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Black Bass Behavior
Nature Bulletin No. 338-A March 29, 1969
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation
BLACK BASS BEHAVIOR
There are some peculiar expressions in our American Slang. We admire
"a smart cookie" but "a poor fish" is held in contempt, as if fishes were
the dumbest creatures on earth. They may seem dumb, and some kinds
probably are, but -- to expert fishermen and scientists who study the
behavior of fish -- the black basses, for instance, appear to be as alert
and intelligent as many of the so-called higher animals. In Illinois,
where there are three species of them, they are the Number One fish for
most anglers. The Largemouth black bass thrives in lakes and the more
sluggish streams throughout the state. The smallmouth bass and the
spotted bass prefer faster moving streams, the former being restricted to
the northern half of Illinois and the latter to the southern part.
Black
bass strike best in waters which are fished very little, or, in more
popular spots, when the season first opens. As more and more people
come to try their luck, the time between bites rapidly becomes longer
and longer until even the experts may go home empty-handed. Contrary
to popular belief, this does not mean that most of the bass have been
caught out. It merely demonstrates that the fish have become "smart"
and wary; they have learned to avoid those gaudy artificial flies or
plugs, and even tempting live baits on the end of a line.
This was strikingly shown in a lake near Charleston, Illinois, operated
experimentally by the State Natural History Survey for a study of bass
fishing and how to improve it. In 1949, with 1027 marked bass in the
lake, it took an average of only 24 minutes, each, to catch the first 50
but, by the end of that first day of fishing, it took over two hours to
catch a bass. On the second day it took from 5 to 6 hours, and from 10
to 15 hours on the next three days. In other words, although most of
them were still in the lake, it took -- about thirty times as long to fool a
bass as it did at first. The memory of an escape from the hook, or
perhaps the sight of a fellow bass caught and struggling, was apparently
enough warning for the others to beware of those colorful gadgets.
Largemouth black bass really see color as color and not as shades of
gray -- which is the way most mammals see it. In another series of
experiments by the Survey, young bass, each in a separate aquarium,
were shown a red medicine dropper and, after they came close for a
good look, rewarded by a water flea or a mosquito wiggler squirted
from it. Then they were shown droppers colored yellow, blue or green,
respectively, but were punished with a small electric shock if they came
too close. After only 5 to 10 such training trials, the fish would hover
close to the red dropper, waiting for food, but would back away to the
far side of the tank if any other color was shown. Similarly, other fish
were trained to come to yellow, green or blue droppers. They were able
to distinguish most of these colors from a confusing series of gray
droppers ranging from white to black. They had trouble telling yellow
from pale gray, and blue from dark gray or black. Surprisingly, it was
proved that bass see colors about as well as a human being wearing
yellowish sun glasses.
Further,
the Survey has found that each smallmouth black bass seems to
have a favorite home, usually a shaded pool, where it spends most of its
life. And that most of them are able to find their way back home after
being caught, tagged and hauled to another part of the stream, or even
another stream in the same river system.
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Update: June 2012
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