I'm not normally a smallmouth guy but after this one - I might take this fishing up a little more - what fun and what a fight - released back!

Thats a beauty. I fish for smallies alot here in the river that runs through town. 2-3 pounders are common but there are some in there that go 5-6 . Pound for pound they are one of the meanest fighters around. Nothing like hooking into one of them with ultra lite equipment in swift water. A 2 pound fish feels like a monster.

nice fish there BD, i agree with 00, nothing quite like hooking into a good smallie, let the fun begin, t-5,4,3,2,1,0 we have lift-off[:-]

Nice fish. They don't have those down here in Florida.

might just be the picture but that is a green smallmouth. up here they are generally brown and we call them bronzebacks. still nice fish how long was it?


this is what i was talking about them being brown

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e167/steveo2166/7f5fc2ea.jpg

I fish for them several times a week and catch quite a few each time out. Some are really brown but many others have a green hue similar to a largemouth. I think they turn more brown when they really get into the crawfish as forage. The fish I catch early in the spring are more green because they are feeding on minnows and shad. By the time August comes they are all pretty brown. I don't often catch them through the ice because I usually fish for flat fish in the weedy bays. The largemouths are another story and will take a bluegill or crappie bait and become a nuisance when trying to fill a bucket with slabs. Some days I hook over a dozen and when you are fishing with a 30" UUL ice rod without a decent drag and 3 or 4 pound test that first run can be a tackle breaker.

I think the color of the fish has to do with the color of the water.

You might be right ...but looking out the door right now the lake looks blue.I actually have seen pictures ofa blue pike but never a bass.

A smallmouth is a small mouth.I fish them alot in Wisc. All fish change in color depending on water clarity, depth etc. Ive fished BASS tourneys since 1978 and have seen lots of shades

havent seen to many bass pulled through the ice, got one largemouth this winter and thats the only one i have ever seen caught through the ice.

i was just saying how green it was, that is pretty neat. the blue coloured water is from the sky. blue pike that would be neat, i got a blue walleye once