 
Whether you speak as a scientist and call him Micropterus dolomieu
or as a sports fisherman and call him the Smallmouth Bass, he has a long
name. He also has many nicknames--black bass, bronzeback, brown bass, gold
bass, little bass, redeye, swago bass and tiger bass. The last of these
fit about as well as any, for he is indeed a tiger when he feels the sting
of a hook.
The Smallmouth is a member of the sunfish family. As a rule, our hero
is separated easily from his two close relatives, the largemouth bass and
the spotted or Kentucky bass, because he has smaller scales and his mouth
extends only to the middle of his eye instead of beyond its back edge.
He does not have the black stripe along his sides that causes the other
two to be called "linesides." Instead, the Smallmouth has vertical black
blotches or bars of darker color. Occasionally, these characteristics are
not as clear as the description makes them sound and you may not know your fish. In that case, ask an experienced Smallmouth angler. There is something about the Smallmouth that is unmistakable--once you know him.
The Smallmouth favors cool, flowing streams. Along with several other
fishes, it seems to like clear, cool streams. Good streams have a gravel
or rock bottom, preferably boulder-strewn, with large pools between riffles.
As the water warms in the spring, the bass like to sunbathe but return
to deeper water at night. At a water temperature of about 60 degrees the
males begin nest building, almost always where the water is three to six
feet deep and the bottom is of gravel rubble, coarse sand or bedrock.
After the nest is built the male finds a female and drives her over the nest where the eggs are laid and fertilized. The male guards the nest, and when the eggs hatch he continues to care for the young for a day or two after they leave the nest.
The young feed on tiny animals and handle larger prey as they grow.
They live largely on insects until they are two or three inches long. Then
they begin feeding on small minnows. As they grow the diet comes to include small fish, frogs, crayfish, worms, insects, small snakes, field mice, baby muskrats, grasshoppers and what-have-you.
Their growth is reasonably rapid. The young will reach about 3 inches
in the first year, 7 in the second, 10 in the third and 12 in the fourth.
Fish continue to grow throughout life. When they reach 15 to 18 inches
they have few enemies other than man and, if not caught, probably die of
old age or disease between 10 and 15 years of age.
A Smallmouth 18 inches
long may be anywhere from 7 to 13 years old, depending on his home river
and local conditions. The world record Smallmouth caught on rod and reel
weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces and came from Dale Hollow Lake in Kentucky. However, a 3 or 4 pounder is a fine fish and well worth bragging about.
How to catch a prizewinner? Many books have been written on that very
subject. Minnows seem successful, followed by flies, spinners, plugs and
worms. Although a number of anglers use bait-casting rods or spinning outfits on our streams, many testify that the fly-rod is ideal. In clear water, lighter, line leaders produce better. Smallmouth are sensitive to noise in the water and the crunch of gravel under the feet of the wader or the bang of oars on the side of the boat will put them down.
For still Fishing, minnows, frogs or grasshoppers are good bait. Fit
your hook to the size of your bait--not to the size of the bass you hope
to catch. You'll find the Smallmouth is a rugged individualist and no one
can tell you how to catch him every time. If you're new at it, the best
thing to do is to go out with your neighbor--the one who always catches
two or three good ones.
Anyone who has fished the New River undoubtedly is familiar with little
old Ambloplites rupestris, better known as the Redeye. Some consider him one of the gamest of the pan fishes.
The Redeye is one of the easiest of sunfishes to identify. It has a mottled appearance, large red "goggle" eyes, a big mouth and deep compressed body. The basic color is greenish-olive and each scale bears a rectangular spot which gives the fish a spotted appearance. The young fingerlings can be recognized by the broad, irregular, vertical bars on their sides.
Exhibiting chameleon-like tendencies, the Redeye changes color with great rapidity. Within a few minutes it can switch from almost solid black to light green or to a light green hue with black splotches.
The Redeye has six anal spines and 11 to 12 spines in the dorsal fin.
Unlike its bluegill and longear relatives, the Redeye is an individualist
when it comes to setting up housekeeping. He places his rather poorly constructed nest in gravel or sand beside a stump, rock or clump of weeds.
Spawning generally occurs in May and June. One female deposits between 2,000 and 11,000 eggs from which an average of 800 fry are produced. The male guards his nest zealously until his offspring go on their own.
The Redeye tends to feed at night. Toward dark it emerges from a hiding place in a deep pool, beneath an undercut bank or in a sunken brush pile and roams about in search of insects, crustaceans and small fish. The young fish depend mainly on insects for food.
This fish is well-known for its gameness and value as a pan fish. The smaller game fishes often are overlooked in the pursuit of larger predators such as the Smallmouth Bass. But these smaller fishes can and do provide plenty of sport.
The rock bass is no mean adversary when it is taken with light tackle. It bites readily on grasshoppers, worms, white grubs and minnows. Frequently it will rise to a fly or a plug, especially in the evening. Because fish of this species commonly school together, an angler sometimes can catch his limit in a short time. |