190 free Bass Fishing trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bass fishing is the biggest freshwater sport in America, with a professional tour, half a million B.A.S.S. members and a world record that has stood since 1932. This quiz covers the fish, the people and the gear: how to tell a largemouth from a smallmouth from a spotted bass, who caught the record and what he did with it, how the Bassmaster Classic started on a mystery lake, and where Johnny Morris sold his first tackle. Some questions are easy enough for anyone who has thrown a plastic worm off a dock. Others — the scientific family black bass actually belong to, how many species are in the genus, why Rapala's early sales spiked in 1962, who has the most Angler of the Year titles — are for people who watch weigh-ins on purpose. Every answer has been checked against a published source and each question links to it, so you can settle the argument at the boat ramp.
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Q 01Black bass such as the largemouth actually belong to which group of fishes?
Sunfishes (Centrarchidae)
Despite the name, they are Centrarchidae, cousins of the bluegill; striped bass are the real thing.
Q 02The genus that contains all the black bass species is called what?
Micropterus
It currently holds 14 recognized species, all native east of the Rockies from Hudson Bay to northeastern Mexico.
Q 03Which feature identifies a largemouth rather than a smallmouth?
An upper jaw extending past the rear edge of the eye
On a smallmouth the jaw stops beneath the eye, and its coloring runs bronze rather than green.
Q 04Which of these is a common nickname for the largemouth bass?
Bucketmouth
Green bass, widemouth and largie are others; bronzeback belongs to the smallmouth and rockfish to the striper.
Q 05Who caught the all-tackle world record largemouth on June 2, 1932?
George Perry
He was a farm boy fishing for food; the fish was weighed at a general store, entered in a magazine contest and then eaten.
Q 06How much did the 1932 world record largemouth weigh?
22 lb 4 oz
Manabu Kurita pulled a bass of essentially identical weight from Japan's Lake Biwa in 2009, and the two now share the record.
Q 07In which US state was the 1932 record largemouth caught?
Georgia
Montgomery Lake is an oxbow off the Ocmulgee River; a historical marker now stands nearby.
Q 08What was the record-setting angler's only reward for his 1932 fish?
$75 of merchandise from a Field & Stream contest
He was 19 and caught it on a Creek Chub Fintail Shiner while fishing to put food on the table.
Q 09Which Japanese lake produced the 2009 largemouth that tied the world record?
Biwa
Black bass are officially a nuisance species in Japan, which made a record from Biwa deliciously awkward.
Q 10The largemouth is the official state freshwater fish of Florida and which neighbouring state?
Alabama
Georgia and Mississippi go further and make it the state fish outright, while Texas gives the honor to the Guadalupe bass.
Q 11The smallmouth bass carries which scientific name?
Micropterus dolomieu
It honors the French mineralogist Déodat de Dolomieu — the same man the Dolomites are named after.
Q 12Smallmouth bass are nicknamed 'bronzebacks' and prefer what kind of water compared with largemouth?
Cooler and clearer
They favor rocky lakes and current-swept rivers, which is why they dominate the Great Lakes and Ozark streams.
Q 13The world record smallmouth, 11 lb 15 oz, came from which reservoir in 1955?
Dale Hollow
David Hayes caught it on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, and the mark has now stood for seven decades.
Q 21Where was the first Bassmaster Classic held, in 1971?
Lake Mead, Nevada
Bobby Murray won $10,000; today's champion takes home $300,000.
Q 22Until 1976 the Bassmaster Classic was held on what kind of venue?
A 'mystery lake' revealed only in the air
Anglers boarded a plane not knowing where they were going, so nobody could pre-fish the water.
Q 23Which two anglers share the record of four Bassmaster Classic wins?
Rick Clunn and Kevin VanDam
Q 14A spotted bass differs from a largemouth in what way?
Its upper jaw does not reach past the eye and its mouth is smaller
It also has scales on the base of the second dorsal fin, and the record spotted bass, 10.27 lb, came from Pine Flat Lake in California.
Q 15Which black bass is the official state fish of Texas?
Guadalupe
It lives only on the Edwards Plateau, tops out under four pounds, and is threatened mainly by hybridizing with stocked smallmouth.
Q 16Which parent guards the nest and fry after black bass spawn?
The male
The male sweeps out the bed, coaxes a female to lay, then stands guard until the fry scatter — which is why bed-fishing is controversial.
Q 17Unlike black bass, the striped bass belongs to which family of true basses?
Moronidae
It is anadromous, spending adult life at sea, though landlocked populations began in Santee-Cooper when the dams went in.
Q 18A cross between a striped bass and a white bass is commonly called what?
A wiper
Also sold as sunshine bass and palmetto bass, the hybrid is stocked widely in reservoirs because it grows fast and fights hard.
Q 19Who founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) in 1967?
Ray Scott
An Alabama insurance man, Scott dreamed up competitive bass fishing and later pushed catch-and-release on the tour.
Q 20Where was the first B.A.S.S. tournament held in June 1967?
Beaver Lake, Arkansas
A total of 106 anglers from thirteen states showed up for the All-American, and a sport was born.
Clunn won in 1976, 1977, 1984 and 1990; VanDam in 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2011.
Q 24'KVD', the all-time money leader in pro bass fishing, hails from which Michigan city?
Kalamazoo
Kevin VanDam collected seven Angler of the Year titles and won back-to-back Classics in 2010 and 2011 before retiring in 2023.
Q 25How many Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles did Kevin VanDam win?
7
He is also the sport's all-time money winner, though Roland Martin still holds the record with nine AOY crowns.
Q 26In 2019, at age 72, Rick Clunn became the oldest angler ever to do what?
Win a Bassmaster Elite Series event
He broke his own record from 2016, and had qualified for 28 consecutive Classics earlier in his career.
Q 27Which legend holds a record nine B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year titles yet never won the Classic?
Roland Martin
He won 19 tournaments and made 25 Classic appearances, and was first to enter all three fishing halls of fame.
Q 28TV host Bill Dance is instantly recognizable by his sunglasses and a cap from which university?
Tennessee
Bill Dance Outdoors began on a Memphis station in 1968, and he collected 23 national bass titles along the way.
Q 29What sets Major League Fishing apart from traditional tournaments?
A referee on each boat weighs and releases every fish immediately
No livewell, no five-fish limit; every scorable bass counts, and MLF bought the FLW tour in 2019.
Q 30In a typical multi-day bass tournament, how many fish does each angler weigh per day?
Their best 5
The limit, plus catch-and-release rules and livewells, is what let the sport grow without emptying lakes.