Bass fishing means the black basses, genus Micropterus: largemouth, smallmouth, spotted, Alabama and Guadalupe bass, plus the redeye, shoal and Florida basses of the Southeast. They are sunfish, not true bass; striped bass, white bass and sea bass are different fish with their own pages. Largemouth bass alone are fished for by more Americans than any other freshwater fish, and most of the lures in the lure section were designed around them. Below: the biology the species pages rest on, the seasonal pattern the tournament anglers fish, and the records, each with its source.
Largemouth spawn at about 60 °F. Read the water temperature and you know where the bass are before you make a cast.
Start here
- Fish species — how the species pages are built and where the numbers come from.
- Lures — the six lure families, each with its bass season.
- Jigs and rigs — the Texas rig, Carolina rig, Ned rig and drop shot that catch bass on the bottom.
- Fishing rods — the power and action matrix by bass technique.
The five species anglers meet
| Species | Field mark | Where | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth (M. nigricans, formerly M. salmoides) | Upper jaw extends well past the rear of the eye; a dark horizontal stripe | Native east of the Rockies, now worldwide; quiet vegetated water | 22 lb 4 oz (10.1 kg), George Perry, Georgia, 1932; tied by Manabu Kurita, Lake Biwa, 2009 |
| Smallmouth (M. dolomieu) | Jaw never extends beyond the eye; dark vertical bars | Clear cool lakes over 100 acres and rocky streams; absent from Florida and Louisiana | 11 lb 15 oz (5.4 kg), David Hayes, Dale Hollow, 1955 |
| Spotted (M. punctulatus) | Tooth patch on the tongue; rows of spots below the lateral stripe; 55–71 lateral-line scales | Ohio and Mississippi basins to Texas; more current than largemouth | All-tackle reset in 2025 at 2 lb 8 oz (1.1 kg) after the category split |
| Alabama (M. henshalli) | Like spotted; 68–84 lateral-line scales; separable only by counts or genetics | Native to the Mobile basin; illegally spread through the Carolinas and Virginia | 11 lb 4 oz (5.1 kg), New Bullards Bar, California |
| Guadalupe (M. treculii) | Rows of spots below the lateral line, 6–8 faint bars | Central Texas rivers only; state fish since 1989 | 12–14 in (30–36 cm) typical, to about 2 lb (0.9 kg) |
The 2022 genomic revision by Kim, Taylor and Near recognised 19 species and moved the largemouth to Micropterus nigricans, keeping M. salmoides for the Florida bass. The IGFA followed in June 2024 with seven new record categories and a rule that any new all-tackle largemouth record needs genetic verification. Older agency pages still use the old name; the species pages here give both.
When bass spawn and feed
Texas Parks and Wildlife puts the largemouth spawn at about 60 °F, February to May depending on latitude, on nests in 2–8 ft of water with 2,000 to 43,000 eggs per female; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives 59–75 °F. Smallmouth spawn at about 60 °F too, usually 62–64 °F in Wisconsin’s data, on gravel next to a boulder or log in 3–10 ft. Spotted bass spawn at 57–74 °F. In every species the male builds and guards the nest, which is why spawning fish are easy to find and why the bed-fishing debate exists; Florida’s pond study found no significant difference in fry production between fished and unfished ponds, while the review literature shows angled males defend nests less. Feeding stops below about 41 °F and above 98 °F.
The six-season pattern
Kevin VanDam’s framework, published by Bassmaster, is the temperature model most anglers fish, and it is quoted here as his.
| Season | Water | Where the bass are | What he throws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | ≤48 °F (9 °C) | Main-lake vertical structure: bluffs, channel drops, timber | Suspending jerkbaits, grubs, jigs, spoons |
| Pre-spawn | 48–55 °F (9–13 °C) | Vertical structure next to spawning flats | Deep crawfish crankbaits, slow-rolled spinnerbaits, lipless cranks |
| Spawn | 55–70 °F (13–21 °C) | Flat, protected shallows | Tubes and floating worms in clear water, soft jerkbaits in stained |
| Post-spawn | 70–75 °F (21–24 °C) | Suspended near vertical cover leaving the beds | Topwater, spinnerbaits, baits high in the column |
| Summer | 75–90 °F (24–32 °C) | Humps, points, drop-offs, ledges; weeds | Crankbaits, weedless frogs, early topwater |
| Fall | 75 down to 55 °F (24 down to 13 °C) | Following shad into the creeks | Willow-leaf spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits |
Where to go next
The species pages go deeper on each bass, on the world-record story and on the questions asked most: are largemouth good to eat, how rare a 10-pound bass really is, when bass spawn in your state. The catfish hub is the other freshwater pillar, and the gear section explains the rods, reels and line every bass technique assumes.