How Smallmouths Relate to Submerged Grass

Smallmouth bass are typically found in cool, clear lakes and rivers, and they are known for their aggressive feeding habits.

Submerged weed beds provide smallmouth bass with a number of benefits, including:

• Cover: Weed beds provide smallmouth bass with a place to hide from predators and as ambush points to help pick off their prey.
• Food: Weed beds are home to a variety of small fish, crawfish, and other organisms that smallmouth bass eat.
• Temperature regulation: Weed beds help to regulate the temperature of the water, which is important for smallmouth bass that are spawning or that are trying to avoid predators.

Smallmouth bass typically relate to submerged weed beds in three ways:

• They use the weed beds as a place to hide. When smallmouth bass are not actively feeding, they will often retreat to the weed bed edges to rest.
• They use the weed beds as a place to ambush their prey. Smallmouth bass are ambush predators, which means that they typically wait for their prey to come to them before they strike. Weed beds provide smallmouth bass with a number of places to hide, which makes it easier for them to ambush their prey.
• They use the weed beds as a place to spawn. Smallmouth bass typically spawn in the spring, and they often do so in weed beds. The weed beds provide a number of benefits for smallmouth bass that are spawning, including protection from predators, a place to lay their eggs, and a place for the eggs to develop.

But unlike their largemouth cousins, smallmouths definitely use different parts of weed beds as underwater videographer Kim Stricker in this short "under the water" video...