Page 23 - Lady Bass Digital Magazine March 2023

SIGHT
Most anglers know that bass fish look for food with their sight, and in clear
water, it is more accessible to find food. They can see their food even from
a distance, and they even set up an area to attack their prey. When water is
murky, they turn to additional senses to help them find their mark.

A bass’ eyesight gets better with age. In the Berkley labs, they observed that
as bass get older, they generally develop a greater visual acuity. Meaning, they
become better as distinguishing shapes and the detail of objects at a given
distance.
Bass have monocular vision in addition to binocular vision, allowing them
to see what is happening on either side of their body simultaneously. This field of about 180 degrees of vision gives them
nearly boundless visual sense of their surroundings.

When fishing for bass in low visibility conditions (overcast sky) or in murky water, try using light colored (white or sil-
ver) or neon colored (chartreuse) lures. These colors tend to give a good light reflectance which allows the bass to see the
lure quicker and give it a better chance to react to your presentation. In high visibility conditions such as clear water and
clear skies, use dark colored lures. In these conditions, dark colors appear to be more natural and appetizing to the bass.
Most anglers know that bass fish look for food with their sight, and in clear water, it is more accessible to find food. They
can see their food even from a distance, and they even set up an area to attack their prey. A bass can see in most all water
clarity (clear, semi-stained, stained, murky, and even muddy colors) but when the vision of a bass is restricted the other
senses will take over.

To trick bass into biting, it is critical for anglers to mimic the actions of live prey as closely as possible.

SOUND
Bass do not have external ears, but
sound vibrations readily transmit
from the water through the bass’s
body to its internal ears. Using
“inner ear” structures and a highly
developed lateral line system which
occurs as a series of sensory pores
along each side of the fish, a bass
will respond to water movement by
detecting the vibrations or sounds
made by prey.

A bass hears and feels the vibration from the different sounds and movements in the water. Now, different sounds will
cause different pitches that send vibrations, and a bass will get familiar with certain sounds such as pitches and vibra-
tions made from natural living forage, as well being able to feel any displacement of water within a proximity of a bass
caused by even the slightest movement. Sound travels further in the water than a displacement of water caused by a bait
without any sound added to it. The reason noise baits work so well is that a bass can hear them at greater distances and
can travel further to investigate the sounds made from these types of baits. Once close enough the bass can then utilize
site and taste senses to decide whether to strike an angler offering.

It is also important for anglers to know that bass are also able classify complex sounds with respect to pitch, timbre, and
temporal pattern. Different sounds will cause different pitches that send vibrations, and a bass will get familiar with cer-
tain sounds such as pitches and vibrations made from natural living forage, as well being able to feel any displacement of
water within a proximity of a bass caused by even the slightest movement.

Lady Bass Anglers Association 23