How to recognise it
- Greenish brown with faint dark mottling and vertical bars, not the dark horizontal stripe of a largemouth bass.
- With the mouth closed, the upper jaw reaches about the back edge of the eye and never past it; on a largemouth bass it extends far behind the eye.
- The two dorsal fins are connected, and the cheek scales are much smaller than the body scales.
- The tongue usually has a rough tooth patch.
Habitat: where it lives
- Clear water over rock or gravel: large, clear lakes more than about 100 acres and 30 ft deep, and cool streams with gravel bottoms, near riffles but out of the main current.
- Native from the central U.S. north to Minnesota and southern Quebec, and stocked widely elsewhere; in Texas mainly in streams of the Edwards Plateau.
Habits: behavior, spawning and growth
- Most active at dawn and dusk.
- Males move onto spawning areas as the water nears 60°F and fan out saucer-shaped nests where there is no noticeable current: near shore in lakes, below a boulder in streams. The male guards the eggs and the fry.
- Usually 10–20 in long and ½–4 lb; the largest known in Texas is over 7.5 lb. Lives up to about 10–12 years.
Where and when
- Lakes: rocky shoals, reefs, shorelines and points that drop into deep water, anywhere from 5 to 35 ft deep. Start shallow and work deeper.
- Rivers: rocky riffles, eddies and pools, and the calm water beside the current where they rest between feeding, such as behind wing dams and rocks.
- Best from mid-June through August, when the water is 60–75°F. Surface lures work best early in the morning and late in the evening.
Bait and lures
Live and natural bait
- Crayfish
- Minnows, on a jig or a circle hook
- Hellgrammites
- Nightcrawlers, on a jig when lures aren't working
Lures
- 3–4 in tube on a 1/8–1/4 oz jighead
- Ned rig: a 3–4 in stick worm on a 1/8–1/4 oz mushroom jighead
- Drop-shot rig with a small soft plastic
- Crankbaits in crawfish or shad colors
- Spinnerbaits, heavier ones in current
- Jerkbaits, and topwater lures twitched like an injured fish
Why these baits work
- Crayfish are a preferred food, so crawfish colors and jigs and tubes bounced over rock imitate what it is hunting.
- It sees well in the clear water it prefers: light line and small finesse plastics get more bites. When the water turns murky, a spinnerbait's flash and vibration work better.
Rod and reel setups
Grouped by lure fishing (artificial baits) and bait fishing (live or natural bait).
Lure fishing
- Rod
- 6½–7 ft medium-action spinning rod
- Reel
- Spinning reel
- Line
- 8–10 lb monofilament
- Hook & rig
- A 3–4 in tube or stick worm on a 1/8–1/4 oz jighead. Let it sink, then hop it or drag it slowly over the rocks, pausing a few seconds.
Source: New York DEC: fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass
Bait fishing
- Rod
- 7–7½ ft rod
- Reel
- Baitcasting or spinning reel
- Line
- Monofilament or fluorocarbon (the source gives no pound test)
- Hook & rig
- A 1/4–1/2 oz jig tipped with a minnow or a plastic twister tail, dropped to the bottom and bounced along the rocks. If that fails, a nightcrawler on the jig.
Source: Minnesota DNR: how to catch a smallmouth bass
Tips
- A rocky point that gave you a fish will usually give you another next trip: bass set up in predictable places.
- Bring a landing net and needle-nose pliers for the hooks.
- Check the rules for the water you are on: some waters have special smallmouth limits.
On the table: cleaning and cooking
- Edible, but many anglers put smallmouth back, partly because they don't rate it highly as food.
Step-by-step cleaning, keeping fish fresh and eating safely are in the handbook.
Size and bag limits vary by state, species and lake. Current limits: Texas (TPWD); elsewhere, your state's fish and wildlife agency. Check before you keep a fish.
