Largemouth bass has voracious appetite

I photographed this largemouth bass in the clear water of a local farm pond on a bright sunny summer day.

The largemouth bass is an aggressive feeder, striking at almost anything that flails in the water. For this reason, hundreds of "bass lures" that mimic live bait have been developed over the years. Anything from plastic worms to fake frogs to minnowlike contraptions that wiggle will catch largemouth bass.

Millions of dollars are awarded annually in catch-and-release bass tournaments across the US. Catch-and-release means that caught bass must be kept safe and returned to the water alive after official weighing. It is said the largest largemouth bass ever caught weighed 25 pounds and 1 ounce, but it was not properly recorded by a game official and therefore is not recognized.

Largemouth bass will generally gain about one pound per year under good growing conditions and may live 15 years or more.

When properly filleted, this fish offers good eating with few or no bones.

It is a common fish in the fresh waters of most of the continental U.S. and more prevalent in the southern states. Because of its voracious feeding behavior, it has caused extinctions of other species when heedlessly introduced by man into waters outside its normal range.

Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by him at the O'Tenem Gallery.