Red Teeth

[bassman31783]

I can remember many summers ago a friend of mine heard/read that putting ice in the livewell water was good for the fish.  Any ways he started putting ice in his water & I can vividly remember the bass going into the livewell looking normal & some of them coming out hours later with red teeth.  It didn't happen to all of the bass but it happend to enough of them for me to remember.  To me that's pretty firm evidence that it has something to do with the cold.   

[Clark Stewart]

Every single bass I've caught down here this spring have that red patch. I've been fishing since the last week of February. I keep thinking it's the crawdads as anything that even resembles a craw right now gets raped in my favorite pond!

[J Francho]

I think its temp. related.

[Paul Roberts]

I can remember many summers ago a friend of mine heard/read that putting ice in the livewell water was good for the fish. Any ways he started putting ice in his water & I can vividly remember the bass going into the livewell looking normal & some of them coming out hours later with red teeth. It didn't happen to all of the bass but it happend to enough of them for me to remember. To me that's pretty firm evidence that it has something to do with the cold.

Now that's interesting! And another one that's testable. Who wants to do it??

Problem solved: It's from their teeth chattering!! ;D

[Wayne P.]

Yesterday the red teeth syndrome for fish caught was about 50% for 34 bass. The bottom water temp ranged from 49.7-54.8 degrees. None of them were very bright red, but darker than pink though.

This one was in 50.4 water temp

[Wayne P.]

This one was in 49.7 water temp

[Wayne P.]

This one was in 54.8 water temp

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks Wayne.

By the looks of that last pic, the teeth on your bass must be bigger than most lol!

[Wayne P.]

Yea Paul. The larger bass with the plastic worm did that thrashing around when I was trying to get it out of the livewell for the picture and holding the camera with the other hand.

[LoudounFisher]

This is from just a few days after the ice cleared.

[bassman31783]

This is from just a few days after the ice cleared.

Holy crap that's red. And the winner is (drum roll) COLD WATER!!!   ;D ;D ;D

[YNCBASSMAN]

i think you guys just have a fish mouth fetish!! ;D

i've never really paid that much attention.  i do recall seeing some mouths redder than others, but never put that much thought into it.  i was too busy focusing on not getting hooked or going over what i did to catch it.  looks like i'll be googling this for while, thanks guys!  lol

[Paul Roberts]

LOL, yeah it's just one of those "I wonder" things.

LoudounFisher, THAT is the red I'm talking about. I've seen it only close to ice-out, and on some fish it's on the throat and pelvic girdle too -just under the skin. Something is up with that -dunno what that is or what it means.

[SausageFingers23]

Hey guys.  I got out yesterday to a pond where ice out happened less than a week ago (NH).  Its shallow, max depth is just shy of 10 ft.  I caught two and noticed that each had a bright red coloring of the teeth area.  This is the earliest that I've been out and I've never noticed this before.

That said, I had a feeling I would find a good discussion somehwere on here about it.  Lo and behold....  The coloration looked very similiar to the photos Loudon posted earlier.  I apologize for not having any pics to include but I wanted to add my observations to the conversation anyway.

Based on what I've read so far, my gut feeling is that it has something to do with a physical reaction to the colder water temperatures that dissipates as their bodies apapt to the warmer season.  Im looking forward to following this thread.  It's a great topic. 

[Luke at Gouldsboro]

I've never thought about this topic before. Makes me think....

[Red Bear]

This is from just a few days after the ice cleared.

looks like it has on lipstick lol

i caught 4 bass from a pond here in loudoun county yesterday and all 4 had reddish teeth

[Paul Roberts]

It goes away rapidly -the brilliant red anyway. It fades to duller red and remains for a while but is not so noticeable. Good pics in this thread showing the progression. Dunno how long on a given fish, but the whole process takes a good month to fade. But the scarlet, bleeding red, goes in a matter of days after ice out where I fish,  in shallow ponds that warm rapidly.

Team9 said he was going to try the ice down idea this year. He also spoke with a fish pathologist who was unaware of this. I'm certain there are physiologists who would know what's happening with this, but I haven't taken the time to search them out.

[Wayne P.]

Paul, out of the 49 bass I caught yesterday, only one had even a hint of red teeth. The water temp was 64 degrees on the lake bottom when it was caught.

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks Wayne. I've had 30 some this week and the red is still there but fading. Water's mid 50s up. Here's a pic from yesterday:

One researcher Brian contacted wondered if it had to do with cold water and struggling on a line, coupled with cold water. I kinda doubt that. I've contacted a friend who runs trap-nets in early spring for pike and muskies -hoping he can shed some light on non-angled for bass from cold water.

[Bass_Akwards]

Caught this 16 incher and this Just over 17 incher tonight.  They were caught 20 feet from each other about 10 minutes apart.  Water temps in mid 60's.  One red teeth, one not.  So weird

[Paul Roberts]

Yeah, it's fading now. I've seen some white teeth now too.

When you see the ice-out teeth -you'll see what I mean. See LoudonFishers photo.

[Bass_Akwards]

So you're definately sure it's cold water then?  If so, is it a circulation thing?  Why do some bass take longer than others to get rid of the red teeth?

[Paul Roberts]

Dunno really. It is associated with cold water. One physiologist wondered if it was also due to exertion while being fought on hook and line. I don't think so, but have no way of getting at that, unless I can catch a bass without exerting it.

[Wayne P.]

Paul, I had this fish on for several minutes yesterday due to being hung up in a submerged pine tree. The fish got so tired it just came to the surface when I gave it slack line. I just grabbed the line and hand landed it, then I cut the hook off and pulled the line out of the tree. The water temp was 71 degrees. Very slight lip color.

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks Wayne. Any lip color in any others that day? Was this the reddest of the bunch?