I've always wondered why smallmouth were harder to catch than largemouth.  Not that there's anything wrong with catching lots of largemouth but, why are sm more elusive?  

In my area for me, it seems the other way around. I think bottom line is that it means that neither you nor I have unlocked the puzzle to get them to bite, ie, the presentation that they want vs. what we've been giving them.  :'(

They aren't...

The biggest difference in the species are where they prefer to live.

Largemouth favor cover, smallmouth assocciate with structure. On

a river, smallmouth in current, largemouth in slack water.

8-)

In my area, there isn't too much of a difference most of the time, but there is a little bit, and sometimes a big difference. My opinion based on my area is that Smallmouth are in the clearer lakes that are crystal clear and deep, which makes it a) easier for them to detect subtle mistakes by a fisherman and they are often very deep

They aren't...

The biggest difference in the species are where they prefer to live.

Largemouth favor cover, smallmouth assocciate with structure. On

a river, smallmouth in current, largemouth in slack water.

8-)

x2 you said it.  

Largemouth are mostly eye candy fishing were smallies you look at electronic and piece a picture together and work your way too the fish. When you find big smallies they are killers that magizine story we all read is just mag. bull.

Garnet

Maybe because of the small mouth? CAnt get the lure into its mouth? ;D

Ok, I get it.  I guess I've just never specifically went for smallmouth.  What kind of baits do you use to catch them?  I've caught a couple on crawdads before..

I catch way more Smallmouth than I do Largemouth. It has to do with the area I fish.

I catch them on Shiners and Worms when fishing with live bait and Senkos when fishing artificial. They like my Red Shad laminate and Watermelon Lemon laminate ones.

They aren't...

The biggest difference in the species are where they prefer to live.

Largemouth favor cover, smallmouth assocciate with structure. On

a river, smallmouth in current, largemouth in slack water.

8-)

X2!!!

IN some ways they're more difficult, in other ways they are not.

This is how I would break it down:

Finding them: same

Getting them to Bite: LM. LM tend to get lock jaw more then SM, who tend to be aggressive almost all the time

Landing them when Hooked: SM, without a doubt, are harder to land. Nothing fights (or throws a hook) like a smallie.

For me, I have the most success with small jigs with even smaller twin tail jigs.-