{"id":2204,"date":"2020-05-26T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorsportsnation.com\/?p=2204"},"modified":"2020-05-26T03:39:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T07:39:20","slug":"smallmouth-bass-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorsportsnation.com\/smallmouth-bass-biology\/pentecostkyle12\/fishing\/05\/26\/2020\/2204\/","title":{"rendered":"Smallmouth Bass Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"
Description<\/strong><\/p>\n The Smallmouth bass, or Micropterus Dolomieu, is one of the most popular and prevalent sport fish in the United States. Smallmouth bass are brown fish with dark brown vertical stripes. They have red eyes and earn the name smallmouth because their jaw stops at the middle of the eye. Largemouth bass, on the other hand, have a longer jaw that runs past the eye, one long horizontal stripe, and are generally larger. Male smallmouth bass are smaller than females generally averaging about 2 pounds. Females can range from 3 to 6 pounds as adults.<\/p>\n Spawning<\/strong><\/p>\n The males will head to spawning areas when the water temperature reaches about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Here the male fish will build several nest sites. The nests are generally between 1 and 10 feet deep and are in cover.<\/p>\n When the females emerge from deeper waters to spawn the male will lead them to the nest. Thousands of eggs are laid by the female bass. The fish that emerge from the eggs are known as frye until they reach their juvenile size. It can take a smallmouth bass anywhere from 1 to 5 years to reach its full adult size. This timeframe may be largely dependent on the availability of food.<\/p>\n Diet<\/strong><\/p>\n As the fish go from frye to adult, their diet will change. The frye start out eating mainly zooplankton. As they age they will begin eating insects, crayfish, and finally other fish. They will prey on other smaller bass, but this is not a large part of their diet.<\/p>\n