Insects and invertebrates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThis knowledge comes from both scientific research and decades of fishing for bass around the country. Todd Driscoll has been a district fisheries biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for roughly 25 years. He\u2019s a bass expert from East Texas, which is home to some of the most productive largemouth lakes in the country. He\u2019s also fished in bass tournaments throughout his career, and these two perspectives have shaped his overall understanding of what bass eat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would classify largemouth bass as opportunistic feeders and extremely adaptable predators,\u201d Driscoll says. \u201cAnd to a large degree, at least in Southern reservoirs, it\u2019s understood pretty well what bass eat.\u201d<\/p>\nSmallmouth and largemouth bass often key in on similar food sources. Adobe stock<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The same generalist description holds true for smallmouth bass, which are found in waters throughout North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI tournament fish all summer long, so it\u2019s always been important to me to understand what they\u2019re eating,\u201d says Jeff Elliot, a federal fisheries biologist with NOAA. \u201cWe have a lot of unique [food sources] in the Great Lakes, especially when it comes to smallmouth forage.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
While smallmouth and largemouth bass do eat a lot of the same species, there are certain critters each fish prefers.<\/p>\n
What Do Largemouth Bass Eat?<\/h3>\n\nShad, bluegills, other bass<\/li>\n Frogs <\/li>\n The occasional duckling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWhat Do Smallmouth Bass Eat?<\/h3>\n\nShad and other baitfish, including minnows and gobies<\/li>\n Crayfish<\/li>\n Mice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBaitfish and Other Bite-Sized Fish Species<\/h2>\n Big fish eat little fish, and bass are no different. This means that baitfish are far and away the most important food source for both largemouth and smallmouth bass. The different types and species of baitfish will vary depending on the water body and location. But if we\u2019re talking about the large reservoirs and lakes in the South, Driscoll says it\u2019s all about shad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our area, the primary forage species in terms of biomass is shad-based,\u201d he says, adding that threadfin shad and gizzard shad are the two most common species found in East Texas lakes.<\/p>\nA naturally colored lipped crankbait makes a great shad imitation. Adobe stock<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Threadfin shad are smaller and more abundant. A typical adult threadfin is around 4 to 5 inches long. Gizzard shad are huge by comparison, measuring between eight to 14 inches as adults. They get even bigger than that, though, and Driscoll has personally seen gizzard shad up to 18 inches long. At that point, he says, \u201cthey can outgrow predation,\u201d meaning they\u2019re too big for most bass to eat. Studies show that bass will eat prey that is as much as 60 percent of their own body size. Bass have been documented trying to take down bigger meals, and dying in the process.<\/p>\n
After shad, the next most important forage fish is perch and other small sunfish. Bluegills top this list in many water bodies, but bass will also eat redears, pumpkinseeds, green sunfish, and every other subspecies they can get their jaws around.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, largemouth and smallmouth bass are also members of the sunfish family. And since we\u2019ve already established that bass will eat every sunfish species under the sun, bass will also eat each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cCannibalism does happen a lot, and it\u2019s usually more focused on year-old, six- to 10-inch fish predating upon the fingerlings after they hatch,\u201d Driscoll says. \u201cMale largemouth bass will protect hatched fry for a while, but once those fry scatter on their own, they\u2019re fair game. A largemouth bass won\u2019t discriminate if they find a one- to four-inch bass.\u201d<\/p>\nBass will often bite off more than they can chew. AJ Hauser \/ The Minimalist Fisherman<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Moving north to the Great Lakes, Elliot says shad are one of the most important food sources for smallmouth. He also adds gobies and alewives to the list of regional baitfish that smallies like to eat.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlewives get pretty big, up to six or seven inches, as adults,\u201d Elliot says. \u201cThey\u2019re an invasive, pelagic species here in the Great Lakes \u2026 but a really unique thing happens when they come into all these lakes we have on the westside to spawn in June. If you aren\u2019t dialed into that, you\u2019re in big trouble because the bass really key in on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crayfish<\/h2>\n The second-most important food category for bass, according to both Driscoll and Elliot, is crayfish. These armored crustaceans can be found in most lakes and rivers where bass live, and they make up a large portion of a bass\u2019 diet.<\/p>\n
Growing up fishing rivers in Central Texas, I\u2019ve caught more bass than I can count (both smallmouth and largemouth) that had little orange claws sticking out of their gullets. Fishing a crawfish pattern slow and deep might not be that exciting, but it\u2019s incredibly effective. This is especially true in the springtime when crawdads are emerging from their winter burrows underground.<\/p>\n
Amphibians and Reptiles<\/h2>\n Bass love to eat frogs, and these juicy little amphibians are synonymous with warm-water bass fisheries.\u00a0Bass also prey upon lizards and snakes. While not as common as swimming frogs on most water bodies, lizards do hang out near the water\u2019s edge at times.<\/p>\n
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