Bass Colors

[Bassinkid]

What colors are the bass when there deaper and shallower? are they darker for shallow and lighter for deaper?

[knukles]

darker bass get more sun just like humans the more sun the the more color to your skin typicaly. Well at least white people.

[Recon8541]

actually its the other way arround. bass tend to "blend" to their environment. Bass that hold deeper tend to be darker, as there is less light at depth. Bass that live shallow tend to be lighter, where the sun is more prevelant. Almost every animal in the animal kingdom has some type of typical transformation.

[ILfishinman]

i thought that the more sun bass got the darker they were, like clear water will hold darker bass because they get more sun, and muddy water will have lighter bass cause they get less sun

[Patrick Krueger, Jr.]

My favorite fishing hole is less than 5 ft. deep and full of weeds and all the fish are extremely dark, picture perfect, models for fish identification charts.

[Recon8541]

our lake here is 13 foot max, and only 82 acres. most of the fish I catch at depth look like the picture pretty ones, and the ones I catch closer in almost look pale. However in a lake that small that is effected by conditions so fast....who knows. I was just simply stating what I had read in KVD's book bass strategies..its awesome by the way!

[KenDammit]

Originally Posted by Recon8541

actually its the other way arround. bass tend to "blend" to their environment. Bass that hold deeper tend to be darker, as there is less light at depth. Bass that live shallow tend to be lighter, where the sun is more prevelant. Almost every animal in the animal kingdom has some type of typical transformation.

actually, less light means the bass will take on a silvery, non-distinct coloring, unless what they are holding in is dark and the bottom they're over is darker.

Bass blend in 3 directions, up, down, and horizontally.

Each skin cell on a bass contains pigment that expands with light and contracts without light. So, the light coming directly from the source effects color, but then....the amount of light reflecting to a bass' eye will also effect its color. If a lot of light is being reflected off the bottom, the bass will have less coloration so that it doesn't stand out against what it detects as a light colored or reflective bottom.


This is all theoretical to completely particle free water, though. There are a lot of variables that change the color of fish so there is no "set in stone" cause/effect but what a bass is essentially trying to do is make the contrast between it and its surroundings nil. Get bass in really muddy water and they'll be pretty much all silvery/white because the particles in the water reflect the light too much and the best tactic to use would be to blend into the "reflection" which is a whitish color.

"greeny" surroundings produce green fish, brown colored stuff will produce fish that are more brown colored and dark bottoms or areas will produce really dark colored fish..but keep in mind the "variables" from above.


I've mentioned it before, but read here.

http://www.wmi.org/bassfish/articles/T10.htm

[hackattack]

bass are usually lighter in darker water, i dont know why. something to do with light penetration probably...

[Fishnfool4evr]

lets just say they match their surroundings, that say's it all

[hackattack]

???
in clear water they are darker!

[DEbass'n]

Yes we have a small pond behind my dads house that is dark and right up against the woods, so it is in the shade a lot. the bass in it are pale looking, not dark at all. even the bluegill and perch are not real colorful.

[BassAddict]

This fish was caught in shallow water (about 2-3'). The water is a dark color but clear. The second picture... that fish was shallow but in more stained water and is lighter colored. The other day my brother caught a bass in shallow water but it was muddy. The fish was a real light almost white/silver color.

Eric

[JB]

bassaddict and kendamnit nailed it! I have noted the same here in the lower miami valley of ohio.
If ya catch one under the mat in summer their back is almost black, put them in the live well and at the end of the day its more greenish.