Thanks Glenn.

I agree with Buzzking too. But I like'm more because I fish where there is only Largemouth and Bluegill.

(sorry.)

Where I live I have the best of both worlds.I live about 15 minutes from a boat ramp at Smith Mtn Lake and in the other direction I have the mighty New River and also the James River,both of which turn out monster smallmouth year after year.Generally after the water heats up and the largemouths go deep,I hook up my jon boat and hit the rivers for some summertime smallmouth.Man,some days on the river turn 50+ smallmouth,not all are "keepers" but generally you will catch 6-7 1 pounders then you'll catch a 2 1/2,then 6-7 more 1's then a 3 pounder.....it's always great fishing somewhere in a river because the smallies seem to always be looking to rip something up.

  But on the other hand,there is nothing like heading to the lake,trolling down the bank in early spring and catching an eyeful of an 8 pounder laid up on a bed.Oh man,what a rush!!COME ON SPRING TIME !!

I love to fish for both!  

All the nearby lakes only have largemouth, but I enjoy catching smallmouth since they never give up and they are very aggressive.

I have caught many Largemouth over 5 pounds and would rather catch a 3 pound smallie any day. Unfortunately I have few smallies to chase where I live in SE Iowa and make a trip north every year to Wisconsin to chase my passion, the Smallie. Largemouth are fun but they just do not have the heart a smallie does.

Smallmouth and I want to go fishin with Roadwarrior.

Living in Florida, I dont get a chance for a smallmouth. I have watched tv shows and I would really love to fish for them.

Largemouths.......Just is better to fish for them....!

I like fishin for smallmouth.  Oh, wait largemouth.  I mean smallmouth.  Or was it largemouth.  Wow! I really dig given bass sore lips.

Got to get out of here early Friday and spent five hours on the Tennessee River plus the whole day Saturday. We caught seven smallies the first day and seventeen Saturday, including a 6 both days!

Sunday it rained, I mean poured, but yesterday things cleared up so I went pond jumping. Caught eight largemouth over a three hour period, but no big guys.

So last week at least, I liked smallmouth on Friday and Saturday and preferred largemouth on Monday.

I enjoy either really.

I just wish it was warmer already here in Ok. :

I love fishing for them both. Fishing for smallies is GREAT in the early morning on local rivers. They definately fight much harder than a largemouth does. But fishing for those largemouths at night is my cup of tea!!

Largemouth only because most of the lakes around here only have them. I want to go smallmouth fishing sometime this summer though.

RoadWarrior, I am still waiting for my invitation. I am so envious of you!

Suwannee bass lol good one! Yeah I like those redeyes too.

The rivers in my area are full of smallmouth and we have 5 reservoirs that have have both largemouth and smallmouth. I catch way more smallies than large, but that's cuz I usually kayak fish the rivers. But this year I would say it's been about equal, because I've had to fish more lakes due to the rivers being a mess.

 

As to which one I would prefer to catch, I would rather catch a 5 lb smallie than a 5 lb largemouth. I notice the biggest difference in the smaller ones, the smallmouth fight way harder than largemouth. And, someone said that smallies are ugly, must not have caught too many of them, because I prefer the looks of a perfect smallie over a large any day. 

Tough question.

 

I love catching and fighting smallmouth in the clear Great Lakes more than largemouth fishing.  Seeing a 3 pound smallmouth jump a foot out of the water is spectacular.  I'd estimate that 80% of my bass over 4 lbs have been smallmouth from the Great Lakes even though I have fished more often for largemouth so smallmouth get the edge for me there.  But on the other hand, I enjoy fishing for largemouth more.  Pitching laydowns, skipping docks, frog fishing, fishing the edge of lily pads are all more enjoyable than dropshotting or throwing a tube for smallies.

 

So to answer the question- if I could only fish one for the rest of my life it would be smallmouth.  

 

  

I don't have any readily accessible LMB water close by so I started with SMB a few years ago and this is what I am addicted to. All about jumps and fights... Still enjoy catching green lazy potatoes while fishing kayak tournaments though... I also began to enjoy pike fishing more lately. The only thing I never enjoyed catching is walleye. More often than not, it feels like you hooked a perch crossed with a tree branch...

 

On 11/30/2004 at 11:26 PM, kajun said:

Which one do you prefer fishing for? And why?

I like them both ~ Especially the Fat ones !

 

 btw - 14 years, 7 months, and 5 days

        or

 5330 days since the OP.

 

It's like a piece of Bass Resource History I tell ya . . .

I had so much more hair back then . . . . . 

A-Jay

On 11/30/2004 at 11:26 PM, kajun said:

Which one do you prefer fishing for? And why?

I prefer smallies in deeper open water because

- they fight harder

- they seem to be bigger out deep than in shallow

- less competition/congestion/pressure compared to fishing largemouth shallow/docks/etc

 

I enjoy catching both species but smallies are my passion. I have been blessed with fishing Lake Erie for about 12 years before moving to FL full time & capitalized on both spring & fall smallies caught with jerkbaits. I have to agree with Roadwarrior that the frequency of 5 & 6 & the occasional 7 lb smallmouth from some of the best fisheries can be mind numbing to the average angler. I could never duplicate my big fish smallmouth numbers from PA waters with largemouth numbers in PA. Plus smallies fight longer & harder & jump more frequently than largemouth in general. 

I live in new york and the average smallie is bigger than the average largemouth. That's what first got me into fishing them over LM. I fish for both but have never caught a LM over 5lbs. I have caught many smallies in the 5-6.5lb range. 

       

   On top of that, I have way to much money in my electronics to not use them. Finding smallies really gives me a chance to put those graphs to work. They are harder to find, that's another reason I prefer them. 

Both largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are fun to catch but I rather catch another rare species of black bass to add to my list of species of fish caught.

On 2/2/2005 at 11:29 AM, earthworm77 said:

You guys can fight over it, I'll work on both....but my real passion is Suwannees!

Have caught Suwannee bass they are pound for pound one of the best fighters in the black bass family.

Smallmouth every time.  They actually peel drag.  Largemouth fight too much like the weeds you catch them in.