently grow to phenomenal sizes. In fact, the only state record among those four species that wasn’t caught at Jocassee is the largemouth.
‘We’ve got some good redeye, smallmouth and spotted bass that swim in here too,” said guide and TV show host Monty McGuffin. “Each fish has its subtle differences in how they relate to the lake. The smallmouth is probably the most unique. There’s a few guys who have figured the smallies out, but most anglers catch smallmouth by accident, fishing for largemouth.
“You can target smallmouth up against the rocks using small jigs; the float-and-fly pattern using a cork to suspend a jig right off the rocks, that sometimes works real well up here.”
Biologists are at odds over how to manage the interaction between the native redeye bass that are home to Jocassee and the spotted bass that have found their way in from other lakes. Spotted bass interbreed with the redeyes and even some of the native shoal bass in the lake, causing a hybridized species that is threatening to wipe out pure strains of both the redeye and shoal bass.
“You’d have a hard time telling some of these fish apart; they’ve all mixed in together,” McGuffin said . “Some will have the markings of a redeye, but then you look closer, and it’s really a spotted bass, and then the mouths of both of those fish are generally smaller, so a lot of people mistake them for a smallmouth.”
Lake Jocassee’s state-record bass
Species Weight Date Angler Hometown
Spotted Bass 8-5 2001 David Preston Tryon, N.C.
Smallmouth Bass 9-7 2001 Terry Dodson Rosman, N.C.
Redeye Bass 5-2 1/2 2001 Randy Dickson Westminster, S.C.
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