Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Most Georgia anglers are fortunate enough to have at least one species of hard-fighting line-sided bass in their local waters. Should one or more of these species happen to be high on your list, though, northwest Georgia is without question the place to be. For consistent action for hybrid, striped or white bass, the Coosa River system is second to none. Let's take a yearlong tour of the Coosa watershed and the fishing it offers.

Before any trip, it helps to know the route. The Coosa leaves the state west of Rome where it flows through Weiss Lake and eventually into the Alabama River. The Coosa's large watershed in Georgia includes the Oostanaula, Conasauga, Coosawattee, and Etowah rivers. Major impoundments in the Coosa's Peach State drainage are Carters Lake on the Coosawattee River and Allatoona Lake on the Etowah River.

The Coosa system has excellent fishing for striped bass, white bass and hybrids. All three species are migratory, so the action can't be good at all places at all times. However, learn the habits of these species and good fishing is available nearly any month of the year.

Now that we know the route that our journey will follow, we need to learn something about what we hope to find. White, striped, hybrid, and yellow bass are all members of the family Moronidæ, which comprises the temperate basses or "true" basses. Black bass, such as largemouths and spots, are actually members of the family Centrarchidæ -- sunfishes.

Since all of the true bass species are close cousins, telling them apart can get tricky, especially when they're small. All the species have a similar shape, although some are deeper-bodied than others. Most share a color pattern too -- silver bellies and sides darkening to almost black on top, with four to seven black stripes running the length of the body. Distinguishing the different species lies in the details.

The easiest to identify are yellow bass. As the name suggests, these fish have a distinct yellow cast to the lower part of the body. Also, the dark lines are sharply broken about halfway back on the lower part of the body. Yellow bass lack a tooth patch on the tongue.

Yellow bass are not native to the Coosa system. However, since their illegal introduction approximately 20 years ago, they've become extremely common. This species doesn't grow very large and is mostly considered a nuisance by anglers.

White bass have a deeper body and a single tooth patch. The dark lines, although present, are not as bold and distinct. The average Coosa white bass weighs less than a pound, but fish up to 3 pounds are common.