Do smallmouth like rocks so much exclusively because of crawfish?

[Ohioguy25]

If not, what other reason do they always hang out around rocks? It’s incredibly consistent.

[TnRiver46]

Until you start catching them out of brush……. Crawdads inhabit lots of areas without rock as well, like grassy marshes. 
 

then you have places like where I live. I can’t think of any water near me that doesn’t have rocks. Also every body of water excluding cow ponds has smallmouth 

[heavyduty]

Food such as crawfish, hellgrammites, larvae, minnows, etc

Current breaks depending upon size of rocks obviously, aerate the water for oxygen if ripples, camouflage to ambush prey

Can warm water holding heat from sun

[cyclops2]

Crawfish DO DIG deep tunnels to hide in. Undercut dirt banks are also used. I have found them ganged up in darkness eating dead animals in the water.

[Ohioguy25]

14 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Until you start catching them out of brush……. Crawdads inhabit lots of areas without rock as well, like grassy marshes. 
 

then you have places like where I live. I can’t think of any water near me that doesn’t have rocks. Also every body of water excluding cow ponds has smallmouth 

Interesting, so smallmouth aren’t that special, they’re like bluegill? I thought they only lived in streams, rivers and lakes with clean(ish) moving water?

[MIbassyaker]

We have crayfish in almost every permanent body of water here, including waters where there aren't any smallmouth.  They are in the mud, the rocks, the weeds, everywhere.  All bass eat them when they are available.  

 

Associating smallies with rock and largmouths with weeds is a rule of thumb that, while imperfect, definitely shows a trend.  Generally, smallies are better adapted to current and better adapted to rock cover than largemouth.  That does not mean they require rock or current, only that a population can successfully spawn and thrive given the competition. Current and rock gives smallies an advantage over (or at least helps them compete with) other predators like Largemouth, Pike, and Bowfin, who are also very adaptable, but each prefer somewhat different conditions.

 

In my area, smallmouth like fairly clear and clean water, whether in current or not. That's usually a river with some rocky/gravelly sections, or a moderately-rocky or sandy lake that doesn't have too much vegetation.  Smallies like vegetation too when available, but they are outcompeted by largemouth, pike, & bowfin if there is too much vegetation. It's a balancing act. you need to have the right conditions.

 

Smallmouth occupy a "middling" ecological niche that is fragile in some places.  In my area, some small natural lakes that used to have smallmouth 50 years ago (according to survey results and reports from old-timers) no longer have fishable populations.  What happened?  Development. People built homes and fertilized their yards. The fertilizer ran off into the lake and made it much more fertile than it used to be. Weedbeds grew and expanded providing new habitat for largemouth, pike, and bowfins. As it died off every fall, organic matter piled up over the old spawning areas.  Who benefitted?  Largemouth, pike, and bowfin.  Who lost out? Smallmouth.  

 

Last summer in one small (~60 acres) lake I fish, I caught a 3lb smallie:

 

 

I had never caught a smallie here before, and have never seen, nor heard any other contemporary reports of anybody catching a smallmouth in this lake.  I have scoured message boards, apps, survey data, and tackle-shop gossip and as far as public reports go, I  seem to be the only one to have caught a smallie here in the internet era. (unlikely! but after spending some effort searching, I can't disprove it).  However, I have located second-hand reports from old-timers indicate the clarity of this lake used to be about double what it is now, and much less weedy.  I have also seen "smallmouth" listed from local homeowners as a possible catch in this lake (although homeowners don't always identify fish correctly, bless their hearts.).

 

What seems clear is that this lake used to have more smallmouth-friendly conditions, but has has transitioned in the last few decades to an increasingly-weedy largemouth haunt. (For instance, much of the vegetation is the non-native invasive curly-leaf pondweed)

 

Maybe my fish is the result of an unofficial stocking. Or maybe it is a 10+ year old survivor of an earlier age, and maybe it produced --and outlived-- some of the last smallmouth broods this lake saw.  Maybe there's a healthy population in there nobody ever catches. I have no way of knowing.  All I really know is that I have never seen or heard of any other particular smallmouth caught here.  In any case, I don't hold out much hope I will ever catch another smallie here, although I will try, and will certainly report it on BR if I do.

[Bluebasser86]

Shad love rocks too. Algae grows on rocks and the shad eat it off the rocks. Bugs and snails live on the rocks, bluegills eat the bugs off the rocks, smallmouth eat the larger bugs and smaller bluegills.

 

Is it possible the rocks are just the best option around? I've caught smallmouths out of grass when they had rocks available close by but none off the rocks and also out of bushes when the lakes come up. In current, rocks are the best current break though I imagine. 

[TnRiver46]

9 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Interesting, so smallmouth aren’t that special, they’re like bluegill? I thought they only lived in streams, rivers and lakes with clean(ish) moving water?

Special is up to the eye of the beholder. They are related to bluegill but not a whole lot like them. They definitely eat bluegill ! 

[Junk Fisherman]

10 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Interesting, so smallmouth aren’t that special, they’re like bluegill? 

 

Smallmouth are very special to me!  ?

[Tatsu Dave]

10 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Interesting, so smallmouth aren’t that special, they’re like bluegill? I thought they only lived in streams, rivers and lakes with clean(ish) moving water?

If you saw where I fish and catch smallies you would be surprised, but there are certain places that do harbor a lot more due to rocks, gravel, and most important current. Crawfish are a prefered food up here and they can be good size, but shad are another staple that draws them to certain areas as well. Not long ago had a 2 1/2lb fish throw up two intact crawfish a that both went 3 1/2".....and he still hit my 5" stickbait.

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Special is up to the eye of the beholder. They are related to bluegill but not a whole lot like them. They definitely eat bluegill ! 

Yeah I still think they are the king of freshwater gamefish, I just thought they were a bit more elusive although I guess they still are. Yeah I forgot they were in the sunfish family.  Amazing how different they are.

[cyclops2]

A huge Sunfish is built & fights like a small Small Mouth Bass female.

[Ohioguy25]

51 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

A huge Sunfish is built & fights like a small Small Mouth Bass female.

Good point, esp the big football shaped 18”+ lake variety 

[cyclops2]

Right now I can catch bass on Chicken neck skins all day long.  They are just too well fed to do stupid Kamikaze attacks on lures.

 

The necks are  MEAT !!  ?