Red Lips in the Winter

[Pat Brown]

I have heard people say 'they are feeding heavily on crawdads' when lips show up red in the winter time.

 

Any one have any scientific explanations or anecdotes or information to add to this?

 

It seems to me more like they're 'flushed' the same way I feel on a cold day playing on the playground as a kid.  You come inside and your cheeks are rosy.

 

Maybe it's irritation from 'eating crawdads' but I catch a lot of red lipped bass on little fast moving shad imitators so I dunno?

 

Thoughts?  I figured it's a good winter bass fishing discussion topic to say the least!

[T-Billy]

3 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Any one have any scientific explanations or anecdotes or information to add to this?

Females getting all dolled up for the upcoming coming spawn. 😉

[PaulVE64]

Yup, from abrasion

Edit- my experience is with river smallies in sw Ontario. 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Females getting all dolled up for the upcoming coming spawn. 😉

 

Best explanation 😉

[softwateronly]

I do not have scientific proof, but any reason not related to their circulatory system making adjustments to prolonged colder water temps seems fishy.  I just can't follow it, do we think red lips are from crawdad combat? rooting around in the mud/clay? an outward display to make crawdads mesmerized like a cuttlefish?  There's nothing I can think of or have heard that even seems plausible.  

 

scott

[Team9nine]

Quoting myself: I'm sure you'll get a lot of theories on this, especially the crawfish eating connection. It definitely seems to be most prevalent in colder water temps from early winter through very early spring. That said, I've spoken to several of the leading fish physiology experts in the country about this, and none of them knew about this condition and could only speculate as to why, the predominant opinion being hormonally related due to season. I've done a few experiments myself to try and tease out an answer, but to date, have largely come up empty. I’m thinking physiological in nature.

 

And from another previous post reply of mine on the subject:

 

"We’re still trying to figure this one out. The main person to start the “red lips/teeth” inquiry was Paul Roberts in Colorado. He and I have been in contact trying to figure it out, and we have theories and anecdotal evidence, but nothing exact yet. It definitely seems to be related to cold water, the colder the greater the degree of red, and Paul suspects it might be hormonal. As temps warm, redness fades. Very prominent immediately after ice-out.

 

I contacted one of the best in LMB physiology and spoke with him about it and he had no idea either, suspecting length of fight might come into play (we've tested and shot that theory down). We were hoping we might intrigue him enough to study it, but nothing yet.

 

Fairly safe to say it is not related to spawning or crayfish eating, IMO. I’ve even run some tests by putting bass from warmer water that didn’t show the red much into severely iced down livewell water (at 32-33 deg. F) and held them for a couple hours to see if that would cause the red to return, but it didn’t. This is partly why we believe it might be hormonal in nature.

 

See also: 

 

[Pat Brown]

I wonder if it is hormonal and quite literally pre spawn lipstick to attract mates.  Don't other species outside of fish do stuff like this?

[RipzLipz]

@Pat Brown maybe word is getting around about you & those fat bottomed girls, knowing they’re gonna get caught, are simply getting prepared for a potential smooch? 😚😚😚

 

I noticed in one of the last images you posted one was wearing her lipstick. No clue what may cause the coloration but I feel it’s more of a cold water thing, especially if it’s occurring in both males & females. I doubt it’s a prespawn attraction, as in nature, the males are typically the horny show offs in regards to bright coloration or other such means of attraction/drawing attention from potential mates.

[Kev-mo]

I've wondered about this myself over the years and read a thing or three on the topic. I got this fish a couple weeks, water was and is still cold (river smallie). Unfortunately the sun slipped behind a cloud as I was taking the pic so it doesn't capture the full effect. But believe me this fishes whole jaw was lit up like Rudolph's nose. It may be hormonally driven but red blood equals oxygen. Arteries end in capillaries which are closest to the skin. Could the cold water drive the creation of more capillaries around the mouth area? Cold water holds more dissolved oxygen. Maybe the it's got something to do with metabolism? Maybe I'm theorizing out my butt... lol

 

 

 

 

 

[Susky River Rat]

It’s all the candy canes they are eating.

[WRB]

Cold water seems logical but we catch red lipped LMB in 50 degree water, not many but a few.

Bass eat crawdads year around so that can’t be contributing.

Hormonal is the trigger imo.

Tom

[Catt]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Bass ear crawdads year around so that can’t be contributing.

 

That's my thoughts as well, we have lots of crawfish available year round.

[RipzLipz]

Might just be increased blood flow to areas which are sensitive to feeding, possibly enhanced by colder temps and/or induced stress of being caught. Would be interesting to know if the coloration remains or goes away after a fish is caught & recovered from the exertion during the fight.

 

Water temps in the 50s is cold to me - probably a bit misleading in terms of what it is to a fish though. One might tend to refer to water as cold based on how it feels to us, if that makes some sense.

 

@Catt Larry Nixon needs to know "why" on the lipstick phenomenon. 😉

[928JLH]

15 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Females getting all dolled up for the upcoming coming spawn. 😉

Maybe she's born with it? Maybe it's Maybelline?

[Jig Man]

What regions are having the red lips.  I don’t ever remember seeing that here in Missouri or Northern Arkansas?

[livin2fish]

Certainly happens in NC, only just the lips in my experience.

[Woody B]

I've caught red lipped bass, and regular lipped bass in the same day.   Most of the red lipped ones have came from deeper water, 20 feet or more.  I just assumed the red lips had something to do with water pressure, or the change in water pressure when caught and circulation.  I've never caught a Summer time red lipped bass though and I've caught deep bass in warmer weather too.   

[AlabamaSpothunter]

All the fish I caught this morning out of 48d water had really bright lipstick on.   Other parts in the back of their mouth are red as well.   Left my cam in the boat but got a good pic of the other red parts in the back of the mouth area.      

 

Certainly enviromental....i.e. water temps, and I'd guess it was hormonal.   I'm almost positive it has nothing to do with what they're eating.   I'm catching fish that are locked in and feeding heavy on Threadfins.       

[tunaman]

Check their teeth… when they are predominantly feeding on crawfish, the teeth will be worn down and smoother. When they are on baitfish, their teeth are much sharper.

 

I've caught quite a few ‘dad eaters back in the day at Casitas where their mouths were quite red and their teeth were worn down, and they were puking up ‘dads in the livewell.

[Bluebasser86]

I've caught lots of bass with bright red lips from ponds and lakes with virtually zero crawdads in them. 

 

I believe it's likely more of a circulation/body function reaction to the cold water. The fish slows down in cold/colder water due to it being cold blooded. As a result, the fish's body begins to pump more blood to vital regions (mouth and gills primarily for breathing and feeding). As the fish slows down in cold water, it feeds less, so it's important for cold water feeding attempts to be successful, therefore the body makes sure the mouth is a functional as possible by pumping extra blood to it, and as a side effect, causes the bright red lips.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it 😅