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 that exist We're gonna catch some rock bass Yes, there are rock bass and Maine. I've only caught them in one place in the entire state Not in the Anders Koggen 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 can believe that and What it is is is 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 Oh Oh There's a big old rock bass Oh Oh Look at the sun is these rock bass I'm glad you showed up. Yeah, I got a question for you. Can you keep rock bass? Can you keep rock bass? Like small mouth and oh rock bass like the little tiny ones keep as many as you want good. I just started to I got about a million right here. Those are pretty big rock bass. Wow, those are 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, I'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 So this is all I do now pretty much this is actually like 20 feet right here and they're stacked up to about 14 I love that I got a there's traffic fixed in their old school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, their school is like that here though It's unbelievable a crop your rock bass. Oh, well more a crop. Yeah, honestly, I might take it if you don't mind Take some more pictures for the biologist. They know they're in here. Yeah, I think I have this I think I'll let the state record go about an hour ago. Well, these are the biggest ones I've seen I'd want to weigh bigger than most really yeah, I'd like to do that. Well, there isn't a state right there Those that could be the state record really because there's no Let's do it. So let's do it. So it's a creative new category if you want to catch them They grab one of them. Yeah, throw one right down the side. 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 bass I got thinking because hilly pan fish do it. I was like you know, I bet he's never eaten a rock bass Just because I rarely are in Maine This is the only water 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 I have bright red eyes? Yes open water. Yeah, so I I was like I know that's not a croppy. 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 I Got a scale too if you want I wish I kept the two bigger ones with honestly, no, then I got thinking about it I'm like there isn't a state record right now for rock. Oh, man 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 to stay 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 They're wicked. Yeah, even more aggressive than like croppy and stuff like it so I catch them in the closest I've ever seen them to Maine was like champagne. Yep, and there's guys there that actually fish fish I mean they can sell fish there. Yeah, they actually have full commercial markets on she unlike 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 stream. Yeah Like I said, I I just this year caught one out of here So I had never even but those are those are Steven. I don't even know how old those would be those are several years old I got to 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 Like I understand they're thinking that came in from the Hampshire. No, and basically as a state law. I mean Cropy Cropy pipe that's yellow perch white perch white perch There's only a couple ponds estate that have a limit one of them is sabattas and it's a limb of 25 So so but there's people that I've seen fill buckets with you and that was historically I think now with competition from Cropy and just the pressure it gets They won't be guys 25 from out there. I've seen some fit there was a group of ducklings Getting like following their mom and I saw our fish come out And it was like seven or eight of them. I was just watching them and it was just happensteads and At least two of them but if the up to four were gone afterwards So it there was a there's a huge fish in here So and I've bumped them in the spring too when they're kind of like cool enough after spawning In shallow areas and they're just monsters. Yeah, like over 30. Yeah Oh, I just caught a big Might not be a rock You run into the light light braid on that. Yeah, I got it's a big There's a state record. Yeah, like I said, I don't think there is when I love those jigs Those are the best aren't they awesome? Yeah, those are tungsten ones. Oh, yeah, this is tungsten. It shows off really good See is that a little too small? You guys want that out of here? Yeah