Red mouth on a LMB...I mean REAL red!!! What's up???

[Bassnajr]

Hey,

In a post in a different thread, I indicated that a bass I caught right after the ice melted on my home pond had skin on the inside of the mouth that was red. I mean as red as the gills usually are!!! Now I have seen this before but not the ENTIRE inside of the mouth. Some have said it's from eating crawfish, (I am not so sure about this) others have said it is weather related, other say it's spawning related. Does anyone have a scienetific answer to what this is???

I know we have some wild life biologists on this forum...I'd like to hear from you.

Thanks,

Alan (bassnajr)

[Uncle Leo]

If it is their lips, at least that is what I will call them, I would say it is from eating crayfish. I have seen lips bloodiied up from picking crayfish off of rocks much like a males tail during spawn. But the whole mouth? Who knows.

[Paul Roberts]

Topic comes up every spring. I am not aware of any scientific answer. It ain't all about eating crayfish. I personally think it's hormonal, but I have no info on this.

On some fish this shows at the vent and fins too, often the anal and tail fin. I caught one this year that looked like it had been washed with rose-colored water color paint around the vent and extending across the leading edge of the anal fin.

It fades pretty quickly as water temps rise.

[Matt Fly]

When I have encountered this in the past, its always associated with cold water.

  What are your water temps?

[Bassnajr]

Matt...

The ice finished melting the DAY before...so COLD!!!

[=Matt 5.0=]

You're already catching? d**n.  

Guess I need to get with it.

Oh... maybe she was wearing lipstick....  :-*

[Copen1822]

Try googling Enteric Red mouth disease. I think it's mainly a factor in trout though.

[Pitchinkid]

Stop using jolly ranchers as bait.  Nah i have caught Largemouth in small ponds early in the year with the same problem. There was still ice on the ponds. I think it has something to do with the colder water and the amount of oxygen in the water. Im no scientist though, but i am a good B.Ser.

[WRB]

You need to post a picture that clearly shows the entire inside of the basses mouth. If the entire soft tissue is inflammed red, then it's may not be caused by eating crestaceans like crayfish. Rosey lips and crunchers located in the top and back of the mouth will turn redish from eating crawdads. Nest building can also cause some mouth damage, bass don't have hands.

WRB

[DawsonH]

Its because of the cold water. When I was crappie fishing back in January every bass that I caught had a reddish tint to its mouth. These fish were in about 30-35' of water and were feeding on shad.

[WRB]

Its because of the cold water. When I was crappie fishing back in January every bass that I caught had a reddish tint to its mouth. These fish were in about 30-35' of water and were feeding on shad.

Interesting, how cold do you think the water was? Threadfin shad, the size big crappie can eat, die off when the water drops below 45 degrees. Sliversides, a samll baitfish similar to Threadfin shad can take a few degrees colder water arounf 42 and the bigger gizzard shad can survive 40 degrees water for short time period.

There are all kinds of things bass eat that can damage their mouth tissue, soft tissue baitfish like shad isn't something that should be reddening the mouth. Whatever it turns out to be, seeing red mouth crappie is a good observation and gives some food for thought.

WRB

[Gatorbassman]

All the fish I caught today had red lips. That is pretty normal for this time of year. I don't know why that is though.

[NYfishwow]

Jimmy houston might say, thats best time kiss fish. :-* 8-)  any pics, i never seen bass like that before.

[mwbrown]

i caight a bass the otherday with the same red on its mouth. the water is barely 40 if that. I would like to know why this happens and i dont think it has to do with crawfish because in the past 20 years i ve only seen one in this pond and i live on it.

[DawsonH]

I dunno how cold the water was at 35', but I know that I went to a dif lake and the bass were the same. Its not from damage. The crappie don't have red mouths and there both relating to shad in the middle of the lakes i was fishing.

[bigbasshunter]

Well being your fishing in such depth, the water under the thermocline will usually be consistantly in the 50's. The red mouth/lips could be from a few different things, picking stuff up off the bottom ie.investigating, mouth gaping ie.two males too close to each other will fight cold or not, also nest building can cause this bass are constantly rubbing on the botom creating that perfect place.

If someone can get a good picture Ill take it to work and have a coworker look and try to diagnose. We run a aquarium in VA.

[ptomacbass]

I'll try to get a picture of one that I catch that has a red mouth today.  Lately all of the fish i have caught have had red mouths and their bodies have had a blank gray coloration.  The gray coloration is probablly due to the fact that the water where i'm fishing went from clear to really muddy in a couple days.

[DawsonH]

There is no thermocline in the middle of January.

[Izzy3374]

I have had it on every LMB Ive caught this year.  And the main food source for the bass is not crayfish.  Toooo many shad for them to eat.

It has to be because of cold water.  Once water temps rise you dont see it anymore.  Just after ice out.

But hey I aint no scientist

Good Fishing! 8-)

[mase088]

At my last tournament on Clarks Hill Lake, every fish we caught had red lips. When we dumped out the water in our bag when we came in for weigh in, there was a lot of crawfish shells and pieces that the fish had thrown up in the bag. This happened both days. Not saying its all due to this, but crawfish definitely turn lips red.

[Paul Roberts]

I caught a bunch yesterday in 48F water and many still had red. It's beginning to fade on the tooth pads, but was present in other areas -the throat (outside), and around the vent. It appears to be just under the skin, and yesterday looked like a watercolor wash across these areas.

It'll disappear as the water warms. Does every year. No, in this case, this is not crayfish related.

[Kayakist]

Interesting.  I thought the bass I caught yesterday was looking at me funny.  Considering the cold temperature I guess it was because my lips were blue.  

[Paul Roberts]

Interesting. I thought the bass I caught yesterday was looking at me funny. Considering the cold temperature I guess it was because my lips were blue.

;D ;D ;D

Welcome Kayakist! I'm a tube-ist, of late.

Here's a bass I caught yesterday in 48F water showing some of the "cold water red".

Notice the pale pinkish red wash across the underparts, especially the fins. This is that cold water "red mouth" syndrome, that also affects other parts of the body besides the tooth pads. All bass yesterday (11) had this to some degree a couple were quite strongly washed with pink-red patches. The teeth pads are beginning to fade though.

[nycgrip]

heres a pic i took last spring

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o137/nycgrip/splotches.jpg

[haveme1]

Hey, I'm glad to see this post.  I had just told my buddy about the fish in my small pond having what looked like a blood like tint in their gills and mouth area.  The fish at the reservoir do not.

I remember as a kid if I fed my gold fish too much they would start looking veinish. ?

Yall have good points on why.