Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) are widely considered the hardest-fighting freshwater fish in North America pound-for-pound. Hooked smallmouth typically leap repeatedly out of the water, change direction violently, and run for cover with relentless persistence — behavior that has earned them the nickname "the bronzeback" among anglers.

The species prefers cool, clear rocky waters — lakes with rock and gravel bottoms, large clean rivers, and the Great Lakes themselves. They cannot tolerate the warm, weedy, slow water that the closely-related largemouth bass thrives in. Smallmouth are distinguished from largemouth by the upper jaw not extending past the eye, by dark vertical bars on the sides (rather than the largemouth's horizontal blotch line), and by a generally more bronze-and-brown coloration.

Native range covered the Great Lakes, Mississippi River system, and Appalachian rivers. Aggressive stocking since the 1800s has expanded the range across most of North America and into many other countries. Smallmouth bass are now established in lakes and rivers from California to Maine and in significant numbers in South Africa, Russia, and Japan.

The species spawns in late spring when water reaches 60-65°F. Males excavate dish-shaped nests in gravel near rock cover, attract females, and then guard the eggs and fry for several weeks — abandoning all other activity to defend the nest. This nest-guarding behavior makes the species vulnerable to fishing pressure during the spawn; many states close or restrict bass fishing during spawning periods.

Famous smallmouth waters include Lake Erie's smallmouth bass capital reputation, the St. Lawrence River, Wisconsin's rocky northern lakes, the upper Mississippi, and a host of clear southern Appalachian rivers including the New, the Shenandoah, and the Holston. The world record smallmouth — 11 pounds 15 ounces — was caught in Dale Hollow Lake on the Kentucky-Tennessee border in 1955 and has stood for nearly 70 years.