Largemouth Bass

Attack and kill, that's what a bass does. That what a bass lives for. Make no mistake the bass is a predator "Par Excellence".

Their body design from their fins to their scales are designed for the hunt, ambush and kill. A bass usually stalks it prey from a short distance. And will close the distance for the kill with speed and accuracy matched only by the best hunters.

This stalking of their prey can start long before they can see it. Most experts agree that bass have a very acute sense of hearing. Sound travels faster through water then air. Bass use this acoustic efficiency to locate their prey.

They have two modes of hearing. They have an inner ear not unlike ours which allows them to interpret sounds in the range of 200 - 800 cycles per sec. And a lateral line sense organ which allows them to pick-up low frequency sound in the 15 - 200 cycle range. With this organ they can detect speed, direction to, direction of movement and size.

It is this duel hearing ability that allows the bass to hunt even in muddy or murky water. They use this hearing to sense food as well as enemies.

Sight is a well developed sense in most predators. Bass see binocularly (one on each side of their head) and have good close and mid range vision. They also have good color vision and shape recognition abilities.

After reviewing the bass's hearing abilities it is no wonder that top water bass fishing with a fly rod is such an exciting way to fish for largemouth bass.

Is it any wonder why we throw out mice, dragon flies, poppers etc... to this collection of fins and jaws.