Largemouth are keenly sought after by anglers and are noted for the excitement of their fight. The fish will often become airborne in their effort to throw the hook, but many say that their cousin species, the smallmouth bass, can beat them pound for pound. Anglers most often fish for largemouth bass with lures such as plastic worms (and other plastic baits), jigs, crankbaits and spinnerbaits. A recent trend is the use of large swimbaits to target trophy bass that are used to hunting rainbow trout in California. Live bait, such as nightcrawlers, minnows, frogs or crawfish, can also be productive. In fact, large golden shiners are one of the best things to use to catch trophy bass, especially when they are sluggish in the heat of summer time or in the cold of winter. Largemouth bass is known to take any bait it considers alive.

There is a strong cultural pressure among largemouth bass anglers which encourages the fish’s live release, especially the larger specimens. Largemouth bass, if handled with care, respond well to catch and release; many studies have shown specimens which have survived being hooked and released multiple times.

The Largemouth Bass has been known to exist in many of the lower 48 states of the U.S. Although it is most popular in the southeastern states, many different varieties of the largemouth bass can be found in the north and western regions.

The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) officially recognizes the heaviest largemouth bass on record as having been caught by George Perry at Montgomery Lake in Telfair County, Georgia, on June 2, 1932. The fish weighed 10 kg (22¼ lb). A largemouth bass weighing 25 pounds was caught by Mac Weakley in Escondido, California’s Dixon Lake on March 20, 2006, but Weakley inadvertently foul-hooked the fish and released it.

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