Black Bass and Their Senses

As with any species of fish in the black bass family, the largemouth bass possesses similar senses such as hearing, sight, taste, smell, and lastly the lateral line. The largemouth bass utilizes these six senses alternately and in various degrees all dependent upon factors such as environment, seasons, water temperature and visibility, and initial necessity to response.

Taste and smell

Largemouth bass less commonly use their taste and smell senses. Their nasal passages have a very minute number of olfactory folds so their smell is one of their lesser efficient senses. Other fish species can have up to 120 of these folds, and largemouths only have 15-20 olfactory folds. It is only when the water clarity is poor that largemouth utilize this sense.

This could throw a loop in the avid anglers who embellish their lures with gels, scents, and sprays. It only masks the human scents on these apparatus. However, it is likely that the fish will hang on the bait longer when scents are apparent. It is more difficult to estimate and pinpoint the scale of a largemouth bass’s taste, however largemouth are human incinerators, and it doesn’t much matter what their food tastes like.

Hearing

Hearing is another overrated sense that the bass rarely uses. Bass consist of internal ears that have tiny bone structures that are capable of distinguishing very subtle sounds beneath the water. This is one of the main purposes of anglers utilizing rattle baits that attract the extreme largemouth bass that they are aiming to catch. Although, largemouth bass do not commonly utilize this sense when they do it can be to a fisherman’s great advantage for landing that extreme largemouth bass.

The Lateral line

Largemouth bass contain a lateral line. It is their camouflage used to hunt, find, and hide from prey and predators. It is a structure within their body composed of pours that flourish along both sides of the bass and extend from the gills all the way to the tail. These porous features on the bass are nerve receptors that detect vibrations and movement of their surroundings. The fish can distinguish and detect the size, distance, and threats of the objects and environment that are near them. They can hunt their prey and protect themselves from predators by way of their lateral line sense.

Sight

Largemouth bass utilize their sense of sight the most out of all their keen senses. They are capable of seeing nearly 30ft when the water clarity is optimum. When the water visibility is murky and poor the bass taps into its other senses. The structure of the eyes of this fish allows the bass to see peripheral and in any direction except for down and back. Their color perception is very accurate as well, because largemouth can spot color up to from 10ft of their location, especially the vivid red of blood.

A fisherman can utilize this knowledge to their advantage. Common sense can direct an aspiring angler to utilize bright lures in poor water clarity conditions. Try to use noisy baits when the water is dark and heavily vegetated, and vibrating lures can increase the odds of landing that largemouth bass of all bass. Even better, combine alternate techniques and your chances will be inevitably successful. The more an individual understand the senses of this mystic creature, the better they will be able to master the beast.