Saddleback Journal of Biology - Saddleback College

Spring 2010 Biology 3B Paper
Introduction
Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
are the dominant top carnivores of many North
American lakes and reservoirs and are popular sport
fish, but the behavioral mechanisms of their feeding
are still poorly known. After reviewing numerous
scientific journals it has become apparent that
largemouth bass have evolved advanced predatory
mechanisms that help them find prey (Moeller, 1972,
Johnke, 1995, Ludsin, 1997,Linser et al, 1998,
Pawson, 2007) though little seems to be known.
Micropterus use their six senses, including their
lateral line system, used for detecting water pressure
variances, to detect prey in all conditions of water
(Johnke, 1995). These senses are not only used in
hunting and feeding, but also in evasive maneuvers,
avoiding any temptations that seem less than natural,
such as lures. However, largemouth bass are known
to be attracted to certain colors, shapes, smells, and
vibrations that resemble real life prey which brought
about the invention of the common fishing lure
(Brown, 2002). As stated above, largemouth bass
have six senses which mainly benefit them when
living in the murkiest of water. The experiment
performed tested what color crank bait lure
largemouth bass prefer in minimal to full daylight
conditions (Linser et al, 1998). Results of examining
the most popular line and reel set-up used on average
will help the average fisherman/woman ensure a
good fishing experience in California winter
conditions (Moeller, 1972). It is hypothesized that
the colorful bait in both light conditions will have the
highest frequency of successful catches in the allotted
amount of experimental time.
Methods
The experiment was conducted at Mission
Viejo Lake in Mission Viejo, California. The fishing
was designated to the end of the dock where casting
reached the bass hunting grounds. The lures tested
consisted of two main categories: brightly and
neutrally colored crank baits that were used an equal
amount of hours. Among the brightly colored crank
baits, the color ranged from neon yellow, to bright
blue. Among the naturally colored baits, the color
ranged from dark brown to grey. All crank baits
were tied with a Palomar knot and right on top of the
lure to ensure that the bait reached the average depth
at which largemouth bass typically live (between 7
and 15 feet below the surface). The selection of reels
varies from high rate flexibility to little flexibility due
to budget restraints. The reels used were
spinning/casting reels which allowed investigators to
cast out and reel in at a personally customized
selection and pace. The strength of the fishing line
used was 6-8 pound tests which made it light enough
to feel the bite of the average largemouth bass and
strong enough to reel a largemouth bass in. Over the
course of a month, 136 hours of fishing, in varying
light conditions, was conducted. Surface water
temperature was recorded as well as detailed
accounts of the weather conditions. The data were
collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The
data were run through a descriptive statistics test to
determine the standard of error of means. An
unpaired two-tailed T test assuming equal variance
was run to analyze the data.
Results
The overall number of fish caught using the
bright and naturally-colored lures is represented by
figure 1. The two graphs constructed below (Figures
3&4) display the amount of fish caught with
naturally-colored and brightly-colored lures in both
low light conditions (sunrise and sundown beyond)
and bright light conditions (between sunrise and
sunset). The last figure is a calendar of the moon
phases of April 2010. This displays the amount of
fish caught on each fishing day and it’s accordance to
the major moon phases.
7
6
# of Fish Caught
5
4
3
2
1
0
Brightly-colored Lures
Shaking Deep-diving Lures
Naturally-colored Lures
Figure 1. Catch rate of Largemouth bass with brightly-colored vs. naturally-colored lures.
48
Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2010