The Largemouth Bass
Introduction
The Largemouth Bass fishing is a favourite here at Bass Fishing Gurus. It is also the most popular game fish in North America found abundantly in lakes and feeder streams and river in both Canada and the United States.
The Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), is commonly known to anglers as the black bass, bigmouth, green bass, green trout, Florida bass, Oswego bass, the southern largemouth and most affectionately as old bucketmouth. Not all of these names are accurate as other species use the same name Black Bass. Scientifically speaking, there are seven species that are a member of the Micropterus family.
M. cataractae - Shoal Bass
M. coosae - Redeye Bass
M. dolomieu - Smallmouth Bass
M. notius - Suwannee Bass
M. punctulatus - Spotted Bass
M. salmoides - Largemouth Bass
M. treculii - Guadalupe Bass
Tourism
Anglers all over North America love the Largemouth for the incredible fight and explosive strikes that it provides at the end of a line. Full out-of-water leaps give the largemouth bass it's incredible reputation. If you have never fished for largemouth, we recommend giving it a try.
The largemouth bass tops the Bass Fishing Gurus list of game fish with salmon being a close second, but more on that later.
The Largemouth Bass is responsible for a large tourism industry in both Canada and the United States as well as many other countries where the largemouth has been introduced.
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The largemouth bass provides significant amount of revenue to the television market in the form of tournaments and various fishing television shows. The revenue generated from this fish alone is estimated into the billions. In Florida alone, Largemouth Bass fishing generates about $3.4 billion annually, including the Florida Largemouth variety, which is a close cousin.
Fast Growth
Rapid growth of the Largemouth Bass depends largely on environment, availability of food, predators and water temperature with water temperature being the single biggest factor in their growth rates. This is evident when we look at the size of largemouth bass in the north.
A six pound largemouth in the north is considered a trophy bass while a 12 pound plus largemouth bass is considered a trophy fish in Florida, where they can grow to 18 pounds.
Vast Waterways
The Largemouth Bass are found in marshes, swamps, ponds, reservoirs, creeks, large rivers and lakes, which provides them a huge distribution across North America. Due to there toleration for the cold, they are easily introduced all over the world. We will cover all these areas in the section Largemouth Bass distribution.
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