Alabama Spotted Bass Are Wreaking Havoc on Southern Fisheries

Richard Simms caught this 6-pound spotted bass in 2015 from Tennessee's Parksville Lake, the lake which is considered "Ground Zero" for the beginning of the Alabama spotted bass invasion in Tennessee. (Photo by Capt. Sam Simons)

Alabama spotted bass (Micropterus henshalli) introduced to new waters — often illegally stocked by well-meaning anglers — are destroying the smallmouth bass fisheries in several states. And most biologists say the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

“I would say that right now it is one of the biggest problems, if not the biggest, facing fisheries in the state,” said Alex McCrickard, Aquatic Education Coordinator for the Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources. “Alabama bass are a major threat to Virginia's smallmouth bass fisheries. Once established, they tend to hybridize with smallmouth, backcrossing to the point where they swamp the genetics. Sadly, we are seeing this introgression already occurring on numerous waterbodies, such as Philpott Lake.

“Through extensive genetic testing, we have confirmed Alabama bass to be present in about 10 waterbodies across the state,” added McCrickard. “In 2021 we added Alabama bass to our ‘Predatory and Undesirable Species’ list. There are no bag or size limits on Alabama bass or spotted bass and live possession (of either) is illegal outside of the body of water where the fish was caught.”

That means Virginia biologists want you to take Alabama spotted bass home and eat them. However, the fish just have to be on ice — not in a livewell — when you leave the lake.

‘BAMA SPOTS IN TENNESSEE

In February, as a result of the Alabama bass infiltration, Tennessee wildlife regulators passed new regulations for three well-known smallmouth hotspots on the Tennessee River. Chickamauga, Nickajack, and Guntersville lakes all have been excellent smallmouth bass fisheries and for many years, were managed for trophy smallmouth. Anglers were only allowed to keep one smallmouth bass per day, and only if was at least 18 inches long.

Fontana Lake in Western North Carolina was once a prime smallmouth bass fishery. But now, as a result of the introduction of Alabama spotted bass, it is rare to catch a pure smallmouth there. (Photo by Richard Simms)

However, effective Aug. 1, 2025, anglers will be allowed, if not encouraged, to keep up to five smallmouth and/or spotted bass per day of any length (except only one smallmouth can be greater than 16 inches long). For years anglers in that area considered it taboo to ever keep any smallmouth bass. And the regulations reinforced that thinking.

But now, instead of encouraging trophy smallmouth, the new creel limits on spotted bass and smallmouth in those areas actually encourage anglers to keep the fish. Whether anglers will actually do it or not remains to be seen.

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Tennessee biologists determined many years ago that anglers apparently transplanted Alabama spotted bass from their native lakes into Parksville Lake in Polk County, Tenn. Either by moving naturally downstream, or by anglers transplanting them further, those Alabama spotted bass have spread throughout the Tennessee River system.

"It's horrible. Anglers opened Pandora's Box," said Jason Henegar, the Chief of Fisheries for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. "If we don't stop the illegal stocking of Alabama bass into other reservoirs, we will lose smallmouth bass in the state of Tennessee. It's coming if we don't give this the attention that it deserves."

NORTH GEORGIA FISHERIES HIT HARD

It has already happened in some North Georgia lakes such as Blue Ridge Lake and Lake Chatuge. John Damer, the Georgia Region 1 Fisheries Biologist, said following the introduction of Alabama spotted bass into those North Georgia lakes, smallmouth bass have been wiped out.

“I would say they are virtually extirpated. There's almost none left,” he said. “If you know what you're doing you might expect to catch one (smallmouth) a day, which is really sad.”

Alex McCrickard, Aquatic Education Coordinator for the Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources, holds an invasive Alabama bass (left) and a native largemouth bass for comparison. These fish were captured during an electrofishing survey on Diascund Reservoir, Virginia in 2021. (Photo courtesy Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources)

Damer said at one point they tried stocking smallmouth to see if they could replenish the population.

“We stocked fingerlings and advanced size fingerlings from 2016 up to about 2023 to see if we could maintain some kind of fishable (smallmouth) population in there and quite frankly, it just didn't work and we stopped stocking them,” said Damer.

NORTH CAROLINA TOO

North Carolina biologists are seeing the same thing. Powell Wheeler, Dist. 9 Fisheries Biologist said smallmouth bass are pretty much a thing of the past in Western North Carolina.

“Pretty much all of them (have disappeared) in all of our reservoirs west of Asheville. Fontana is the big one, but it also happened in Lake Hiwassee and it's happening to a lesser extent on some of the smaller lakes,” said Wheeler.

“It's really sad to be a district biologist and then, over the course of your career, lose a popular native fishery and there is just really nothing that can be done about it. You just have to sit back and watch it change.”

Wheeler said it really hasn’t reduced the number of anglers who visit those reservoirs, however. He said fishermen have simply switched up their fishing methods and target species.

NEW LAWS EVERYWHERE

Sort of like Florida bass, Alabama spots routinely grow much larger than their native northern counterparts. In many cases the Alabama spotted bass were first taken from lakes in middle and South Georgia, which is their native range and placed in lakes where they did not originally occur. From there they spread to other bodies of water, and that spread continues, either naturally or maybe by further artificial transplanting.

The tailwater area downstream from Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee River has become well known for its big smallmouth bass over the years. But now biologists say the genetics are being diluted by the introduction of Alabama spotted bass. They fear pure smallmouth bass could someday actually disappear from these waters. (Photo by Richard Simms)

In an effort to stop that, Tennessee regulators passed a law that makes it illegal for a fisherman to leave Parksville Lake with any black bass (largemouth, smallmouth, spot or hybrid) that is still alive, similar to the Virginia law mentioned previously, although in that state it only applies to spotted bass.

Every biologist says there is only one way to stop or at least slow the progression of the problem to other states or other waters. That is — and they emphasize — don’t move fish, any kind of fish, from one body of water to another.

Of course, to do so is illegal in most states, but enforcement is difficult.

North Carolina regional fisheries supervisor Lawrence Dorsey said regulations help, but in reality, it has to be up to fishermen to police themselves.

“In our state we have about 215 wildlife law enforcement officers and about 30 fisheries biologists,” said Dorsey. “It is a pretty low number to be trying to enforce the law statewide. So really, what it is going to take, is willpower among anglers to not move these fish. They need to police themselves because when you move any species of fish around, in most cases the negative far outweighs the positive.”

Several states, such as Virginia, have initiated significant marketing campaigns to educate anglers on the issue. In Tennessee, Chief Henegar said now that the Alabama spots are out there, they will never be able to get rid of them.

Considering the invasive of Alabama spotted bass as a major threat to fishing in Virginia, the Dept. of Wildlife Resources has gone to great lengths to educate anglers and discourage the moving of this "undesirable species" from one body of water to another. (Image courtesy Viginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources)

"We would like to try and maintain that quality fishery for as long as possible," said Henegar. "(The new regulation) allows for the harvest of those small hybrids and adds a little bit of protection for those quality fish and try to maintain that a little longer."

He added that so far there is no evidence of Alabama spots making it into the world-famous Dale Hollow Lake — the home of the IGFA World Record Smallmouth Bass (11 pounds, 15 ounces).

“We are currently testing across the state,” said Henegar. “We've got a project going with Tennessee Tech University that's looking at the distribution of smallmouth, Alabama bass, and all the hybrids so we can track it moving forward. It's taking a little bit of time to get that up to speed and we're waiting on some results,” he added. “But so far we haven't detected anything in Dale Hollow.”

Henegar can only hope Tennessee smallmouth — the official Tennessee State Game Fish — won’t go the way of smallmouth bass in North Georgia and western North Carolina, now largely non-existent there.

“This is a threat to all smallmouth throughout their native range,” he said.

From Chattanooga, Tenn., Capt. Richard Simms is owner of Scenic City Fishing Charters, Inc. He began his outdoor career as a Tennessee game warden later choosing journalism (and guiding) as his chosen profession. Check out his book, "An Outdoor State of Mind." You can contact him at [email protected].