Name/Relations || Range/Sizes || Habitat & Habits ||  Notes

Note: Big red eye, spotty stripes, larger mouth than most small sunfishes (edge of mouth when closed even with eye center)

Common Name:  Northern Rock Bass
Other Common Names:  Redeye, Rock Bass, perch, sunfish, goggle-eye
Scientific name: Ambloplites rupestris
Family:  Centrarchidae  (Sunfishes)
Related Species:  Green Sunfish, Bluegill, Oragespotted Sunfish, Warmouth, Largemouth Bass

Sizes:  Up to 2lbs (14"), common 4"-8" (1/4lb-3/4lb)

Habitat:  Swift to slow, cool and clear to slightly turbid, streams and rivers with rocks swept by current.  Can be found in some impoundments where it will seek rockpiles and bluffs bordering deep water.

Spawning Habits:  Like other sunfishes:  Male constructs a nest in coarse sand to marble sized gravel in shallow water, beginning when the water hits the high sixties (65+ F) in spring,  then attracts fenales, one at a time, to spawn with him in his nest.  The male then guards the eggs until they hatch and  until the fry loose their yolk sacs.

Feeding Habits:  While it feeds all day, it feeds mostly before dawn and after sunset.  It is a solitary ambush feeder that hides in rocks (hense the name) or structure that is swept by moderate to slow current, then darts out to grab any food item that floats by and then returns to its home.  Diet consists largely of insects, worms, small minnows, and small crustaceans (basically anything lively .5"-3" long).  It is very aggressive during prime feeding times and will attempt to eat items nearly its own size.  It is often caught by anglers seeking smallmouth bass or trout.
 

Notes:  One of my favorite freshwater species, the rock bass eagerly pounces on a variety of ultralight lures with gusto and can be easily located in most clear, cold, and moderately swift, streams  (it reminds me of a mini-grouper).  It will boil on the surface at sunrise and sunset, allowing for fun surface action, and the rock bass fights extremely hard for its size.  Just look for any rocky area (rocks must be big enough for the rock bass to hide under) that borders a deep hole (drops to 6 feet +) and thet is swept by a slow to moderate current.  Next, cast a .5"-3" lure up current from the rocks so that the lure will drift within 1 feet of the rocks, and twitch the lure.  The strike is very quick and sudden, and if you don't quickly stear the bass clear of the strcture it will snag you.  A wooly worm in size 6, poppers in size 4, and nearly any lure that you use for smallmouth or trout on 2lb-4lb test will be effective.  Baits include crickets, crayfish, small minnows (2"), worms, and hellgramites.