COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is home to one of the only game fish untampered with, within the country, commonly known as the Redeye bass.
Fish and fishing are two of Will Mundhenke's greatest passions. He's an aquatic education specialist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
"I think it's the number one bridge to get people connected into the outdoors, and one of the easiest routes for folks that may not have a background in the great outdoors, actually going out and participating in it," Mundhenke said.
Columbia and other parts of South Carolina are fishermen's havens, with the Saluda river, the Congaree, the Broad, various ponds and of course, the Savannah River Drainage, home to one particular bass that's one of two native black bass in the state.
This Bartram's Bass or rather, Redeye fish is in need of conservation, so they don't suffer from hybridization from spotted bass and go extinct.
Beyond catch and release, in other words, leaving nature where it is, Mundhenke and his team at SCDNR are using genetics for conservation efforts.
"We take a fin clipping, usually of the tail fin. We put it in a little vile and we're able to run genetic testing on that to find out where our remaining pure populations of Bartram's bass still are, what we need to do to protect them, what barriers in the water might be creating these isolated pockets," Mundhenke said.
The Redeye bass has survived even through generational changes to its habitats.
Mundhenke tells News 19 everyone can do their part to keep them swimming.
SCDNR explains this Redeye bass is the perfect fly rod target because they like insects on the water.