Though many Traveler readers are very familiar with the smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui) for those who aren’t, these web links may give you some insight into this species of fish native to the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.

• http://www.mdc.mo.gov/fish/sport/bass/smallmouth/ Mo. Dept. of Conservation Smallmouth website;
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallmouth_bass Wikipedia;
• http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=3382 Fishbase (Has a lot of further links).

Although smallies and rock bass are usually seen as being in competition with each other, bronzebacks might be legitimately called “the other rock bass” due to its scientific name:
Micropterus: small fin; dolomieui: in honor of M. Dolomieu, a French mineralogist and friend of Lacepède, for whom dolomite was named (Becker 1983).