good read on these hybrids.. http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2014/mar/ed_3_hybridbass/index.phtml

Great article. Two of my good friends and cohorts did a lot to make these two combinations of hybrid-striped bass available for Texans. Both are gone now, but their legacy remains in our rivers, lakes, reservoirs, public hatcheries, private fisheries, on dinner plates and fishing lines around the world.

The Palmetto Bass is the "Original" cross of female striped bass with male white bass. Others crosses have been tried including with yellow bass. This fish and technique was brought here by TPWD biologist, Ed Bonn, whom I worked with when I was a lot younger in E. Texas. I learned then that the "original" cross is the superior one in most respects. This is still the most sought after of the two crosses by public fishery managers. TPWD Hatchery manager, biologist Rob Schmid, quoted in the above article. closer to my age and a long time friend did a lot to make the AE Wood Hatchery the best it could be in difficult times. He died on the job there, one of the good guys and sorely missed by all. Along with a lot of others, those two guys did as much as anybody for this fish in Texas.

More common in the marketplace is the "reciprocal" cross or "sunshine" bass. Female white bass crossed with male striped bass. This is what you see stocked in most private waters and being raised on farms as a food fish. While this is the lesser of the two crosses for many reasons, it is the more common because of the better availability of ripe white bass females for breeding.

Capturing mature, ripe, female striped bass is very difficult and most of the good "spots" are closed to fishing (except of course to the state). So almost all originals are from public hatcheries with the support of an entire network of biologists and technicians to help acquire breeding stock from public waters.

When it comes to raising the things, right from the getgo the originals are a lot easier. The eggs are bigger, the fry are bigger and they are a lot stronger and able to thrive in the typical hatchery scenario. Still the reciprocals are so much easier to get breeding stock, that is the one raised on almost all commercial farms. The eggs are tiny, the fry can only eat the tiniest of specialized, live grown plankton diets and conditions must be perfect to get them to live and grow to a fingerling.

From that point, a fingerling, both are pretty easy to grow and raise. They readily feed on pellets and grow fast to stocker size.

You may find the reciprocals in private lakes and ponds, on your plate at the local Chinese eatery, and in some public waters. But you will only find the originals in public fisheries open to the public for fishing.

As to telling the apart once grown, I think there may be a difference in their tongues.

One of our home lakes was stocked with both types a few years ago and I can tell a big difference...

See cooler of what I believe to be palmetto hybrids with a sunshine hybrid on top. The sunshine color pattern is more of a greenish blue like a striper with more distinct stripes. The palmetto hybrid color pattern is similar to a white bass and has less distinct stripes and more broken.

What are your thoughts?