Re: NANFA-- Sexing the largemouth...

R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Mon, 5 Nov 2001 10:40:53 -0600

Largemouth are pretty tough to sex unless they are actually spawning. One
thing that often works, especially on larger sunfish species, is checking
the urigenital openings. The hole closest to the head is the anus, and is
larger. The hole closer to the tail is where eggs or milt comes out. If this
hole is much noticably smaller its a male. If its nearly as large or as
large as the anus, then its a female. I started to check this when I was a
kid cleaning my catch, and it proved to be almost always correct. Its hard
to do on small fish, but larger ones its pretty reliable. You have to get
them to show you this though, which is tough without netting them and
turning them over. Hope this helps.
Ray

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