LARGEMOUTH BASS (Micropterus salmoides)
- The Largemouth Bass is a species of Black bass and is native to
North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black
bass, bucketmouth, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass,
green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth and
northern largemouth. The largemouth bass is the state fish of
Alabama (official freshwater fish), Georgia, Mississippi, Florida
(state freshwater fish), and Tennessee (official sport fish).
Largemouth Bass are keenly sought after by
anglers and are noted for the excitement of their fight.
Description: The largemouth bass is
an olive green fish, marked by a series of dark, sometimes black,
blotches forming a jagged horizontal stripe along each flank. The
upper jaw (maxilla) of a largemouth bass extends beyond the rear
margin of the orbit. In comparison to age a female bass is larger
than a male. The largemouth is the largest of the black basses,
reaching a maximum recorded overall length of 29.5 in/75 cm and a
maximum unofficial weight of 25 pounds 1 ounce (11.4 kg). The fish
lives 16 years on average.
Habitat & Feeding Habits: The juvenile
largemouth bass consumes mostly small bait fish, scuds, small
shrimp, and insects. Adults consume smaller fish (bluegill), snails,
crawfish (crayfish), frogs, snakes, salamanders, bats and even small
water birds, mammals, and baby alligators.[12] In larger lakes and
reservoirs, adult bass occupy deeper water than younger fish, and
shift to a diet consisting almost entirely of smaller fish like
shad, trout, ciscoes, shiners, and sunfish. Prey items can be as
large as 25 to 35% of the bass's body length. Studies of prey
utilization by largemouths show that in weedy waters, bass
grow more slowly due to difficulty in acquiring prey. Less weed
cover allows bass to more easily find and catch prey, but this
consists of more open-water baitfish. Paradoxically, with little or
no cover, bass can devastate the prey population and starve or get
stunted. Fisheries managers need to take all these factors into
consideration when designing regulations for specific bodies of
water. Under overhead cover such as overhanging banks, brush, or
submerged structure such as weed beds, points, humps, ridges, and
drop-offs, the largemouth bass will use its senses of hearing,
sight, vibration, and smell to attack and seize its prey. It can
sometimes hold up to 5 sunfish in its mouth. Adult largemouth
generally are apex predators within their habitat, but they are
preyed upon by many animals while young
SMALLMOUTH BASS (Micropterus
dolomieu) is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family
(Centrarchidae) of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of
its genus. One of the black basses, it is a popular game fish sought
by anglers throughout the temperate zones of North America, and has
been spread by stock to many cool-water tributaries and lakes in the
United States and Canada. The smallmouth bass is native to the upper
and middle Mississippi River basin, the Saint Lawrence River–Great
Lakes system, and up into the Hudson Bay basin. Its common names
include Smallmouth, Bronzeback, Brown Bass, Brownie, Smallie, Bronze
Bass, and Bare back Bass.
Description: 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 colour, weight, and
shape. River water smallmouth that live among dark water tend
to be rather torpedo shaped and very dark brown in order to be more
efficient for feeding. Lakeside smallmouth bass however, that live
for example in sandy areas, tend to be a light yellow brown to adapt
to the environment in a defensive state and are more oval shaped.
Smallmouth bass
commonly live 5-7 years, with a few individuals reaching ages from
10-20 years. Most bass waters grow some adults to weights of 2-3
pounds.
The female can lay up to
21,100 eggs, which are guarded by the male in his nest.
Habitat & Feeding Habits:
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
pollution, 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. Carnivorous, its diet comprises
crayfish, insects, and smaller fish, the young also feeding on
zooplankton.
STRIPED BASS (Morone saxatilis) is also
called Atlantic striped bass, stripers, linesiders, rock, pimpfish
or rockfish and is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, and the state saltwater (marine) fish of New York,
Virginia, and New Hampshire. They are also found in the Minas Basin
and Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia Canada.
Description: The striped bass is a
typical member of the Moronidae family in shape, having a
streamlined, silvery body marked with longitudinal dark stripes
running from behind the gills to the base of the tail. Maximum size
is 200 cm (6.6 ft) and maximum scientifically recorded weight 57 kg
(125 US pounds). The average weight is 30 to 40 lbs. Striped bass
are believed to live for up to 30 years. The striped bass is South
Carolina's state fish.
Striped bass spawn in freshwater and although they have been
successfully adapted to freshwater habitat, they naturally spend
their adult lives in saltwater (i.e., it is anadromous). Four
important bodies of water with breeding stocks of striped bass are:
Chesapeake Bay, Massachusetts Bay/Cape Cod, Hudson River and
Delaware River. It is believed that many of the rivers and
tributaries that emptied into the Atlantic, had at one time,
breeding stock of striped bass.
Striped bass have also been hybridized
with white bass to produce hybrid striped bass also
known as wiper. These hybrids have been stocked in many freshwater
areas across the U.S.
Fishing for Striped Bass: Striped bass are of significant
value as sport fishing, and have been introduced to many waterways
outside their natural range. A variety of angling methods are used,
including trolling and surfcasting top water lures are a good pick
for surf casting. Striped bass will take a number of live and fresh
baits including bunker, clams, sandworms, herring, bloodworms,
mackerel with shad being the best bait for freshwater striper
fishing.
Bait for
Striped Bass: Striped bass can be caught using a number of baits
including: clams, eels, anchovies, bloodworms, nightcrawlers,
chicken livers, menhaden, herring, shad, and sandworms. At times,
striped bass can be very choosy about the baits they take. Because
of the wide variety of baits that are known to work and their
finicky nature, they are considered among fishermen as being an
opportunistic or "lazy" feeder. However, it is estimated that 90% of
their diet is fish.
HYBRID STRIPED BASS (Morone
saxatilis x Marone chrysops) are also known as a wiper or
whiterock bass, is a hybrid between the striped
bass (Morone saxatilis) and the white bass (M. chrysops).
It can be distinguished from the striped bass by broken rather than
solid horizontal stripes on the body. Wipers are considered better
suited for culture in ponds than either parent species because they
are more resilient to extremes of temperature and to low dissolved
oxygen.
Wipers became part of
aquaculture in the United States in the late 1980s. Most
producers purchase the fish young (as fry or fingerlings) and raise
them in freshwater ponds. Currently about 10 million pounds (4.5
million kg) are produced annually in the United States. Wipers are
used both as a gamefish and a food fish.
Most Hybrid Striped Bass are produced by fertilizing eggs
from white bass with sperm from striped bass; the resulting fish are
also called "sunshine bass" or "cherokee bass".
Bait for Hybrid Striped
Bass: Striped bass can be caught using a number of baits
including: clams, eels, anchovies, bloodworms, nightcrawlers,
chicken livers, menhaden, herring, shad, and sandworms. At times,
striped bass can be very choosy about the baits they take. Because
of the wide variety of baits that are known to work and their
finicky nature, they are considered among fishermen as being an
opportunistic or "lazy" feeder. However, it is estimated that 90% of
their diet is fish.
AUSTRALIAN BASS (Macquaria
novemaculeata) are a small to medium sized, primarily freshwater
(but estuarine spawning) native fish found in coastal rivers and
streams along the east coast of Australia. They are a member of the
Percichthyidae family and, currently, the Macquaria genus.
Australian bass are an iconic, highly predatory native fish. They
are an important member of the native fish faunas found in east
coast river systems and an extremely popular angling species. They
are also known as Freshwater perch, eastern freshwater perch, perch
Australian bass have a
moderately deep, elongated body that is laterally compressed. They
have a forked caudal ("tail") fin and angular anal and soft dorsal
fins. Their spiny dorsal fin is of medium height, strong and sharp.
They have a medium sized mouth and relatively large eyes than can
appear dark in low light or red in bright light. The opercula or
gill covers on Australian bass carry extremely sharp flat spines
that can cut fishermens' fingers deeply.
Australian bass vary in colour from gold in clear sandy
streams to the more usual bronze or bronze-green colouration in
streams with darker substrates and/or some tannin staining to the
water.
Australian bass are, overall, a smallish-sized species, averaging in
most waters around 0.5 kg and 20–30 cm. A fish of 1 kg or larger is
a good specimen. Maximum size appears to be around 2.5 kg and 55 cm
in southern waters, and around 3.0 kg and 60–65 cm in northern
waters.
Typically, Australian bass stocked in man-made impoundments (where
they cannot breed) show greater average and maximum sizes than wild
river fish.
Habitat
Often found far upstream in freshwater. Prefers cover such as
instream debris, fallen timber or rocky outcrops. May be found in
all types of water from still pools to fast running streams.
Distribution
Coastal rivers and streams along the Eastern seaboard from Tin
Can Bay in Queensland, south through New South Wales and into
eastern Victoria. Not recorded west of Wilson's Promontory.
Most prolific in the waters of remote streams in the far south coast
of New South Wales and eastern Gippsland in Victoria.
Recent research has confirmed that Australian bass share a common
gene pool, and consequently fisheries departments are now allowing
more widespread use of commercially bred fish for stocking of farm
dams etc, especially in Victoria.
Diet
Australian bass have a varied diet including insects from the
water's surface, and other organisms from the entire water column
and the bottom including aquatic insects, shrimps and other
freshwater crustacea, tadpoles and small fish. In salt water they
feed on various crustaceans including prawns and small crabs, worms
and fish.
Fishing for Australian Bass
Fishing for Australian bass is a summertime affair, undertaken
during the warmer months in the freshwater reaches of the rivers
they inhabitat. Australian bass are keenly fished for as they are an
outstanding sportsfish, extraordinarily fast and powerful for their
size. One of Australia's most truly outstanding freshwater sports
fish, bass respond to all methods of angling. Australian bass
are the native fisherman's answer to trout. Bass will respond to
angling methods used by trout fishermen and will easily outfight
trout of a similar size. Most bass specialist use small to medium
sized cast floating lures, although trolling is effective at times.
Surface lures are especially effective on bass, although a degree of
finesse is usually required. With all lures, when fishing for bass,
it is usually best to allow the lure to float on the surface for
some time before beginning the retrieve. Occasionally pausing during
the retrieve is also often effective.
Fly is effective in many areas, but the best natural bass waters are
often heavily over grown and a degree of skill is required if one is
not to become hopelessly tangled in the overhanging vegetation.
Bass are great fun to catch and often hit hard and fight hard, they
are very strong and a fast fish through the water.
A lure that resembles a bait fish - maybe a perch
or a minnow works well.. Top water baits and surface lures or
poppers, plastic baits that represent worms, crayfish or lizards,
spinner baits or blades, crank baits in shallow, medium or deep
divers,
Minimum legal size: 27 cm
