Fish Fry Day Redux: Video of Smallmouth Bass Begging for Samples

While you’d be right in accusing us of “mailing it in” in this week’s version of the “Fishes of Wisconsin” challenge, we’ll make it up to you by presenting not one, but two cool underwater videos of smallmouth bass doing their thing!

Smallmouth bass. Photo: Marilyn Larsen
Smallmouth bass. Photo: Marilyn Larsen

First up, some smallies in an undisclosed lake in northern Wisconsin keep trying to steal former CFL grad student, Gretchen Hansen‘s, research right out of her hand. This video is several years old, but Hansen was surveying rusty crayfish populations in several Vilas County lakes and, well, let’s just say a lot of the rusties never made it to the collecting bags!

Then we head south to Lake Mendota and listen as our former undergrad intern, Emily Hilts, narrates a snorkeling adventure as she caught several smallmouth bass preparing nests for the spawning season. Also note the, um, different hue in our more southern lake’s “clear water phase!”

Until next week, enjoy Fish Fry Day, when Wisconsin restaurants and the CFL blog put fish on the menu!