Smallmouth bass are dangerous!

Maybe you had the same reaction I had when I saw this headline recently on an internet news site.

Could it be that my favorite fish — the smallmouth bass — is apparently right up there with those killer sharks and barracudas?   

A crew samples smallmouth bass populations on the Elk River in McDonald County. For MOCON story by Jen Girondo. Rick Horton drives the boat.

The exact quote is “Why Smallmouth Bass Are One of the Most Dangerous Fish in the Country.”

This headline, an obvious example of disgusting “click bait,” comes from an article in “Outdoor Life,” written by Joe Cermele, who in turn was apparently quoting Brandon Loomis, a journalist with the Arizona Republic.   

Bill Hoagland

The “danger” posed by the smallmouth, according to this writer, is not to humans but rather to the humpback chub, the native bluehead, the flannelmouth sucker, and the tiny speckled dace, all of which are small, native fish in the Grand Canyon below the Glen Canyon Dam.

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