Dark Vs Pale Smallmouth??

[zewski]

Ive heard alot of stories about why some smallies are dark and some pale.... the dark ones are comming from deeper to feed, they live around rocks...

 

Is there any research on that? is there a scientific answer???

 

thnks guys

[A-Jay]

I don't know what the "Research" indicates but I've caught both dark & lighter colored smallies right from the same spot on several occasions. 

 

A-Jay

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

Washed out coloration is usually from being tight to the bottom especially soft bottom. Both of these fish were caught from the same waypoint. My theory is the washout ones have been tight to the bottom where you caught them or just migrated there from some place else.

 

 

[bassguytom]

Holy crap! You guys make those smallmouth look like goliath grouper! I Want me some of those in any color variety! It seems like most of the smallmouth I catch around here in the Deleware River are of the darker variety and much smaller. Rocky bottom.

[MIbassyaker]

The smallies I catch come out of fairly shallow rivers and streams, and I don't see any of the really pale guys. They aren't anywhere near that big either, lol.

[00 mod]

Nothing to add about the logistics or feeding habits.  Just one of the darkest smallies I have ever seen.  My buddy Paul caught it out of the back of my boat while we were fishing the TN River.  We have caught hundreds of smallies out of it, and never seen any this dark before or since.  BTW- this is straight out of the river, no livewell time!

 

Jeff

 

[Ski213]

Those are some great bronzebacks in the pictures. Dang! I don't have any science to offer. I've seen the pale and dark largemouth and just based on past experience it seems like the more pale fish were with lower water clarity. I've heard the same thing about depth and it seems pretty true. I have caught pale fish shallow and dark fish deep though. What Dwight is saying makes sense. That would explain how you could pull pale and dark fish off one spot.

I did have an odd experience earlier this year with a smallmouth. It was super pale. Probably a little more pale than the one in A-Jay's picture. Almost white. It was on the bottom in about 4' of water. It was so pale I actually wasn't sure what it was till it was in the boat for a second. At weigh in it had totally changed colors. It got way darker. I had always heard it was a sunlight thing but my livewell doesn't have a skylight. It's actually the fish in my profile pic. I wish I had a before picture to show the change.

[Jig Man]

I believe that active or stressed fish have a darker color than those that are just hanging around and happen to take your bait.

[Turkey sandwich]

Washed out coloration is usually from being tight to the bottom especially soft bottom. Both of these fish were caught from the same waypoint. My theory is the washout ones have been tight to the bottom where you caught them or just migrated there from some place else.

 

 

My god! Dwight, what did those weigh?!?

[Bluebasser86]

I'm not sure what does it, but I do know they can vary widely in the same area. I caught these 2 on the same spot a couple cast apart. This first one was one of the blackest smallies I've ever seen. 

[Will Wetline]

Nothing to add about coloration, but here's another dark one for you:

 

[Dwight Hottle]

My god! Dwight, what did those weigh?!?

The first fish was 5lbs plus. The 2nd one went 6lb-12oz and went 23" long. My buddy and were fishing together for about 5-6 hours before we got bit. I only caught 3 fish that day but all three came from the exact same waypoint as we drifted for miles trying to find fish.

[RoLo]

Based on what I've read and seen, solar energy seems to be what deepens the scale pigmentation of fish.

For this reason, the more sunlight that reaches the fish the darker and more pronounced its pigmentation.
Inversely, the less sunlight that reaches the fish the lighter and more washed-out its pigment.
What Dwight said makes sense because rock tends to reflect more sunlight than a soft darker mud bottom.

The other monkey wrench is having two fish on the same waypoint that came from a different depth level.

Presumably, the fish that moved up from 'deeper' water will be paler than a fish that moved down from 'shallower' water.

 

As an aside, the darkest, most defined largemouth bass I've caught came from a crystal-clear, spring-fed lake.

The most silvery, washed-out bass I caught came from Mercer Lake, NJ, a perennially muddy lake.

 

Roger

[EvanT123]

One of the darkest smallmouth I ever caught came in a stream about 3-5 deep. I just looked and can't find the picture. I don't have a scientific reason as to why the different colors but I would imagine bottom composition and water color play an important role.

Here's two fish caught in the same area. One in the spring. High water muddy conditions. The other late fall. Water levels dropping and and clear water.

[offsidewing]

Caught thus one in about 10 feet of water. 25 feet further out the depth is over 30 feet. So this guy is probably moving between different depths throughout the day.

[Drew03cmc]

This guy came from about three feet of water that was colored perfectly, greenish clear. This is the darkest smallie in my resume.

[Dwight Hottle]

This guy came from about three feet of water that was colored perfectly, greenish clear. This is the darkest smallie in my resume.

 

 

Looks just like the water above your hand.

[Drew03cmc]

Looks just like the water above your hand.

Yep, and I believe the water color and cover has more to do with it than depth.

[desmobob]

I believe that active or stressed fish have a darker color than those that are just hanging around and happen to take your bait.

 

When I saw this thread, and especially, Jig Man's post, it made me think of my experience with the smallmouth I sometimes catch while fishing for largemouths in Lake Champlain (which is very muddy in the southern end where I fish).  On my last few outings I noticed the ones that appear dark seemed to be the ones that really fought well; far above their weight class.  Coincidence?  It was noticeable to me on more than one occasion and it was this weekend when I started to think it was a pattern.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[steverowbotham]

I can offer no science in this thread, but I'm a smallie fanatic and the darkest smallies I've caught have all come out of shallow water on sunny days.  My belief is that they change their pigment to absorb more sunlight, especially in cooler water.  No proof, but I 100% believe that. This one came out of 2 feet of water.

[Dave Hull]

It is a direct correlation to the amount of sunlight that has been absorbed by light receptive cells in the fishes skin called...

melanophores I think is the correct term.

 

 

[gardnerjigman]

I can offer no science in this thread, but I'm a smallie fanatic and the darkest smallies I've caught have all come out of shallow water on sunny days.  My belief is that they change their pigment to absorb more sunlight, especially in cooler water.  No proof, but I 100% believe that. This one came out of 2 feet of water.

 

Man that's a gorgeous fish!

[bowhunter63]

Alot of nice smallies posted for sure.

[NJSalt]

These fish were hooked 10 seconds apart. On the same spot obviously. Maybe it's where they came from previous? One shallow one deep?