What Do The Teeth Mean?

[Preytorien]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed, but I guess I've never gotten around to thinking about it until tonight.

 

Bass have those teeth, which feel a bit more like micro-bristles or sandpaper. But I've noticed that on bass, you'll catch one who'll have teeth more like sandpaper, and the next one, about the same size, they'll be more like bristles.....longer.

 

I wonder what causes that? Does the fish with smaller "teeth" eat more, or eat a different type of food? Both of the fish I caught this evening were roughly the same size (2.75-3 lbs) and both had contrasting teeth length. It was the same pond, so their menu was the same. I wonder what causes that?

 

Anybody know?

[Snakehead Whisperer]

It has to do with forage, afaik. Check out the teeth on this little smallie. 

 

[Brian6428]

Im not sure why but one time I was fishing a golf course pond (legally, of course) that received no fishing pressure. All 30 of the bass i caught had sharp "teeth" and a few even tried to bite my thumb. Obviously it didnt hure but it was kinda funny.

[aquaholic]

Sharp teeth means they feed off worms and small fish. No teeth means they grind their teeth on craws, or other tough stuff. Or so I believe

[tomustang]

It means you can tell which ones go to the dentist

[MarkH024]

It means you can tell which ones go to the dentist

Lol

[Brian Needham]

Sharp teeth means they feed off worms and small fish. No teeth means they grind their teeth on craws, or other tough stuff. Or so I believe

 

if this is true, that is very interesting

[Tony L.]

I am curious about that myself. I noticed that on one lake I fished for the firsttime this this year, the bass seemed much more "toothy" than any I have caught in the past. One 3 1/2 pounder, in particular, tore my thumb to shreds when I grabbed it by the bottom lip. I figured that this lake, which is very isolated, simply had a unique genetic strain of bass. The crawfish/grinding teeth theory would also make a lot of sense, given what I know about the available forage where I was fishing, but I had never heard that before. Really interesting.

[Paul Roberts]

Neat observation. My guess is that it's genetic variation, esp since the two can be found in the same waters. For it to be two "strains" they'd have to be reproductively isolated. That couldn't really happen in the same pond. But there could be a tendency toward sharper teeth in some lakes and not in others. I could see sharper teeth being advantageous for piscivorous popns. Doubt anyone's looked into the genetics behind it, but then you never know -there's a lot of obscure research out there.

[Brian Needham]

This is a question for Mr. Bob lusk

[KyakR]

if this is true, that is very interesting

Sure is! If true would be a great way to direct anglers in choosing lures if it was recorded and incorporated into fishing reports

[Darren.]

I am curious about that myself. I noticed that on one lake I fished for the firsttime this this year, the bass seemed much more "toothy" than any I have caught in the past. One 3 1/2 pounder, in particular, tore my thumb to shreds when I grabbed it by the bottom lip. I figured that this lake, which is very isolated, simply had a unique genetic strain of bass. The crawfish/grinding teeth theory would also make a lot of sense, given what I know about the available forage where I was fishing, but I had never heard that before. Really interesting.

Exactly my experience this year, too! I was going to ask here, glad PSN81 did. These bass have torn me up this year. But this is on my usual fishing reservoirs.

Also, I caught one bass this summer that ate craws and spit it out when I caught 'im. Never seen that in all the years I've fished here... Usually it is shad in the gullet.

'Course I don't recall it their teeth were any lless sharp or not.

I wonder, too, if there isn't a side effect to some of the treatments used to control various invasive species. Perhaps new blends of chemicals affect tooth growth? I've been on the water when the DGIF biologists came out and sprayed chemicals around the entire shoreline (in the water, of course).

[WRB]

Age, prey types and bass species all play a roll in how bass teeth develope.

Genetics may be a factor, the largemouth bass from lake Guerrero, Mexico, have longer teeth then any other bass that I have caught.

Bass feeding on softer prey like bait fish tend to have sharper teeth then the bass feeding on harder prey like crawdads. You can usually tell by the redness in the basses mouth are eating a lot of crawdads, plus feeling the hard lumps in the stomach and crawdad parts in the live well area good indicators.

Bass between 2 1/2 to 3 lbs could be a younger female or an older male bass, so size alone doesn't indicate age.

Tom

[PABASS]

I always have had questions about red mouth observations, its not the first time I have heard when they are red they are feeding on crawdads, however I fished several ponds that have no crawdad population and in winter months the top of the mouths are very red and this goes away in warmer months, however I typically only see red mouths in cooler months even with crawdad populations.