 There's a state record What's up guys Joe Holland here back on the ice fishing trail We're gonna shoot a little bit different video today than you've ever seen in the state of Maine We're gonna catch something that you rarely see. There's not many places. They exist. We're gonna catch some rock bass Yes, there are rock bass in Maine I've only caught them in one place in the entire state and that's in the anderskog and river That's where I am today. I've caught them out of state through New York Champlain's got a bunch of them a lot of places have a bunch of them It's kind of looked upon as a little bit of a trash fish, but I'm gonna target them. I've been I've been looking for them for the last maybe hour They're schooled up with with some crappy and I found the mega school of rock bass It's probably the biggest school of rock bass in the entire state if you couldn't believe that and what it is is It's just off of a big sand hump outside of the current where it drops from about eight foot down to 20 You can't tell it's 20 foot deep on the electronics because they are so thick They're up to about 14 13 foot and you can't even see your baits when you get it down there So I'm gonna get set up here. I'm gonna catch a bunch We're gonna bring some home and have a little catch and cook for some friends of mine who like to eat They like to eat bass So I'm gonna get them hooked on rock bass instead There's a bunch of crappy mixed in so I've been switching up baits trying to get down trying to figure out the depth because there's about six foot of this school Hi, I don't know how big around it is. I've drilled holes I got holes about 20 foot around me, and I haven't seen many so we're kind of right on top of them here Crappy mixed in with them are really small Whoa, there's a big old rock bass size. He's rock bass good. How's it going with you? I'm some glad you showed up I'm glad you showed up. Yeah, I got a question for you. Can you keep rock bass? Can you keep rock bass? Good I just started to I Got about a million right here. Those are pretty big rock Wow, those are dude. They're huge. I threw back two bigger. No, I got a camera rolls that cool. You're fine. You're good Yeah, you're good, man. So I've caught one of these before Up further up. Yeah, they've really like up by the the falls. Yeah. Yeah, I caught my first one probably Ten years ago by the falls But look at this. Are you familiar with electronics? So this is all I do now pretty much This is actually like 20 foot deep right here and they're stacked up to about 14 I love that. I got them. There's crappie mix man. They're all small. Yeah Yeah, there's schools like that in here though. It's unbelievable a crappie or rock bass. Oh, whoa, whoa more a crappie I honestly I might take it if you don't mind taking some more pictures for the biologists They know they're in here. Yeah, I think I had this I think I'll let the state record go about an hour ago Well, these are the biggest ones I've seen Like two of them. Well, there isn't a state record. Those that could be the state record really because there's no Let's do it. So they have to create a new category if you want to catch them Yeah, yeah Boy, yeah, those are I know I caught I caught probably Quite a few bigger buddy of mine eats a lot of bass. I don't eat that. I got thinking because he'll eat pan fish too And I was like, you know, I bet he's never eaten a rock bass just because how rare they are in Maine This is the only bottle of water I've ever seen in this. This is the same for me, too Because I caught one this year and I'm like did have bright red eyes. Yes, open water. Yeah. Yeah, so I Was like, I know that's not a crappie. I know it wasn't a sunfish. I'm thinking maybe a hybrid and then I Showed the biologists and you know, there's a rock bass. So I guess their belief is that they came in from They came in from Sure, I got a scale too if you want I wish I kept the two bigger ones but honestly, no that I got thinking about it I'm like, there isn't a state right now for rock bass. Oh, but I'm like as far as keeping them I didn't want to break the law, but I'm like, I'm thinking like there's no way the state would be against Oh, no, no, and I think they if they start going other places, they'll probably be more aggressive about hey These are invasive. They explain that these are more aggressive even then Yeah, even more aggressive than like crappie and stuff They catch them and the closest I've ever seen them to Maine was Lake Champlain Yep, and there's guys there that actually fish fish them and they can sell fish there Yeah, they actually have full commercial markets on like Vermont Champlain that whole area. Yeah They're not worth as much the rock bass, but those are like a little bit big for even that's that's big for For even the Vermont strain. Yeah, like I said, I I just this year caught one out of here So I had never even but those are those are staving. I don't even know how old those would be those are several years old I gotta say they're probably eight or ten years old. Yeah, that's the that's the crazy part about fisheries management is right like Obviously, they've been reproducing for ten years. So they could have been in here for 15 or 20 They're thinking that came in from the Hampshire. No, and basically as a state law, I mean crappie crappie pike that's yellow perch white perch white perch There's only a couple ponds in the state that have a limit one of them is sabbatis and it's a limit of 25 So so but there's people that I've seen fill buckets with and now it's historically I think now with competition from crappie and just the pressure it gets they won't be guys 25 I've seen some fit there was a group of ducklings Like following their mom and I saw a fish come out and it was like seven or eight of them I was just watching them and it was just happenstance and at least two of them But if the up to four were gone afterwards, so There was a there's a huge fish in here So they're gonna be able and I've bumped them in the spring too when they're kind of like cooling off after spawning In shallow areas and they're just monsters. Yeah, like over 30. Yeah There you go You look like a crappie Yeah, that's a rock I just caught a big pickerel She's this might not be a might not be a rock pass. You run into a light light braid on that. Yeah, I got Like I said, I don't think there is one I love those jigs Aren't they awesome? Yeah, those the tungsten ones. Oh, yeah, this is tungsten. It shows up really good too See is that a little too small? You guys wanna matter here, right? Yeah