Bassing's Biggest Myths

Myth #1: Bass Are Irresistible, Voracious Predators – The belief that bass are fierce, ravenous predators is a gross distortion that’s more a product of imagination than a good description of bass feeding abilities. Bass usually catch just enough prey to sustain themselves. In waters teeming with baitfish, they may catch enough to grow rapidly and become chunky, but not because they’re perfect killing machines. In nature, the talents of predators and prey tend to balance. Many, if not most, prey escape. If this weren’t true, predators would quickly eat all prey and eventually starve to death. Studies of stomach content show that in summer, about 50% of bass have food in their stomachs. Even in new reservoirs with abundant preyfish, during summer only about 70% of bass stomachs contain food. In spring and fall, the percentage may drop to between 20 and 30 percent, and they fall farther in winter. At any given time, many bass are either not feeding or not catching prey. And just because some bass are hungry doesn’t mean they’re easy to catch. Hungry bass may become active more frequently than those that have recently eaten, but all bass tend to conserve energy by waiting for periods when conditions favor an attack.

Myth #2: 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.

Myth #3: Bass Seek Spots with Optimum Conditions – Bass aren’t psychic. Unless they recently experienced an area with optimum pH, high oxygen content and bountiful prey, they have no way of knowing such conditions exist elsewhere. Bass shift locations when conditions become unsatisfactory. If they encounter better conditions and the new place isn’t within easy touring range of their established area, they may remain in the new area. Many studies show that most bass tend to stay put until environmental conditions change. Black bass usually establish relatively small home ranges in areas with adequate cover, food, and water quality. They move along the same feeding paths when seeking a meal. They travel to other areas only as part of seasonal movements, to return to places they have been before, or in a blind search forced by inadequate conditions. Optimum conditions may concentrate bass in a small area, but don’t draw fish from distant areas unless conditions force bass to leave all other spots. No matter how attractive a place may be, it won’t attract bass unless they know it exists. Once they’ve occupied a spot, however, bass may return to a precise location like one wad of roots on a long stump row, after many months absence.

Myth #4: All Bass Are Homebodies – Studies show most healthy black bass, particularly smallmouths, tend to stay in local home ranges. They remain near spawning grounds in areas where they can find food year-round. If the water temperature drops much below 45 degrees F in winter, they may move to deeper nearby spots. And bass in lakes that stay warm in winter usually don’t make seasonal migrations away from their home ranges, except for spawning shifts. Yet many bass are movers, particularly in new reservoirs and other waters with large bass populations. In waters with many competing bass, some fish are forced into marginal habitats where food, oxygen, and PH conditions periodically fall below minimum requirements. These bass may become migrants who may remain mobile unless they locate an unoccupied, superior location. Mobile bass may be any size.

Myth #5: Bass Move Shallow to Feed – Tracking and diving studies show bass tend to stay at the same depth day after day. Movements tend to be horizontal rather than vertical. When they change depth it’s in brief dashes to attack preyfish closer to the surface. Bass make short upward feeding movements, but the depth change is limited by the expansion and contraction of their swim bladders. Bass holding at 15 feet aren’t likely to move upward more than about 10 feet. Bass at 30 feet may go up and down 10 to 15 feet with relative freedom, but are unable to go nearer the surface without physical injury. Bass migrations back and forth from deep water to shallow water are seasonal, not daily events. A few in-and-out migrations may take place in response to extreme weather changes, but these occur gradually over several days.

Myth #6: 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 ultraclear 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.

Myth #7: 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.

Myth #8: 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.

Myth #9: Bass Are Ambush Predators – Writers often describe bass as lurking in dense cover or holding on points to ambush passing prey. Such descriptions are interesting, but misleading. Radio telemetry researchers and underwater observers note that bass often hover for long periods near cover or enter thick cover when they’re active, but tend to move along the edges of cover when they’re actively feeding. Bass need more food than they can catch by ambushing prey. Their streamlined, muscular bodies are better designed and colored to swim toward prey than to lie in hiding, waiting for prey to blunder into striking range. Several scientific studies have shown that bass are relatively ineffective at catching prey inside thick cover. They do better by patrolling edges of cover and often feed as members of small groups moving in stops and starts to surprise and flush prey. Bass usually aren’t feeding, however. Inactive bass often rest inside or along the edges of cover. Neutral or semi-active bas may ambush prey that blunder near enough to be easily caught. But ambush is not the primary feeding tactic of active bass in most waters. Active bass tend to move, not sit in one place. The tendency of feeding bass to move explains the periodic action anglers experience while anchored. They find moving, active bass coming and going out of casting range.

Myth #10: Bass Use Lateral Lines to Feed in the Dark – The only published study of the ability of bass to feed by using only the lateral line, hearing, and sense of touch showed that bass were inefficient predators when they couldn’t see. Although blinded bass were able to capture and eat minnows trapped in small aquaria, they had to strike repeatedly, even when they touched the struggling food. This study has unfortunately been misinterpreted to indicate that lateral line, hearing, and touch alone enable bass to find and attack prey in the dark. Bass feed at night using all their senses. Ears and their lateral line alert bass to the approach of prey and lures, but effective attacks make use of sight. Bass can see well in light conditions most humans would think too dark.

Myth #11: Lunkers Are Loners – This is usually true in fished-down waters, but not because big bass prefer solitary living. Every now and then some fortunate angler finds a group of giant bass and makes a catch of a lifetime. Bass are flushing predators, and this tactic is more efficient when several fish move together. Prey usually escape if they see a single predator coming. But bass frequently capture prey that dash near one bass while trying to escape another. Bass use group tactics. They start out as school fish when they first rise from the nest, and they remain in groups the rest of their lives if they can. Groups tend to get smaller, however, as big bass become scarcer. When only one or two lunkers remain in a lake, it’s hard to school. When enough big bass are present, they often group to feed.

Myth #12: 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.

Myth #13: Bass Have No Long Term Memory – Studies show that bass can remember specific items for a year or more. They’re able to identify and retain the memory of specific foods, hunting tactics, home ranges and other life-related facts for a lifetime. A better truism might be that bass don’t remember unrelated and unimportant items long. Unless an event is associated with food or danger, it’s quickly forgotten.

Myth #14: Reservoir Bass Fisheries Inevitably Decline – Most reservoirs experience a bass boom immediately after impoundment, followed by a decline. Some fisheries managers use this as an excuse to stock other gamefish supposedly better suited to reservoir habitats. This decline sequence isn’t inevitable, however. Eventually the boom-time bass population must balance with other fish species. But bass populations can remain large if reservoirs are properly managed. Bass overharvest must be prevented by restrictive limits, and suitable bass habitat must be protected. Reservoirs silt in and woody cover rots away unless positive measures are taken. To prevent silting, erosion in the watershed must be controlled, cover reestablished, and underwater vegetation promoted. A more accurate statement is that reservoir bassing often declines unless preventive measures are taken.

Myth #15: 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.

Myth #16: Bass Follow Baitfish Schools – Bass often dash rapidly for a few feet, cruise slowly, and then stop to rest. But they seldom swim at speeds typical of moving baitfish. Feeding bass may hover and surround feeding baitfish that remain in one general area, but will unlikely follow a fast-moving school over long distances. A school of shad repeatedly attacked as it moves directly across a vast open area is likely being pursued by several bass groups, not one that’s following the shad.

Myth #17: Baitfish Are Blown to Downwind Shores – Most preyfish are strong enough to swim rapidly upstream against moderate currents. Winds don’t produce surface currents nearly strong enough to force preyfish anywhere they don’t want to go. Steady winds in the same direction, however, may produce weak surface currents that concentrate relatively immobile plankton on downwind shores. Prey may concentrate to feed there, and bass already in the area may become active as their prey become distracted and more vulnerable. Wind also roils the water, changing light conditions and disorienting baitfish that move near the surface. These conditions can encourage bass already in the area to feed.

Myth #18: 90 Percent of the Bass Are Behind Shoreline Bassers – This may be true in new reservoirs with near capacity bass populations. In that case, bass are forced away from optimum shoreline areas to occupy marginal deepwater habitat. Fishing pressure concentrated on shoreline cover may also eliminate most of the bass there, leaving the majority of the remaining fish behind shoreline anglers. But this isn’t true in small natural lakes, lakes with competing deep-water and open-water predators, or fished-down reservoirs. Bass are best adapted to sight feeding in shallow water, and they need shallow water habitat for spawning. When competition with other species limits migration away from the shoreline, or spawning doesn’t produce enough extra bass to force some away from optimum shallow habitat, most bass are found in optimal shallow shoreline habitat.

Myth #19: 90 Percent of the Bass Are Caught by 10 Percent 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.

Myth #20: Bass “Prefer” 72 Degrees F Water – This is probably the most persistent, most repeated, and most misleading bass myth that numerous scientific tests refute. Black bass actually seek and thus theoretically “prefer” water between 76 degrees F and 86 degrees F, when temperature is the only influencing factor. Scientific reports show that spawning is the only bass behavior strongly influenced by specific water temperatures. Even the time of spawning is modified by water clarity, weather conditions, the amount of sunlight, and the life history of individual bass. The surface waters of most reservoirs and lakes in the U.S. (except those heated by power plants), don’t get too warm for bass. Unless prey availability, light intensity, water clarity, or a combination of other factors force bass away from their preferred temperature range, they’re usually found in 76 degree F to 86 degree F water. Scientific tests show smallmouth, spotted, and largemouth bass all function best, grow fastest, and swim fastest in this temperature range. When smallmouth or spotted bass are found in cooler water than largemouths, it’s not because they prefer cooler water. They usually do better and thus prefer habitats where food availability, food size, and cover are better suited to their specific abilities than to the abilities of competitive largemouths and other predators. Within wide limits, bass ignore or modify temperature needs to survive. (Bass do poorly in water that doesn’t warm above 68 degrees F and they’ll die if forced to constantly remain in water much above 95 degrees F.) This isn’t true of all gamefish species. Large, landlocked striped bass will stay in 67 degrees F to 74 degrees F water, even though prey may be plentiful near the warm surface.

Myth #21: Bass are Most Active in 72 Degrees F Water – Spring and fall generally produce the best bassing over most of the U.S., but not due to specific water temperature. Conditions associated with the change of seasons better explain improved fishing and spring and autumn fishing success. In spring, bass need to eat heavily in preparation for the spawn and to replenish fat reserves exhausted over a long and relatively foodless winter. They’re active because they’re moving to and from spawning grounds and need to seek scarce food. Available prey are relatively large, agile, hard to catch, and few in number. The fact that water temperature is rising, bass are semi-starved, and prey are scarce has more to do with easy spring fishing than a specific temperature. In summer, bass feed heavily and small prey are plentiful. They’re able to catch more food, and feeding periods are usually shorter. Except in the far northern extreme of the bass range, the surface of most bassing water warms near to or above 80 degrees F. Both the metabolism and speed of bass are at their peak at these temperatures, but bas may be harder to catch than during either spring or fall. More bas are inactive at any given time, because more have recently fed. In early fall, increasing rains often bring fresh nutrients, more plankton, and murkier conditions to bass waters that cleared in midsummer. The back ends of stagnant coves are reoxygenated in some shallow impoundments. Moreover, most preyfish have completed spawning; the number of preyfish is rapidly decreasing; and the remaining prey are older, larger, faster, and wiser. Food for most prey is also shallower under murkier conditions. These factors encourage some bass with home ranges in intermediate and deep water to return to the shallows – particularly in reservoirs with a shad forage base. The result is a second period of comparatively easier fishing. But once again, the movement is better explained as a reaction to overall habitat change rather than a specific search for 72 degree F water.
Myth #22: Bass Go Deep in Summer to Avoid Warm Water – The summer movement of some bass to the depths has been misattributed to a search for cooler water. Instead, some bass are merely returning to familiar home ranges after the spawn, without regard for specific temperatures. Other bass move deeper because many lakes and reservoirs become clearer during summer and early fall. Lakes are less frequently muddied by heavy rains, fewer nutrients are available, there are fewer plankton blooms, and sunlight penetrates deeper. Bass hunt more successfully when camouflaged by underwater gloom. In clear water, bass that stay shallow concentrate their feeding at dawn, sunset, or at night. It’s hard for bass to stalk and startle prey that clearly see them coming. Clear water and bright shallows, not warm water, force bass deeper in midsummer. In heated power-plant lakes, surface waters warm well above the 90 degree F to 95 degree F temperatures generally avoided by bass. Hot water can force bass to hold in slightly deeper, cooler water. But even in lakes with high surface temperatures, bass hold near the surface if it’s easier to capture food there. Bass in heated lakes may dash into water well over 100 degrees F to grab vulnerable prey. Avoiding warmth isn’t a compelling factor in bass behavior. Bass that establish home ranges in thick cover or murky water typically stay shallow through spring, summer, fall, and sometimes winter. Surface temperatures above 80 degrees F seldom force these bass away from the light they need to successfully feed. Thousands of bass are caught in 80 degrees F to 90 degrees F surface temperatures every year, during times when cooler water contains ample oxygen, but insufficient food. Fishing experiences provide enough exceptions to challenge the rule that bass must go deep to seek cool water. In summer, bass go deeper when their individual life histories have taught them they’ve done well there. Deep bass are those who have successfully established deep home ranges.
Myth #23: Warm Water Doesn’t Hold Enough Oxygen for Bass – Although this idea hasn’t been around long enough to become a myth, it will if writers and bass pros don’t stop repeating it. Water holds decreasingly less oxygen as it warms, but 95 degree F water saturated with oxygen still holds about 7 parts per million (ppm). Bass and most other game fish suffer no noticeable ill effects until oxygen falls below 5 ppm. They may reduce activity, but still not move until the level drops below 4 ppm. Divers had monitored bass that stayed in the stagnant back of a cove in 87 degree F water with 4.5 ppm oxygen, even though they could have reached 86 degree F water with 5.5 ppm oxygen by swimming only 100 feet at the same depth. Moreover, water absorbs oxygen at the surface and from weeds near the surface. Oxygen in deep water isn’t replenished. When oxygen is reduced near the surface, often deep water holds still les dissolved oxygen. If bass move away from 80 degree F to 95 degree F surface waters, insufficient oxygen isn’t usually the reason.

Recreational anglers, pro bassers, outdoor writers, and fisheries scientists must critically review both the logic and the data of their sources before they accept conclusions as fact. This is the only way to separate myths from angling knowledge.