Smallmouth Bass The most sought after fish in the Little Miami is the smallmouth bass. The smallmouth bass gets its name from the fact that the rear end of the lower jaw does not extend past the eye, while the jawof a largemouth does. . Their preferred water temperature is 68-70 degrees F, cooler than that of the largemouth bass. Spawning activity begins in the spring when water temperatures reach 60 degrees F or more. The male builds a nest in quiet water, usually near shore, or downstream from an obstruction that causes a break in the current. Since the male will guard the eggs and the newly hatched fry, the nest is never far from deep water, or cover, where he can retreat when frightened. Smallmouth are larger than those of the largemouth bass and hatch in roughly three days. Then the newly hatched fry hide in the gravel at the bottom of the nest nest for a few or more days. After that the fry hang around the nest for a few more days before they begin to begin to disperse. Till then they are guarded by the male who hangs around keeping a watchfull eye on things. At first they fry eat tiny crustaceans, but soon beging to add insects and fish to their diet as they grow in size.Smallmouth bass mature at age three and a very very old one might live to be 10 to 12 years old. The usual smallmouth seen by anglers is 10 to 14 inches long, and weighs less than three pounds. The world record smallmouth was caught in Dale Hollow Lake in in July of 1955 by David Hayes. It weighed 11 pound 15 ounces! He was trolling a model 300 Bomber in deep water. The Ohio state record smallmouth was caught in Lake Erie in 1993 by Randy Van Dam ( yeah he's Kevin Van Dam's brother) and weighed a staggering 9lb 8 ounces on ajigging spoon. The world record record largemouth bass is just a tad under twice as big as the world record smallmouth and that actually is a pretty good indication of the difference in average size of the two bass species. But the smallmouth has a well earned reputation as the hardest fighting fish there is and surprise everyone that catches one for the first time. Smallmouth also have a reputation for being moody cantakerous bastards who won't hit anything one minute then smash the heck out of plug the next. I like them alot. Smallmouth bass thrive in streams with gravel or rock bottoms with a visible current such as the Little Miami River. Smallmouth bass out number largemouth bass in most streams and rivers in Ohio. In southern Ohio smallmouth are out numbered by spotted bass in some of the largest rivers such as the Muskingum, Scioto, and Ohio Rivers. Smallmouth bass are common in Lake Erie, which might just be the best smallmouth fishery in the world. They can also be found in some of Ohio's reservoirs, especially those that are deeper and clearer with steep drop offs and rocky shorelines. But smallmouth are almost never as numerous as largemouth in Ohio's lakes. In the LMR any smallmouth over 3 lbs is certainly worth snapping a photo of before releasing. Any smallie over 4 lbs is probably the catch of a lifetime. In thirty years of fishing the LMR more than anyone I know I've only managed to land one smallmouth over 5lbs from the Little Miami. Although the Little Miami is prime smallmouth habitat and small and medium sized fish abound, the very nature of it being a river habitat with the occasional terrible spawns caused by flooding means that every ethical fisherman should practice catch and release on smallmouth bass especially those rare giants. I'm not against fish fries, just smallmouth bass fish fries.