Catch More Bass By Understanding Their Lateral Line
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Propbaits used for bass fishing create a disturbance when jerked slightly. They work best when the water temperature is above 60 degrees. Work close to cover on heavy tackle or off long points on drop-offs on lighter tackle.
LMB and SMB survive in your lake using the same five senses we humans do, with sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. But bass have a modified sense of hearing, something much more sophisticated then we do. It’s called the lateral line system. Most bass anglers are familiar with the lateral line. Understanding exactly how bass use it can help the average Joe catch more bass.
Sensitive tissue (organs) fills a canal in the skin that runs down along the side of a bass. It looks like a raised bumpy line. Pores in the bass scales or skin connect the canal with the surrounding water, allowing the network to detect changes in water pressure out side the bass body.
Although the lateral line is visible on the sides of bass, the system is actually well-developed elsewhere, especially on the bass head. These canals are located around the eyes, on the top of the head, at the front of the head and under the lower jaw.
Everything propelling itself on or in the water, such as bait fish, fishing lures, crawfish, etc…. moves water and in so doing creates pressure waves. Bass make pressure waves when they swim too. Basically all aquatic creatures create waves when they paddle with appendages. This is readily apparent when you see the wake of a bass swimming near the surface. Whatever the source, the lateral line system detects these pulses.
Stationary objects ahead of the bass distort and rebound the waves, and the well developed sensory system on the head detects these changes. The result is that the bass senses what is ahead, even in total darkness. Adding it all up, the lateral line system senses both swimming and stationary objects.
Fish in the pike family have well developed sensory pores on the top of the head, as they attack prey from below. Smallmouth bass, eat a lot of crayfish and therefore have well developed pores under the lower jaw. These same pores are poorly developed in the largemouth bass, which feeds heavily on baitfish.
In a nut shell, the lateral line system correlates well with feeding behavior, and that sheds light on what presentations might work best for certain species in specific situations. Buzzbaits, Chatterbaits, Spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits are well detected via a bass’s lateral line as these baits create large pressure waves within the water column they swim in.
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Tagged with: bass anatomy • bass biology • Bass Lateral Line
Filed under: Bass Fishing
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