The smallmouth bass is generally brown (seldom yellow) with red eyes, and dark brown vertical bands, rather than a horizontal band along the side. There are 13–15 soft rays in the dorsal fin. The upper jaw of smallmouth bass extends to the middle of the eye.
Males are generally smaller than females. The males tend to range around two pounds, while females can range from three to six pounds. Their average sizes can differ, depending on where they are found; those found in American waters tend to be larger due to the longer summers, which allow them to eat and grow for a longer period of time.
Their habitat plays a significant role in their color, weight, and shape. River water smallmouth that live in dark water tend to be rather torpedo-shaped and very dark brown to be more efficient for feeding. Lakeside smallmouth bass, however, that live in sandy areas, tend to be a light yellow-brown to adapt to the environment in a defensive state and are more oval-shaped.
They have been seen eating, fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, anything that they could swallow, they will. They have been seen eating frogs, small mice,small birds, and even .
The smallmouth bass is found in clearer water than the largemouth, especially streams, rivers, and the rocky areas and stumps and also sandy bottoms of lakes and reservoirs. The smallmouth prefers cooler water temperatures than its cousin the Largemouth bass, and may be found in both still and moving water. Because it is intolerant of , the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy environment, though it can better adjust to changes in water condition than most trout species. they often like little fish Carnivorous, its diet comprises crayfish, insects, and smaller fish; the young also feeding on zooplankton.
The female can lay up to 21,100 eggs, which are guarded by the male in his nest.
When the weather gets colder, and the water temperature drops below 60 degrees, smallmouth will often migrate in search of deeper pools in which they enter a semi-hybernation state,[3] moving sluggishly and feeding very little until the warm season returns.[4] The migration patterns of smallmouth have been tracked and it is not unusual for a smallmouth to travel 12 miles in a single day[5] in a stream, creek or river.[6] The overall migration can exceed 60 miles.
In the United States, smallmouth bass were first introduced outside of their native range with the construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, extending the fish’s range into central New York state. During the mid-to-late 19th century, smallmouth were transplanted via the nation’s rail system to lakes and rivers throughout the northern and western United States, as far as California. Shippers found that smallmouth bass were a hardy species that could be transported in buckets or barrels by rail, sometimes using the spigots from the railroad water tanks to aerate the fingerlings. They were introduced east of the Appalachians just before the Civil War, and afterwards transplanted to the states of New England.
Today, smallmouth bass are very popular game fish, frequently sought by anglers using conventional spinning and bait casting gear, as well as fly fishing tackle.[11][12] The smallmouth bass is one of the toughest fighting freshwater fish in North America.[13] In addition to wild populations, the smallmouth bass is stocked in cool rivers and lakes throughout Canada and the United States. In shallow streams, it is a wary fish, though usually not to the extent of most trout. The smallmouth is highly regarded for its topwater fighting ability when hooked – old fishing journals referred to the smallmouth bass as “ounce for ounce and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims”.[14] Smallmouth bass are taken for the table, with filets of white, firm flesh when cooked.[15] Today, many fishermen practice catch-and-release fishing to improve fish populations.
The current all-tackle world record for a smallmouth bass is 11Â lb 15 oz, caught by Casey Peters in the Dale Hollow Reservoir, on the Kentucky/Tennessee border, in 1955.[16]
In conventional fishing, smallmouth may be successfully caught on a wide range of natural and artificial baits or lures, including crankbaits, hair jigs, plastic jerkbaits, mr. twisters, spinnerbaits, and all types of soft plastic lures, including curly tail grubs or tubes with lead head jigs. They may also be caught with a fly rod using a dry or wet artificial fly, nymphs, streamers, or imitations of larger aquatic creatures, such as hellgrammites, crawfish, or leeches. Floating topwater popper fly patterns and buzz baits are also popular for smallmouth fishing.[11][12] For river fishing, spinning tackle or fly tackle has been the most popular angling tools for smallmouth in North America for many years.
from Wikipedia.org