In order to evaluate the effects of carbohydrate levels on the growth, glycometabolism, antioxidant capacity and metabolome of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), two test diets were prepared with 100 g kg−1 α‐starch (LS group) and 200 g kg−1 α‐starch (HS group) respectively. Largemouth bass with an initial weight of 7.56 ± 0.02 g was fed for 8 weeks. Comparing to LS group, in HS group, the weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly reduced, the protein efficiency ratio (PER) was significantly improved, plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity increased significantly, the hepatic glycogen content and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of largemouth bass increased significantly, catalase (CAT) activity and gene expression were significantly downregulated, while the dietary carbohydrate level had no significant effect on hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and gene expression, the gene expression of ADP dependent glucokinase (ADPGK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), pyruvate kinase (PK) and glycogen synthesis (GS) were increased significantly, while no statistic difference was observed in the expression of gene hexokinase (HK), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and fructose‐1, 6‐bisphosphatase‐1 (FBP1), the expression of glycogen synthesis kinase 3β (GSK3β) was decreased significantly. Comparative metabolomic analysis identified 53 positive differential metabolites and 40 negative differential metabolites (VIP≥1, p < 0.05) in the liver of largemouth bass between the two groups. Furthermore, metabolomics analysis indicated that the diet with high level of α‐starch significantly enriched multiple amino acid metabolism pathways and significantly affected levels of metabolites involved in carbohydrate metabolism in largemouth bass. These results suggested that high‐carbohydrate diet contained 20% α‐starch had a negative impact on growth, glycometabolism and antioxidant capacity, which may be caused by the changes of metabolite contents and metabolic pathways.