SMALLMOUTH BASS 



Micropterus dolomieui Lacepede 



The smallmouth bass is one of Maine's most valuable game fish. 

 Originally the smallmouth were probably distributed in the St. Lawrence, 

 Ohio, and upper Mississippi Rivers, and in the Great Lakes. Before the 

 Civil War there were no bass in Maine. Records show that bass were 

 first stocked in Maine in 1869, and since then there have been many 

 additional stockings and smallmouth have adapted easily to our large, 

 shallow, clear water lakes. 



Smallmouth thrive best in lakes that have at least several hundred 

 acres of water surface, are rich in food, contain good shoreline gravel 

 for nest-building, have a stable water level, and are relatively shallow. 



Nests in the salmon and trout family are prepared by the females, 

 but it is the male of the sunfish family that builds the nest and protects 

 the eggs and young. An average male bass will be mature when he is 

 about 9 inches long and 3 years old. He begins nest construction when 

 the water has warmed to temperatures in the mid-fifties. June is the peak 

 of the spawning season in Maine. A bed of coarse gravel is selected with 

 some protection preferred, such as an over-hanging tree or a large boul- 

 der. Water depths may vary from 10 inches to 12 feet. 



The male cleans oflf a circular area of gravel from Wi to 2 times 

 his length in diameter. During the cleaning process, and following, the 

 male protects the area from all intruders and particularly from other 

 male bass. Once the nest is completed he begins his courtship of the 

 female to persuade her to lay eggs in the nest. Spawning will usually 

 take place when the temperature is between 59'F. and 65 °F. The fe- 

 male is about a year older than the male at maturity and consequently 

 two or three inches longer. An average of 8,000 eggs per pound of 

 body weight is carried by the female. The eggs are adhesive and attach 

 themselves to the gravel cleaned and prepared by the male. After 

 spawning the female leaves and the male remains to guard the eggs and 

 young. His fin movements serve to keep the eggs clean and well oxygen- 

 ated. 



The eggs hatch in three or four days depending on the temperature 

 and the newly hatched young remain protected in crevices among the 



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