Do smallmouth and largemouth relate to the shady side more in Bright sun

[veradoman]

What side are the bass typically on?

[Snake2715]

Where the baitfish are?

[3dkicker]

Bass and sunfish are in the same family. Bass use the sun to warm up. They also hide in the shade to ambush. Depending on their needs at the time they can be in either location.

[dodgeguy]

Originally Posted by veradoman

What side are the bass typically on?

they don't like sunlight.so provided there is food available and enough oxygen they prefer shade.

[lowrider]

high sun times bass will for sure seek shade. they don't wear ray-bans after all

[WTL]

For right now, you are looking at shade.

Next spring, real early its more likely gonna be reversed.

[rangerryan]

i have caught bass on a shady bank and also on a sunny bank but i believe that it also depends on whether or not the bank is calm or windy. windy banks usually provide bait. but bass are definately were the bait is.

[CarpMan]

During the last years and past decade many rumors and myths has been created but today many of these myths or lies about bass behavior has been dispelled by scientific evidence. Some of these myths are the following…
Lie Number 1: Bass Kill Prey for Fun
It’s tempting to exaggerate the characteristics of bass to make them seem fierce and more worthy of capture. But some bass don’t even kill one prey per day.
The times they run into enough vulnerable prey to gorge themselves are few indeed. In some feeding incidents, bass continue to feed even though they seem to have eaten all they can hold.
This may result because bass so seldom encounter the possibility of eating too many prey that they lack a mechanism to indicate they’re full.
Lie Number 2: Sun Hurts Bass Eyes
This myth continues, despite being obviously false. Experienced anglers, including bass pros and writers who keep this myth alive, routinely see bass cruising about (seldom feeding) in ultra clear water under direct midsummer sunlight. Bass have neither eyelids nor expandable pupils.
They don’t need them. Their eyes contain pigments that shield eye cells from bright light. Water rapidly absorbs, reflects, and reduces light intensity, so sudden light changes and bright light usually aren’t a problem underwater. Shady spots are good places to cast for bass, but not because shade protects their eyes.
Instead, bass use shade for protection and to camouflage their stalking of prey. Fish in shade can see better into sunlit areas than from direct sunlight looking into shade.
Lie Number 3: Bass Hear Anglers Talking
Sound travels well through air, water and solid objects. But it doesn’t transfer easily from air to water.
Sounds above the surface are too weak to affect bass. In contrast, sounds and pressure waves from movements of the boat and noise against a boat bottom are rapidly passed through water to bass ears and lateral lines. Anglers may talk, but should avoid rocking, banging scraping and stomping in a boat.
Lie Number 4: Weeds Cool Water
The sun’s warmth is absorbed by water only within a few inches of the surface. Underwater shaded areas are the same temperature as sunlit areas unless other factors are involved. Weeds collect heat.
If weds are all near the surface, they can warm the surface. If currents don’t dissipate this heat, water under shallow weeds often is warmer, though shadier, than nearby open water.
Lie Number 5: Bass Hover in Shade in Deep Water
As light scatters, shade eventually disappears in deeper water. Double the depth at which you can see a white object under your boat to estimate the depth at which shade ceases to be a factor in bass behavior. Below that depth, there’s no significant shade, except inside underwater caves or under thick cover.
Lie Number 6: Bass Fear and Avoid Human Odors
Scientists found that trout and salmon react to the L-serine found on wolf and bear paws and seal skin. Trout and salmon frequently spawn on shallow shoals where wolves and bears may attack them. So these fish species instinctively avoid L-serine. Human skin also produces L-serine that can scare trout and salmon.
As of this writing there is no known scientific study, however, that shows bass react negatively to L-serine or any other chemical produced by humans.
Predators that produce L-serine or other humanlike odors seldom attack bass underwater. Bas may learn to fear human scents only in waters where catch-and-release is frequently practiced, but such avoidance could become instinctive only after many generations of natural selection.
Scents may tempt bass to hold artificial lures a few seconds longer to taste them, or perhaps scents stimulate feeding. But human L-serine isn’t naturally feared by bass and doesn’t need to be masked.
Lie Number 7: 90 % of the Bass Are Caught by 10 % of the Anglers
This myth may have been accurate in the 1960s when few anglers knew how to fish for bass. At the present time, many anglers are proficient, and the total catch is shared by more fishermen.
A better guess might be that in typical fished-down waters, 10 percent of the anglers catch 50 percent of the fish, 30 percent of the anglers catch 70 percent; while the remaining 70 percent get only 30 percent of the total catch. By J Carrall

[Tryinhard]

thanks carpman very informative.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Tryinhard

thanks carpman very informative.

And very true! Over the last few years I have had the fortune to have been part of several very good discussions with Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologists, Bass Pro Shops (Grapevine, TX) and Cabela's (Ft. Worth, TX) biologists. I will tell you from the experts that each and everyone of the myths that carpman shared with us are accurately stated.