About Bass

If you want to catch more and bigger largemouth bass you must know some basic information about their biology. Here you will learn everything about largemouth bass from how their metabolism works to if they posses colour vision. This is extremely valuable information for a serious bass angler, or serious bass angler wanna be.

Metabolism: Bass are cold blooded, meaning their metabolism is controlled by water temperature. When the water goes below, oh lets say around the 50 degree Fahrenheit mark, the bass' metabolism slows down making the fish not eat as much. When the water temperature goes above the 50 degree Fahrenheit mark bass get more and more active due to their metabolism. The best possible water temperature bass can stay in is around 68-78 degrees Fahrenheit (20-25 degrees Celsius). Any temperature above 80 degrees Fahrenheit causes low dissolved oxygen levels and makes the largemouth bass hard to breathe. Another good temperature for bass is when it is steady and there are no sudden changes. Bass in northern climates live longer but do not grow big. In southern climates bass live shorter, but grow larger.

Other Temperature Facts: When the water temperature turns to about 62-68 degrees Fahrenheit (16-20 degrees C) largemouth bass begin to spawn. Largemouth bass make beds on the bottom of the water in shallow areas of the water body. A good rule of thumb is for the deeper the bed, the bigger the fish. But in some places fishing for bass while they are spawning is illegal. Shortly after spawning they head to shallow water areas. Bass can tell when a cold front is coming, they binge eat as much as possible before the cold front and then stop eating altogether during the cold front. Oh, and if you do not know how a bass can tell what temperature the water is, it is proven that a largemouth bass can feel a change in temperature of 1 tenth of a degree.

Senses of The Largemouth Bass:

Lateral Line: The lateral line is made up of nerve endings on the side of the fish. The lateral line picks up vibrations in the water. This is so sensitive it can tell what size, speed, shape, etc. of the prey or predator.

Sight: Yes, largemouth do posses colour vision. The bass relies mostly on colours in clear or other high visibility water. In muddy water bass do not use this sense as much as their lateral line or smell. Fish see in 2 dimensions to the side of their body. Bass can see in 3 dimensions from about 5 inches from their snout and out to, depending on water clarity, 100 feet to 5 feet.

Hearing: Sound travels through water much better than air. But, bass have ears inside their skull instead of outside. Bass do, however, have a keen sense of hearing.

Smell: Bass use smell to detect prey or predators. Their smell is very sensitive and if they smell a predator nearby they will swim away from the area. And, therefore, if they smell prey they will go in search of it and eat it.