'1 fish in a million': Man lands rare 'golden' largemouth bass

A man caught a rare, gold-coloured largemouth bass, which biologists said is “one fish in a million.”

Josh Rogers was fishing at Beaver Lake in the US state of Arkansas when he landed a golden-hued largemouth bass.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologist Jon Stein said that it was “one fish in a million”. He said the gold-coloured largemouth bass was a genetic anomaly.

“The unusual bass has what is known as Xanthochromism, which is the loss of darker pigment with the pigmentation replaced with yellow. This is very rare and does occur naturally,” Stein explained.

Rogers said he had two thoughs when he caught it. “The midlake area on down is uncharacteristically muddy now, and I know that bass get light-coloured when they are in the mud. But when I looked at the mouth and gills, I wondered if he was sick. My buddy I was fishing with said, ‘Surely it’s not something he’s eating that would turn him that colour,’” he told a local wildlife magazine.

“I didn’t think anything about it for an hour and a half of fishing. Then I started sending pictures to friends and putting it on Instagram and Facebook, and from the reaction of everybody, I started thinking, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown it back.’ I was surprised it caused such a reaction from people.”

Rogers said, “I’d never heard of one like this before seeing one.” The fish was 16 inches long and, post-spawn, would run about 2 pounds, he detailed.