About Largemouth Bass
Largemouth are the most sought after warm water gamefish in the US. Their preferred habitat is warmer waters with extensive weedbeds, lily pads, tules and other types of cover. They can be found in lakes, reservoirs, ponds, backwaters, sloughs, and slow moving river sections. They are highly adaptable and have managed well in reservoirs with wide water level fluctuations and little natural cover.
Largemouth bass live 15 years or more and can reach over 20 lbs. in weight. Most bass in the western US are the northern strain, however, in the last twenty years the Florida strain has been introduced in southern California reservoirs and at Clear Lake in northern California. The Florida strain grows at a faster rate and lives longer. Most record fish caught are Florida strain.
Mature largemouth bass subsist primarily on a diet of fish such as bluegill, shad, shiners, and silversides.
Other favorite foods consist of crawdads, frogs, and tadpoles. Rats, ducks, blackbirds, and grebes have all been found in the stomach of largemouths. They are ambush style hunters with bodies built for short bursts of speed. Their cavernous jaws create a vacuum effect upon attack.
Largemouth bass become sexually mature at 2 to 3 years. Males create a nest about 2' in diameter, in 1 to 4 feet of water, carefully cleaning the shallow depression of silt and debris. The female will lay a portion of her eggs in one nest and then find other nest in which to deposit her eggs. More than one female may lay eggs in a nest. The males guard the nest with the eggs hatching in less than 10 days. The fry stay in the nest for about a week until the yolk sack is absorbed. The fry school until they are about 1 " long, 6 months, and then scatter.
