Young Smallmouth Bass

Young Smallmouth Bass

A fingerling smallmouth bass receives a quick look before being stocked into a Tennessee River tributary.	Smallmouth bass fingerlings blend with a stream's rocks.
Bluewater Creek, a tributary of the Tennessee River, contains habitat for smallmouth bass.	Fisheries biologist Phil Ekema stocks smallmouth bass into Bluewater Creek, May 27, 2007.

A pair of smallmouth bass prepare to mate over a prepared bed of gravel.

Smallmouth bass fry are often very dark.

Fingerling smallmouth bass can be very colorful.

Fingerling smallmouth bass have stripes and blotches.

Hatchery reared smallmouth bass are stocked into the Tennessee River basin streams.  These were raised at Carbon Hill Fish Hatchery.

Note: In Alabama, it is illegal to stock or move a bass or any fish, mussel, snail or crayfish to any public water without a permit.