Super User Muddy Posted January 21, 2009 Super User Posted January 21, 2009 Okay, Round 4 for the winter? How far can bass see in the water, given the different clarity's? When a Bass comes from the deep or a distance to wack a bait, is it the Lateral Line Sensory Organs that first pick up that bait? Again, taking different clarity's of water, how far up and out of the water can a bass see? Quote
Super User fourbizz Posted January 21, 2009 Super User Posted January 21, 2009 Actually, bass cant actually see. If they could they wouldnt eat lures now would they? Duh ;D Quote
drmnbig Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 Very good question! I've always wondered how good they can see me when I approach their area whether it be on a boat or on the bank. Quote
Super User Muddy Posted January 21, 2009 Author Super User Posted January 21, 2009 Actually, bass cant actually see. If they could they wouldnt eat lures now would they? Duh ;D Only the ones in Texas Hey Jay ; we are both gonna pay for this, a Cajun never forgets ;D Hey Catt: Since I am a stand up kind of guy I have to tell you Fourbizzle put me up to this, I had nothing to do with it Quote
32251 Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 When your slow moving a worm on the bottom and the fish comes up to your worm to have a look, it sees every detail very clearly, even in low light. So says the Bill Murphy book. When the lure is blasting past them, a lot of it is reaction so they may only catch a glimpse but they quickly catch up to the bait and vision AND smell come into play. In short, they have good vision. Quote
BassBandit35 Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 They can see better and more than we think. Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 21, 2009 Super User Posted January 21, 2009 I have a very good sense of humor How far can bass see? As soon as I sit down and interview one I let y'all know the answer! Quote
BassBandit35 Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 How far can bass see? As soon as I sit down and interview one I let y'all know the answer! Yes, with Ike and Reese dressed in bass on Berkley advertisement. Quote
Super User J Francho Posted January 21, 2009 Super User Posted January 21, 2009 I have no idea how far bass see, but I think its a mistake to compare their vision to ours. I don't think they "see" the way we "see." I think their vision, along with other senses, is much more closely linked to instinctive response. Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted January 21, 2009 Super User Posted January 21, 2009 Interesting question: Until Catt figures out how to interview a bass we'll have to go with what scientists have discerned: Bass and most other fish have much poorer visual acuity than we do, as far as seeing details goes. This seems to vary a lot with light availability from what I've seen, and it varies with experience (the brains involved too). Fish eyes are sensitive to motion, shape, and contrast. From what I've read bass can see a maximum of about 30 feet (if I'm remembering right) in maximal visibility conditions. This has to do more with the influence of water on penetrating light -which scatters. Thus, fish don't tend to NEED "long range" vision. The inner ear may have the longest sensory range, but it is weak directionally -that is the bass can't use it like non-aquatic creatures to home in on exactly where a sound is emanating from. The lateral line is more about feel -sensing water motion. It is a short range system. Likely deep fish are hearing a sound emanating from above and then spot the motion -the disturbance. When we see a fish come up from deep water to hit a topwater, I would suspect that sound and disturbance matter most in initially getting their attention. Again, interesting question. Quote
Randall Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 In addition bass can see much better in cold water than warm water. I can't remember the study I read about this or exactly why this is but am sure I read it and it was by a reputable source. Quote
Super User Long Mike Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 Buck Perry proved conclusively that bass see much better when wearing their contacts. He also proved that bass prefer to wear smoke colored lenses on sunny days and amber colored lenses on cloudy days. Quote
Super User Matt Fly Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 I have seen bass come from 20-30 yards in crystal clear waters to hit a buzzbait on the Brazos behind Whitney, not just once but about 20 times in a day repeatedly. Randall is correct also. Bass would be able to see better in the winter as opposed to other seasons. Water in the winter is more dense, dense in the sense that water in the winter could be the cleariest of all year due to particles not mixing in the dense water. Which takes us back to why tight wobbling cranks as opposed to wide billed wobbling baits aren't as effective in crystal clear waters during winter. I posted a video months back of a albino trout being thrown into a demo tank. That water was clear, don't know the exact length, but as soon as that white trout was thrown in, a bass from the other end went racing after it. Seems to me, that bass saw the trout, couldn't have heard it with the aeroator above its head, or the 50 other bass in between it and the trout to have zeroed in on that fish. Pure sight by the looks of the video. Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 Matt, are you able to re-post that video? Quote
SoFl-native Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I have seen bass come from 20-30 yards in crystal clear waters to hit a buzzbait on the Brazos behind Whitney, not just once but about 20 times in a day repeatedly. Randall is correct also. Bass would be able to see better in the winter as opposed to other seasons. Water in the winter is more dense, dense in the sense that water in the winter could be the cleariest of all year due to particles not mixing in the dense water. Which takes us back to why tight wobbling cranks as opposed to wide billed wobbling baits aren't as effective in crystal clear waters during winter. I posted a video months back of a albino trout being thrown into a demo tank. That water was clear, don't know the exact length, but as soon as that white trout was thrown in, a bass from the other end went racing after it. Seems to me, that bass saw the trout, couldn't have heard it with the aeroator above its head, or the 50 other bass in between it and the trout to have zeroed in on that fish. Pure sight by the looks of the video. ummm.......90 feet? 20-30 feet......ok maybe. 90 feet....come on now. Quote
Btech Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Im new to the science of bass but wouldn't scent also play a roll in aiding their sight. EX: If they smell somthing they swim towards it then half way they finaly see it ... a human may misjudge the fact that in the beginning the bass never SAW the object to begin with.... Im probably wrong but just figured id put my 1/4 oz in. Quote
farmpond1 Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Im new to the science of bass but wouldn't scent also play a roll in aiding their sight. EX: If they smell somthing they swim towards it then half way they finaly see it ... a human may misjudge the fact that in the beginning the bass never SAW the object to begin with.... Im probably wrong but just figured id put my 1/4 oz in. I don't know how fast scent travels through water (This could be a new thread in and of itself) but me thinks scent wouldn't be very helpful for the bass if it has to chase a bait. Of course it may be a different story for soft plastics and jigs. Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 Btech, that is a good thought and would seem to make sense. I haven't looked into scent too much as it appears to be of "lesser" importance to bass compared to sight and sound, at least over any distance. Scent, while it might play some role in some cases, certainly wouldn't explain why a bass might rush "20 feet" (give or take some unknown amount) upwards to strike a hardbait. There is one piece of evidence that I think illuminates this pretty well. While Ralph Manns was hand-feeding his pond bass he noted that the bass needed to be "trained" to recognize the dead shad he was offering as food. They took when the bait splashed down or was falling through the water column. He said that a shad that had settled to the bottom was ignored, not recognized as "food", unless the bass got to within mere inches of it. He said it appeared that the bass were unable to smell it, and recognize it as food, unless they were literally inches from it. Quote
Super User Matt Fly Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 That video was moved to the tackle section. Don't recall the title. That bass sure was chasing that trout around. Quote
Super User Matt Fly Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 First off, excellant sound track to the video. Sure looks as if bass have good eyesight in clear water. I actually thought this was swimbait demo at first. lol Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted January 22, 2009 Super User Posted January 22, 2009 Largemouth bass see well how far I don't know. Their eyes contains rod and cones much like humans. Since they don't have eyelids it is believed by some that eventually they get cataracts and go blind. I've been hearing for years "if you can see them, they can see you" Quote
Jim Grouch Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 The answer is roughly 50 ft. in clear water. They are farsighted when looking out to the left and right with each individual eye and near sighted when looking straight ahead with both eyes (their field of view overlaps towards the front) to get a better look at something. As far as scents go...they are mainly used for keeping the baits in their mouths giving you more time to set the hook (they have great taste buds inside their mouths). They can smell something "good" in the general area, but can't identify the source because their nostrals are too close together on the top of their heads to give direction. Quote
Super User Muddy Posted January 22, 2009 Author Super User Posted January 22, 2009 Im new to the science of bass but wouldn't scent also play a roll in aiding their sight. EX: If they smell somthing they swim towards it then half way they finaly see it ... a human may misjudge the fact that in the beginning the bass never SAW the object to begin with.... Im probably wrong but just figured id put my 1/4 oz in. Hey YOU ARE 100% RIGHT! I am just trying to see how the fellas see the sight issue Quote
Randall Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 I have seen bass come from 20-30 yards in crystal clear waters to hit a buzzbait on the Brazos behind Whitney, not just once but about 20 times in a day repeatedly. Randall is correct also. Bass would be able to see better in the winter as opposed to other seasons. Water in the winter is more dense, dense in the sense that water in the winter could be the cleariest of all year due to particles not mixing in the dense water. Which takes us back to why tight wobbling cranks as opposed to wide billed wobbling baits aren't as effective in crystal clear waters during winter. I posted a video months back of a albino trout being thrown into a demo tank. That water was clear, don't know the exact length, but as soon as that white trout was thrown in, a bass from the other end went racing after it. Seems to me, that bass saw the trout, couldn't have heard it with the aeroator above its head, or the 50 other bass in between it and the trout to have zeroed in on that fish. Pure sight by the looks of the video. What I was talking about doesn't have anything to do with water being clearer in cold water but the biology of the bass. Quote
haveme1 Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 bassintips com/bassseecolors This goes into all the science of a bass's eye and how it works. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.