Freshwater
Largemouth Bass
Where to find them, how to catch them and the tackle to use.
01Introduction
The largemouth bass is the most popular sport fish in the United States. It's a green, heavy-bodied bass with a dark stripe or blotches along each side and a big mouth whose upper jaw reaches past the back of the eye. Largemouths live in lakes, ponds, reservoirs and slow rivers almost everywhere, ambush prey from weeds, wood and other cover, and fight hard. In good waters they grow to about 16 inches in three years, and the biggest top 20 pounds.
02Where to Catch
Range: native to much of the U.S. east of the Rockies, originally the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins, and to parts of southeastern Canada and northeastern Mexico. Because it's such a popular game fish, it has been stocked throughout North America and around the world.
Habitat: lakes, ponds, reservoirs and slow-moving rivers, from fresh to brackish water. Largemouths relate to cover: weed beds, lily pads, logs and fallen trees, roots, rock ledges, docks and other man-made structures. Adults are usually solitary and hide in cover to strike passing prey, mostly fish and crayfish.
Seasonal movements: the timing varies with latitude, but the pattern is similar everywhere.
- Prespawn: bass leave deep wintering areas for shallow feeding areas. In reservoirs they often gather first at "staging areas" of middle depth near spawning flats.
- Spawn: when water reaches about 60°F, males build nests in 2 to 8 feet of water, often in quiet, weedy areas, and guard the eggs and fry.
- Summer: many bass stay in weeds and other cover; location follows water temperature, oxygen and forage.
- Late summer and fall: in natural lakes, bass follow the dying weeds deeper to the last green weed clumps. In reservoirs they follow shad schools toward shore and into creeks.
- Cold water: bass gather on weedy flats in 4 to 10 feet, then on drop-offs, creek channels and outside weed edges, where they can change depth without moving far.
03How to Catch
Spring
In early prespawn (water in the upper 40s°F), fish small swimbaits and swim jigs on a slow, crawling retrieve, and jerkbaits with long pauses in open water. As the water warms, slow-falling lures come into play: soft stickworms, Texas- or wacky-rigged, and light jigs with bulky trailers around shallow wood and new weed growth. In reservoirs, crankbaits worked along staging areas, such as channel bends near weed walls, catch prespawn fish.
Summer and fall
Fish cover: weed edges, lily pads, docks and wood. As the weeds die back in late summer, follow bass deeper to the remaining green weeds and along inside turns. In reservoirs, find the shad and you'll find the bass.
Cold water
Once fall turnover is over and the water is in the 50s°F, bass can feed aggressively on concentrated cover and drop-offs, and this is when some of the year's biggest fish are caught. Slow your presentation as the water keeps cooling; you can catch bass until the lake freezes.
Live bait
Live minnows and nightcrawlers are good baits for largemouths, fished near cover.
04Tackle
Largemouths fight hard even on light spinning tackle. Baitcasting and fly fishing are also popular ways to fish for them. Check your state's regulations; many waters have special size limits and seasons for bass.
05Questions anglers ask
How do I tell a largemouth from a smallmouth?
Look at the jaw. On a largemouth, the upper jaw extends past the back edge of the eye. Largemouths are also green with dark blotches that form a horizontal stripe along each side.
When do largemouth bass spawn?
In spring, when the water warms to about 60°F. That can be as early as winter in the far South and as late as June in the North. Males build saucer-shaped nests in 2 to 8 feet of water, often in quiet, weedy areas, and guard the eggs and young fry.
What water temperature do largemouth bass like?
Their optimum is about 82 to 84°F, when they feed, grow and swim best, but they survive in water from about 40°F to nearly 98°F. As water cools in fall and winter their metabolism slows, so slow down your presentation.
Why is fishing tough in the fall for a week or so?
That's often fall turnover. As a lake's surface cools, it sinks and mixes with the deeper water, stirring up debris and gases. Fishing gets difficult, but turnover usually lasts only about a week on any one lake, and the cold-water period that follows can produce the biggest bass of the year.