Caught My First Smallmouth ?

[MitchTBF]

Hello,

 

First off, I would like to thank Bass Resource and everyone on the site for all the great information. I just got serious with fishing this summer, and have been catching Bass regularly using all the tips and advice here. (OK not huge fish, but I'm working my way up).

 

So I went fishing yesterday morning, and using a homemade spinner I caught 2 Bass within 5 minutes of each other while fishing in the Delaware and Raritan Canal in New Jersey. They put up the biggest, jumpiest fight I have had so far with Bass. It was actually quite amazing for me to actually witness them jumping out of the water like that. I quickly took pictures and let them go.

 

When I got home and looked at the pictures I noticed they didn't look like all the other Bass I have caught this summer----- > In the pictures one looks like it has the red eyes and both lack of horizontal like along the body. Am I safe to say these are actually 2 Smallmouth Bass ?

 

Thanks for any advice.

Mitch

 

 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Yes sir, those are smallies. Nice work. 

 

Pound for pound smallmouth bass will outfight their largemouth cousins any day. Few, if any, will argue with that.

[00 mod]

Congrats on your first 2 smallies.  They are addictive!

 

Jeff

[Dwight Hottle]

You are hooked now.

[Bluebasser86]

No doubt about it, those are smallies. They are some of the hardest fighting fish pound for pound you'll find in freshwater in the US for sure. 

[MitchTBF]

Hi,

 

On a side note...I took my Dad fishing yesterday and he caught his first Bass ever and it was a Smallmouth ! He caught it using a live nightcrawler on a bobber. He was slowly reeling it in past a patch of lilly pads.

 

Mitch

[Muskrat_]

Hi,

 

On a side note...I took my Dad fishing yesterday and he caught his first Bass ever and it was a Smallmouth ! He caught it using a live nightcrawler on a bobber. He was slowly reeling it in past a patch of lilly pads.

 

Mitch

 

 

Nice side note - very cool that his first bass would be a "smallie". Way to go !

[NathanW]

Awsome! You are in the same boat I was less than 5 years ago. Had no idea what I was catching, just knew they werent trout!! Now my life is wound around those little brown and green fish.

 

Keep us posted when you catch your first 2 or 3 pounder. Its going to be thrilling!!

[wademaster1]

Welcome to the addiction!

[joeyfishes]

A good tip I learned from one of Glenn's (Bassresource) videos, was that a largemouth's jaws extend past the eye and smallies and spots go to the front of the eye or before the eye. Also with smallies, they sometimes have red eyes and some have tiger-like stripes while some are just brown. 

[boostr]

I just started bass fishing a month ago, and I caught my first and second fish last week, and they were smallies. Tell you what they do fight like they are twice thier size. The second smallie I caught hit my spinner bait like a freight train, and when I set the hook that mfr jumped right out of the water. Man I was stoked. They are the fish version of a Pitbull. You can check out the second smallie on my other post in the reports section under "caught my first bass" it ain't big but it fought like it was a five pounder.

[boostr]

Never mind what I caught isn't a smallie.... DUH  Noobs think they know everything! So forget everything I said. I was never here.  

Wow, If thats what a LM feels like when it hits and jumps I can Imagine a small mouth... Can't wait.