The Largemouth Bass

Bass are found in warm and cool water. The are very a adaptive and aggressive fish and are almost always ready to take a fly. They prefer fresh and brackish lake water and slow moving streams that are relatively unpolluted. Lakes of this type that range in the 55 - 80 degree are perfect Bass homes.

Bass are not the most particular fish on the planet. They will attack and eat a wide variety of food: insects, minnows, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans and mammals. They generally prefer larger foods, but I have taken them on a size 14 dry fly.

They are the master of the ambush attacking surface and subsurface foods. This is the reason that I enjoy top fishing the Bass, disturb the monster lying in wait and you've got a battle on your hands.

They can be a solitary hunter or swim in loose schools. They make there homes in and around structures and shoreline features. Lying in wait in and around boulders, fallen trees, docks and water plants.

This is a rough idea of my preferred prey.

When I was around 10 siting on the shoreline fishing for bluegills, feet in the water, sun on my face and a bobber dancing on the water. A mother Pintail duck came floating by with her clan of first time floaters just outside a Lilly pad bed. I watched her lead her little ones over what must have appeared to her to be a safe water way. In an instant, what seemed like a sub launched ICBM, a largemouth bass came out of ambush and took hold of the last duckling pulling it under the water. In an instant it was gone. The mother duck could only scramble the rest of her family to the safety of the shore.

Such is the life of a Largemouth Bass.