The pattern of blotches and stripes is much busier than that of a Stripped Bass, Redeye Bass or even Spotted Bass.

Shoal bass are olive green to black along the back or top of the fish. A dusky dark blotch occurs on the back edge of the gill cover and is similar in size to that of the eye, but a bit smaller.

The head of the Shoal Bass is recognized by three diagonally downward looking black lines radiating along the side of the head. There are 10-15 vertical blotches along the sides with tiger-stripes often appearing in between.

The Shoal Bass’s belly has a soft white colour much like the largemouth bass with wavy lines appearing slightly above the white belly on the sides. The Shoal Bass has larger scales than that of the redeye bass.

The dorsal, caudal and anal fins are dark olive green to greyish black along the top of the fish. Pelvic fins may have a cream coloured leading edge with dark spots.

The shoal bass has scales on the base portion of the soft-rayed dorsal fins, clearly connected first and second dorsal fins, and an upper jaw bone that does not extend beyond the eyes.

The pattern of blotches and stripes is much busier than that of a Stripped Bass, Redeye Bass or even Spotted Bass. The best way to describe a Shoal Bass is a loud version of the spotted Bass with longer and thicker lines broken up with stalky and shorter blotches.

While similar in appearance to that of the Redeye Bass, the Shoal Bass grows much larger than the Redeye Bass. The Shoal Bass world record is eight-pounds, 12-ounces, which was caught in 1995 in the Apalachicola River in Florida. Old record books will note that this fish was actually a Redeye Bass, but is now classified as a Shoal Bass.

In contrast, the largest redeye bass caught on record is around five pounds, though some mistakenly have it higher due to the miss classification of the Shoal Bass.

12 to 18 in/305 to 460 mm. Currently Alabama has a no harvest regulation for shoal bass. The Alabama state angling record (6 lb 11 oz) was caught from Halawakee Creek on February 25, 1996. The previous state angling record (6 lb, 8 oz) was caught in Halawakee Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River, in 1993.