Category:Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass
Smallmouth bass are golden bronze or brown in color. This fish has a cream-colored underbelly (the largemouth bass has a greenish underbelly) and dark vertical bands on its sides with a bit of red in the eyes. It is common to find them weighing only 1-2 pounds, but they average about 10-12 inches in length and a weight of three pounds. Surprisingly, they can be found over 20 inches in length. The weight for the world record catch is 11 lbs. 15 oz.

This species of bass prefers cool water, but will tend to follow food sources. Smallmouth bass live in rivers and lakes in many parts of the United States. They can be found in moving or still water with a rocky, gravelly, or grassy/weedy bottom. They like will forage in grassy or weedy beds, but also enjoy being around sunken islands, along drop offs, under ledges, off of points, and near sunken bars.

The male clears debris and fashions a small circular nest in water between 2-10 feet deep. Eggs hatch in 2-9 days depending on the water temperature. Small fry leave the nest in 5-6 days. The male guards the eggs and small fry until they are about a month old.

Small fry feed on zooplankton and tiny crustaceans. As they grow, they eat insect larvae, crayfish, and fish. Smallmouth bass will feed on a wide variety of creatures, depending on availability and season. Smallmouth prey on minnows in the spring. Mayflies are a favorite during the insect's hatching season. They also eat other small fish and insects, but prefer crayfish.

The name means “small fin,” but it is a misnomer because the specimen had a 				damaged fin, which gave the appearance of a small fin behind the dorsal fin.

Name: Smallmouth Bass Average weight: 1 - 5 lbs. Average length: 10-20 inches World record: 11 lbs. 15 oz. -at 5-6 years its length is 12-14 in. -at 9-12 years its length can be 18 in. Life span: 18 years

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata (animals with a spinal chord) Subphylum: Vertebrata (animals with a backbone) Superclass: Osteichthyes (bony fishes) Subclass: Neopterygii Infraclass:	Teleostei Superorder;	Acanthopterygii Order: Perciformes (perch-like fish) Suborder: Percoidei Family: Centrarchidae (sunfish) Genus: Micropterus (black basses, largemouth basses, etc,) Species: M. dolomieui

Binomial name: Micropterus dolomieui

Other names it goes by: Bronzer, smallie, bronzeback, black bass, brown bass, browny, green 	bass, green trout, jumper, mountain trout, northern smallmouth bass, oswego bass, redeye bass, 	river bass, smallmouth black bass, white trout, bronze bass

Where they live: They are found as far east as NewYork, in southern Quebec, Ontario, and as far west as Minnesota and as far south in the Mississippi River drainage system to northern Arkansas and Alabama. They inhabit swift flowing (but not turbulent) rivers, smaller streams, and lakes. To avoid the bright sun, smallmouth bass sometimes retreat to deep water in pools and lakes or undercut banks.

What they eat: plankton, crayfish, smaller fish, crustaceans, underwater insects. The small fry also eat zooplankton.

How it can be identified: -red eyes -golden to dark brown, olive to green or blackish to gold on the back -the sides are lighter with dark vertical bands, somewhat evenly spaced, with wavy olive 	   	 blotches -creamy to milk-white underside -broad lateral line -5 olive green stripes radiating back from the eye. One radiates forward to the end of the snout. -dorsal fins are joined with 10 spines and 13 or 14 soft rays behind the spines -there is only a shallow notch between lobes of the dorsal fin -the tail fin in the young is tricolored; yellowish fin base is separated with a black vertical bar -the mouth goes back only to the rear margin of the eye -the cheeks have from 12-17 rows of scales

Life cycle: -male prepares a saucer-shaped nest by sweeping tail over substrate -14-25 inch nest on coarse sand, gravel or rock bottom -male protects eggs in nest and keeps them silt free by fanning away debris with tail -sac fry emerge in 3-5 days -hatched sac fry swim in a school above nest for 6-15 days -sac fry move faster when yolk sac is consumed (then called young fry are about ½ inch long) -young fry leave nest and feed on copepods and small crustaceans -they are considered adult in 2nd to 4th year of life