Shape, Size, and Color

The smallmouth is the second largest in the family, edged out of number-one spot by "ol' big mouth." It usually reaches a length of more than 12 inches but seldom more than 20 inches. The world record specimen weighed in at 11 pounds, 15 ounces, with a length of 27 inches. It was caught at Dale Hollow in Tennessee in 1955. However, most anglers catch fish weighing around three pounds.

The general body shape of a smallmouth is more trout-like than that of its flatter relatives. A steak cut from a small mouth will have the shape of a narrow oval. Coloration varies with the environment and may be bronze (hence the name "bronzeback), green, or brownish-green. The markings -- vertical bars on the body and dark bars radiating backwards from the eye -- also vary in vividness depending on the habitat, and are pronounced in the live fish but fade quickly when the fish is caught.

Where both smallmouth and largemouth cohabitate, anglers may have difficulty distinguishing the two species. The upper jaw bone of the "smallie" almost never extends beyond the back of the eye while the opposite is true of the largemouth. The other readily identifiable characteristic is the general pattern of the markings. In the smallmouth, the markings have a dark, bronze-colored vertical band pattern while those of the largemouth have a dark horizontal stripe pattern.