Syracuse.com - Largemouth bass with black "camouflage" look caught and released on Onondaga Lake

[HuntingNY-News]

Similar incidents of fish with black blotches have been reported on the Pennsylvania section of the Susquehanna River. Officials there have said the condition appears to be a pigmentation thing and that otherwise the fish are healthy.

Submitted photo

Nick Giamei, of Homer, caught and released this interesting-looking, 18-inch largemouth bass with a "camouflage" coloring on Onondaga Lake late last week.

"It looked really healthy," Giamei said, adding he caught it on a jig and pig lure. "It definitely had some unique markings. I caught a couple of others that day with tags, but no others had markings."

He said he's caught bass before that have had black spots or their tails, or on the lip -- "but nothing like guy."

He said he caught the fish on the west side, directly across from the county boat launch in Liverpool.

I shared the photo with local DEC staff this morning and I'm awaiting their response.

Meanwhile, I googled "black spots and bass" and found a story about bass with black blotches on a section of the Pennsylvania part of the Susquehanna River. According to the story, published in The Patriot-News, the condition is commonly known as ‘blotchy bass’ or ‘black spot’ and has been documented occasionally in various Pennsylvania waters since as early as 1980.

While some have speculated the reason by the condition, Pennsylvania fish and wildlife officials say the condition has not been linked to specific pollution events, nor is there any evidence to suggest that blotchy bass condition is related to any disease issues.

The bottom line: the spots are limited to skin discoloration and the fish are safe to consume under the state’s general fish consumption guidelines, the story reported.

Read the full story.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog