Understanding Smallmouth Bass

More elusive and less predictable than its larger cousin, the Largemouth Bass, Smallies are highly prized by those anglers who are lucky enough to be able to target them. The have been rightly referred to as the fightingest freshwater fish, pound for pound. Having had more than a few nearly rip the rod right out of my hands, I can assure you, they have not picked up this reputation by accident! We give you an insight into the behaviour of Smallmouth Bass, how to find them and how to put them in the boat. The Nature of the Smallmouth Bass The Smallmouth Bass has very different behaviour traits and habitat preferences to its close relative the Largemouth. ( click here to learn more about their differences) If the Largemouth is like a mugger, the Smallie is more like a playground bully who roams around in plain view, looking for victims, often with a few of his buddies. While the Largemouth will hide in the shadows, in tight little corners, waiting for a meal to pass by, the Smallmouth will be out in the open and will go and chase down his meal. Smallmouth are much more adaptable and are opportunistic feeders.

Bill Jones Black Mamba's Vice President of R&D with a 5.5lb Smallmouth caught on a shad Atomic Wedgie™ rigged on a 1/4 oz ballhead jig. This Fall fish was roaming the edge of a millfoil bed in 17 feet of water.

General Observations-

Smallmouth are schooling fish by nature and when you catch one, you will usually catch several of the same size from the same general spot. Often, as you are bringing a hooked fish into the boat, you will see several others swimming right behind. Their competitive spirit and opportunistic nature causes them to try to steal each others food. Smallmouth are well known for regurgitating their food when they are caught and you will see that the other following fish are fighting over the food the hooked fish has thrown up. Uuuuugh!

This reflex can be very useful to the angler sharp enough to take advantage of the situation. Say Bill hooks a Smallie, I immediately reel in as fast as I can. I watch very closely behind the hooked fish for followers. Then, I will throw a bait right behind the hooked fish. Maybe 5 times out of 10, I will catch another fish immediately. If Bill unhooks his fish quickly, he can sometimes repeat the process and catch another. It is possible to catch several fish one after the other, if you are efficient with unhooking fish and getting back out there. It can pay dividends to have a couple of rods rigged up the same way. If you get snapped off, you have a back-up immediately. Also, you can put a caught fish straight in the livewell without taking the hook out and catch another fish on your second rod. The action can be fast and furious for just a couple of minutes and you can't afford to drop the ball or the opportunity will be gone.

If the bite slows, you can sometimes pick up additional fish by merely changing your bait to something completely different to what you have been throwing. I believe that once they have seen two or three of their friends dragged off, they associate danger with that lure. A change in bait will often cause them to start biting again.

When the action dies off, you just remove the hooks from the fish in the livewell. If the fish all happen to be 4 or 5 pounders, you can win a tournament in just a few minutes and put your feet up for the rest of the day!

This reflex is also very useful in that it will tell the angler exactly what the fish are eating. If you look in your livewell, you will see bits of crayfish or half digested bodies of baitfish. By knowing that the Smallies are eating 3 inch crayfish, you can get out a bait of a similar colour and size. Smallies can have a very distinct preference for type and size of food and will not even touch anything that does not fall within a fairly tight range. If Bill and I are fishing a spot for the first time with say tubes, I will throw a two tone tube with a dark back and a glittery white belly and he will throw a brown-ish or green-ish tube with a little red glitter in it. Why? Simply because the Smallies are eating one of two things; baitfish or crayfish. If they are eating crayfish, they won't often eat a baitfish, and vice versa.

One of us will usually catch more fish than the other and that tells us what the fish are eating. Once we have determined their food preference, we both use the same colour.

Spring- Smallmouth spawn in shallow bays with a sandy bottom. They only spawn once a year, in the Spring, so you can bet it's a very important time of the year to them. If you only got lucky once a year, it would be important to you too!

They will hang around for a short while after spawning, as there is an abundant food supply of baitfish species which spawn in the same areas. As the water warms, they will move out into main lake, adjacent to the spawning areas. The bigger fish are always the first to leave.

Summer- They will move to a variety of areas depending on what they are eating. They could inhabit sandy flats all summer. They could move out into the main lake structures such as points, shoals and humps. Large schools of Smallies can often prey on suspended schools of roaming baitfish such as ciscoes and shad, if they exist in the lake. Like Largemouth, they will often congregate around weedbeds. However, the important word is 'around' unlike Largemouth, they prefer not to bury themselves in the thick of weeds. They will tend be be roaming the outside edges. They will however, be found in cabbage beds. Cabbage has much more space for them to move around in and they often chase young perch and other baitfish in there.

Smallmouth tend to school much more than their cousins the Largemouth and often you will catch several fish of the same size in a spot.

Fall- As the water starts to cool in the Fall, the Bass are going to begin a slow migration towards deeper water in preparation for Winter. They are usually found at the deeper edge of the weedflats they lived in throughout the Summer. As the Fall progresses and the water temperature drops, they will will move closer to their deep-water wintering holes. Bass feed aggressively throughout the Fall period so that they can build up fat reserves which will see them through the Winter.

As Winter approaches, Smallmouth will move into the deepest water in the area, usually seeking a depth of 20 to 30 feet, where the conditions are more stable, to spend the Winter. They will often school in large numbers and remain in a state of near hibernation until the water starts to warm again in Spring.