The Small Mouthed Black Bass
(Micropterus dolomieu)
KNOW FISH
HISTORICAL
The biological history of the black basses is covered so ably and scientifically by Dr. Henshall, in his "Book of the Black Bass," that I will touch the subject only in a general way.
Louden, in his "The Small Mouthed Black Bass," states that the early Jesuit missionaries used the word" achigan" as early as 1655 to designate the small mouthed black bass. The word corresponds with the French word "bas" meaning stocking and certainly these hardy fishers of men must have included "our" fish in their Friday menus. Robert Roosevelt found the Chippewas of the Lake Superior Country still using the name "achigan" in the eighties.
The first small mouthed black bass recognized by science was a specimen described by Lacepede in 1801. It happened to be a mutilated specimen and as a result received the unfortunate generic name "microp-terus," meaning small fin.
The small mouthed black bass is often called "red eye" by many anglers.
RANGE
The original range of the small mouthed black bass was probably restricted to the Great Lakes region, the northern parts of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and perhaps the headwaters of certain Allegheny streams. Frank Forester in his "Fish and Fishing" says that the black bass was found in the basin of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes and was distributed in New York via the Erie Canal which was opened in 1825. We know that the small mouthed black bass was introduced into the Potomac in the early fifties and in other Eastern rivers soon after. Since then his range has been greatly extended by transplanting in most of the cold water streams of northern U. S. and Canada and in several European countries.
DESCRIPTION
The small mouthed black bass is too well known to warrant much of a description here.
The coloration of the small mouthed black bass varies considerably in different waters and even in individual specimens. Generally the back of this fish is dark, sometimes black; his sides of some shade of green and his belly cream colored or dull white. Young specimens are usually marked with dark patches or bars placed vertically, seldom horizontally, on the body. Three dark streaks cross the cheeks but as the fish grows older all marking may become faint or be lost entirely.
Habitat
The small mouthed black bass is essentially a fish of cold, moving, clear water and for this reason is most often found in swift streams or in large bodies of water where there are currents and sand and gravel bars or rocky ledges. For this reason waters like the Georgian Bay and many of our Northern lakes and streams are ideal for this fish. Sir Dolomieu does not thrive in warm, still, shallow, weedy waters.
Food
One look at the mouth of the black bass tells its own story. His small brush-like teeth proclaim to all observers that his favorite foods are craw-fish, insects, helgramites and other larvae. He will also feed on minnows but is not as piscivorous as is generally believed although he can, and in some waters must, live almost entirely on small fishes. He is an enterprising feeder, not always content to wait for something to "turn up."
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Other fish:
Large and small mouthed bassed compared
Large mouthed black bass
The brook trout
The rainbow trout
The brown trout
Other trout
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