Smallmouth bass

Bronze to brown-green bass with dark vertical bars (not a horizontal stripe), red or brown eyes, and a jaw that ends below the eye, not behind it like a largemouth's.

1–4 lb (12–18 in).

About 27 in and 11 lb.

Crayfish, gobies, minnows, insects and leeches.

Hangs around rocks, boulders, shoals, points and gravel bars in clear lakes and rivers, and fights with jumps.

Found from Ontario Great Lakes, Northern Ontario and Quebec. Clear lakes and rivers with rock, gravel and boulders: eastern Lake Erie, the Niagara River, the St. Lawrence and the Thousand Islands, Georgian Bay and lakes across Ontario and Quebec.

Clear lakes and rivers with rock, gravel and boulders: eastern Lake Erie, the Niagara River, the St. Lawrence and the Thousand Islands, Georgian Bay and lakes across Ontario and Quebec.

3–25 ft.

3–25 ft on rocks and shoals.

Late spring through fall; best in early summer and again in September.

Morning and evening in summer; midday is fine on cloudy days.

No tide — current seams in rivers and wind on rocky points.

Light wind and stable weather; a light chop on clear water helps.

Live crayfish, leeches and minnows.

Tubes, drop-shot plastics, ned rigs, jerkbaits, crankbaits and small topwaters.

6½–7 ft medium spinning rod.

Drop-shot hooks size 1–2; 1/8–3/8 oz tube and ned-rig jigs.

10–15 lb braid with a fluorocarbon leader.

6–10 lb fluorocarbon.

Drag a tube or drop-shot a goby-colored plastic over rocks and shoals. In early summer, cast jerkbaits and topwaters along rocky shorelines.

Pound for pound, one of the hardest-fighting fish in fresh water. Keep your rod tip down when it jumps so it can't throw the hook.

Catch and release: wet your hands, keep the fish in the water when you can, and release it quickly. Use circle hooks and a dehooker.

Good eating when fresh.

Bleed and ice it right away. Fillet, then remove the skin and any dark bloodline.

Firm, white, mild meat; good fried or grilled, but most anglers release smallmouth.

Spiny dorsal fin — slide your hand down from the front. Big lakes get rough fast; watch the forecast.

Ontario bass season stays closed in spring to protect nesting males and usually opens in late June; dates differ by zone. Licenses, limits and seasons are set by each province, territory or state, and many lakes and rivers have special size limits, slot limits or closed spawning seasons — check the current regulations for the water you fish.

Keep only what you'll eat, release the rest quickly, and follow size and bag limits.