Thanks fiskadoro! That was really informative. So it seems like the cross breeds are a pretty common thing, it's weird I've never come across a thread talking about it?

Great pics. I think that first one might be a Calico spotted hybrid, that second one has to be about the best looking sandbass Calico hybrid I've seen. I've seen a lot of them but never one that bright.

You can tell we fish the same areas.

I caught a fish just like the third one off big Kelp Reef. It had almost the exact same coloration as a dark brown Cabazon. Cool stuff!!! Thanks for those pics.

Nice explanation and pictures Fisk, your post should be stickied

Cool! Glad you liked the post. Hopefully next time you get one you'll know what it is.:D

Most people just are not aware of hybrids, and they are more common in some areas the others. Tattuna and I both fish the SMB and they are fairly common catch in the bay. I don't keep Calicos but I will occasionally keep Sand bass for my friends. With me every once in a while I'd get a bass that looked kind of weird and I'd go: Hhhhmmmmm WTF!?!?!?!

Then one day my buddy Larry pulled one up and said: "Hey: Look a hybrid!
After that it all made sense.:D

I'm interested in hearing why you don't keep Calicos but do occasionally keep Sand Bass.

Back when I was primarily doing freshwater bass fishing during spawn casting to the shore and coming back to the boat was best, but I had pretty good results doing like you were talking about. Basically I've has the best Freshwater results with keeping the bait closer to or right in contact with the bottom as it comes back to shore or the boat.

Funny story. Years ago I was fishing a Redondo Baytuber tournament and the bass were just wide open on Hermosa reef. I called in my buddy Robert Young who was on a skiff that was drifting halibut nearby. He kept fishing Halibut just off the reef and we shot the shit while I was catching fish after fish. Usually I don't keep bass at all but it was a tournament and Redondo tourniments were ususlly kind of slow so a loaded up a limit of some pretty big sandies. After a while I hook up something really big and up comes a beautiful 10 pound Calico. Robert gives me this look. Takes out his camera, takes a pic and then says:"So what you going to do?" At that point I released it. I'm not saying that Robert would of kicked my ass but he'd of certainly given me a ton of shit if I kept that fish because those kinds of Calicos, big fish of that size, are pretty slim and far between in Santa Monica Bay, and at that point I already had a stringer of big sandbass anyway.

In SMB the Calico population has historically really been nailed by sportboats. We do not have that much rock or kelp so the areas that hold them are limited and get pounded. I contrast we have a lot of open water and usually get several migrations of large schools of Sandbass a year, so there are always a lot of sandbass around. I used to fish with a guy that loved hammering Calicos back in the 1990s, and we used to just nail them, but the fish got scarce and I just decided not to fish them any more. Most of the hardcore anglers I know up here do not keep Calicos and they almost all release the larger ones, it's just kind of a unwritten rule.

I don't usually target bass. The majority of Sandbass I get are bycatch when fishing halibut. I've got neighbors who love them so when I get one that's hooked bad I'll keep it, or when they are really thick I'll take a few for them, but that's about it.