Smallmouth VS largemouth

[soflabasser]

I have caught both smallmouth bass and largemouth bass in the same spot in a river so both species live close to each other. Smallmouth bass do seem to prefer rocky places with running water compared to largemouth bass. With that said I prefer catching peacock bass since they are pound for pound stronger and more beautiful than any black bass species.

[Bird]

The region I live in have equal amounts of smallmouth and largemouth and in waterways where both species exist, the smallmouth are much easier to catch.....win win.

[geo g]

On 3/9/2021 at 10:35 AM, chuck-norris-707 said:

crazy FL has nothing didn't know that thank you J

Crazy Florida south of the Palm Beach's has a fish that pound for pound kicks both their butts.  The Peacock Bass is the Pitbull of the South Florida waters.  Solid muscle, a killer attitude, love top water, huge acrobatic leaps, long screaming runs, and the hotter and sunnier the better.  The Peacock is a special fish and only present to South Florida, and Hawaii  in the United States.  Put one on the bucket list, you'll know in seconds its not a largemouth, or smallmouth.

[Skunkmaster-k]

4 hours ago, geo g said:

Crazy Florida south of the Palm Beach's has a fish that pound for pound kicks both their butts.  The Peacock Bass is the Pitbull of the South Florida waters.  Solid muscle, a killer attitude, love top water, huge acrobatic leaps, long screaming runs, and the hotter and sunnier the better.  The Peacock is a special fish and only present to South Florida, and Hawaii  in the United States.  Put one on the bucket list, you'll know in seconds its not a largemouth, or smallmouth.

You had me at screaming runs 

[soflabasser]

Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico all have introduced populations of peacock bass. Singapore and other Asian countries also have introduced populations of peacock bass so peacock bass can be found in many countries outside of their native range. They are one of the best freshwater gamefish in the world. Would be awesome if Florida would reintroduce the speckled peacock bass again to South Florida. The weather is warmer now than in the 80's and 90's so these fish have a very good chance establishing.

[NYWayfarer]

My favorite stretch of river has both Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass.

 

I can catch Smallmouth all day there in the current, current breaks and in cover.

 

The only Largemouth I catch from there are in cover. It’s rare to see a Largemouth cruising by. When they do they are not interested in anything I throw at them.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

My favorite stretch of river has both Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass.

 

I can catch Smallmouth all day there in the current, current breaks and in cover.

 

The only Largemouth I catch from there are in cover. It’s rare to see a Largemouth cruising by. When they do they are not interested in anything I throw at them.

Largemouth remind me of snook in Florida. Always looking at lures and even live bait, and not eating them. Extremely wary 

[E-rude dude]

As a general rule (by no means black and white scientific). 

 

Adult Largemouth, 3-4 lbs and over, tend to be loners most of the year. They tend to stay in small hunting zones during prime fishing season. 

Adult Smallmouth, 2-3 lbs and over, tend to be in packs most of the year. They tend to roam more in the pack following the food during prime fishing season.

 

My experience with fishing small mouth is you catch them like crazy or not at all. Your either on them or your not. Large mouth “seem” easier to catch because they tend to be more spread out in the lake.

 

Just my experience in WI.

[roadwarrior]

2 hours ago, E-rude dude said:

As a general rule (by no means black and white scientific). 

 

Adult Largemouth, 3-4 lbs and over, tend to be loners most of the year. They tend to stay in small hunting zones during prime fishing season. 

Adult Smallmouth, 2-3 lbs and over, tend to be in packs most of the year. They tend to roam more in the pack following the food during prime fishing season.

 

My experience with fishing small mouth is you catch them like crazy or not at all. Your either on them or your not. Large mouth “seem” easier to catch because they tend to be more spread out in the lake.

 

Just my experience in WI.

My observation is entirely different. In Florida the bass were mixed when actively hunting

in and around grass. The smaller fish we caught were 4-6 lbs, the larger fish double digits.

In the Mid South schoolers tend to be 3-5 lbs., loners 6lbs +.

 

Smallmouth school by year class. 2-3 lb fish are junveniles, 5 lbs are approximately

five years old. Our brown fish only live to be 8-9 years old.  The World Record was

caught at Dale Hollow and was approximately 13 years old. In the north the fish

live longer, but don't grow as big.

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, E-rude dude said:

As a general rule (by no means black and white scientific). 

 

Adult Largemouth, 3-4 lbs and over, tend to be loners most of the year. They tend to stay in small hunting zones during prime fishing season. 

Adult Smallmouth, 2-3 lbs and over, tend to be in packs most of the year. They tend to roam more in the pack following the food during prime fishing season.

 

My experience with fishing small mouth is you catch them like crazy or not at all. Your either on them or your not. Large mouth “seem” easier to catch because they tend to be more spread out in the lake.

 

Just my experience in WI.

 

58 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

My observation is entirely different. In Florida the bass were mixed when actively hunting

in and around grass. The smaller fish we caught were 4-6 lbs, the larger fish double digits.

In the Mid South schoolers tend to be 3-5 lbs., loners 6lbs +.

 

Smallmouth school by year class. 2-3 lb fish are junveniles, 5 lbs are approximately

five years old. Our brown fish only live to be 8-9 years old.  The World Record was

caught at Dale Hollow and was approximately 13 years old. In the north the fish

live longer, but don't grow as big.

 

This is a pretty broad statement but one that I feel fairly confident making regarding my experience with the local brown bass population.

The smaller the fish - the larger the school or pack.

Doesn't mean plus size brown bass are total loners, but it seems there's less of them percentage wise, so the 'packs' can often be less than 1/2 dozen or so.

But every once in a while, especially early spring, I'll come across a 'wave' of plus size smallies.

The numbers and size of these groups will contradict my statement above,

and are what so many of my dreams are made of.

But it's still a fairly rare event, which is probably a good thing because Atrial fibrillation  can occur not soon afterwards.  

#afib

A-Jay

 

[OKCPERCH]

I'd like to sharpen up on my smallie catching abilities as well. Seems like if you get dialed in on them you can really wear them out. Just seems to me I catch them more randomly though and seldom get dialed in.

[soflabasser]

I have seen big largemouth bass in South Florida form schools in lakes. Some of those bass where over 8 pounds. Same thing happens in Japan where big largemouth bass are sometimes seen in schools.

[E-rude dude]

On 3/16/2021 at 1:59 PM, soflabasser said:

I have seen big largemouth bass in South Florida form schools in lakes. Some of those bass where over 8 pounds. Same thing happens in Japan where big largemouth bass are sometimes seen in schools.

Florida bass fishing is definitely on the bucket list. I would imagine that bass school up more in shad filled lakes.

There are spring and fall periods in the north when they school up too. When the feed bag is on. 

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, E-rude dude said:

Florida bass fishing is definitely on the bucket list. I would imagine that bass school up more in shad filled lakes.

There are spring and fall periods in the north when they school up too. When the feed bag is on. 

The largemouth bass down here eat a combination of native and exotic fish so they grow quick. If you enjoy catching smallmouth bass you will love fishing for peacock bass. I fished with a man that fished for smallmouth for decades before moving to Florida and told me he prefers peacock bass over smallmouth bass. 

[chuck-norris-707]

On 3/12/2021 at 8:24 PM, geo g said:

Crazy Florida south of the Palm Beach's has a fish that pound for pound kicks both their butts.  The Peacock Bass is the Pitbull of the South Florida waters.  Solid muscle, a killer attitude, love top water, huge acrobatic leaps, long screaming runs, and the hotter and sunnier the better.  The Peacock is a special fish and only present to South Florida, and Hawaii  in the United States.  Put one on the bucket list, you'll know in seconds its not a largemouth, or smallmouth.

I meant smallies there are very large largemouths and peacocks.

[Swamp Girl]

As @siusaluki23 noted, if I'm drifting over rocks, I'm likely to catch smallmouth. When I drift into weeds, I'm likely to catch largemouth. Although most bass anglers use larger lures for smallmouth than largemouth, because I'm targeting largemouth, I use big lures all the time and smallmouth are happy to hit them.

[DogBone_384]

I have a lot of waters with both.  I find SMB roam more, prefer deeper, rockier homes than LMB.

 

I catch them both with the same baits much of the time except for tube baits.  

 

Look up Tony Bean's The Last Smallmouth.  You can find the e-book pretty cheap.  It's a great read.

[bowhunter63]

Grab a spinning rod, Some flukes and a wacky worm and hit the River. 

[Rucksack]

On 3/10/2021 at 2:47 AM, Biglittle8 said:

I never get tired of looking at the pictures of those big smalls! Haven't fished for them in 26 years since I moved to N.C. 

Same on loving pictures of smallies and bummed I can't get them in my part of NC. I keep thinking about getting out to the western part of the state and trying my luck. I am worried that Helene might have really disrupted them though.