I have done a little studying on Large Mouth Bass coloration and put together this basic summary of what I have learned. This also summarizes what I have observed in Bremer Pond as well as other lakes where I a have fished the wily LMB.

Large Mouth Bass have photo receptors in their eyes that allow them to control the pigment cells in their skin. Their eyes receive the reflected light from their surroundings triggering a chemical release in their skin that moves the pigment closer to the surface of the skin or further away. This adaptive ability allows them to camouflage themselves when they are hunting prey or being hunted by larger fish. These color changes can occur rapidly (within 24 hours).

If Large Mouth Bass are in clear water with vegetative cover they will take on a darker color on their back, green on their sides and white on their belly. This makes the vertical bars across their sides more pronounced and dark green.

When they suspend out in deep water or live in shallow muddy water they will take on a more faded, even buttery appearance. This is because their only cover is either each other in a school or the water color itself. This makes the vertical bars across their sides less pronounced and blended with the background.

When they are in shallow clear rocky or wooded cover with minimal vegetation they may be more black and white appearing. This makes the vertical bars across their sides more pronounced and black in color.

That sounds right.

I know that the LMB we catch everywhere seem to lose a lot of their coloration if the water is muddy for any length of time. I caught one at my pond the other day that was almost white because we've been having heavy rains about once a week for the last 4 or 5 weeks and the water never seems to get completely cleared up before it gets muddy again.

See these on fish coloration and chromatophores

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post103943

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post85635

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post74247




What about these colors ?

ewest, the links are dysfunctional for me.

ditto

Now they work.

From my personal experience smallmouth bass can change color quicker than a largemouth and vary more in color depending on their habitat.

All of the fish we deal with that I am aware of can change color in a few seconds if the need exists.

True, but as a taxidermist and avid smallmouth angler I've seen smallmouth range in color from black to banana yellow. I haven't seen that much variation in a largemouth personally although I do admit there definitely is some.

I've seen golden, bronze, rust colored, green, green/brown, and green on one part of a smallie and brown on another. Just so many variations it's unbelievable.

If I'm mounting one I try to get an idea what the original color of the smallmouth was or a picture, as the color seems to fade almost instantly when they expire.

Here's a pic of two recently caught in Maine that have both green and brown at the same time: Maybe it's possible though the brown area was due to them laying down in reverse of this on a flat surface? However the fish still look quite alive.

Cecil I am talking about live in the water (or just when you take them out- first 30 seconds) color changes. Comments are based on viewing in tanks , underwater camera , having just been caught , in a bucket or viewed in the water.