The first studies into the eye composition of Largemouth bass took place in 1937. Frank A. Brown Jr. was a professor of biological sciences at Northwestern University who used food as a reward to study how largemouth would approach targets. The data consisted of red, yellow, green, black, blue, and other colors. The study showed bass can discern between green and red.
In 2021 we know more about the inner workings of a bass’ eyeball. Like humans, fish have photoreceptors in their eyes called rods and cones. The rod cells are important for fish to see in the low light and night conditions. Cones cells are the receptors for colors. Largemouth bass have dichromatic vision, which means they are sensitive to two colors- red and green. In contrast humans have trichromatic vision, making us sensitive to red, green, and blue.
This information is important to keep in mind while perusing the aisles upon aisles of lures. The variety of colors are much more pleasing to our eyes as humans than they are to a fish. Largemouth bass visual perception falls into four categories: bright, red, green, and dark.
Those who have been fishing a while have likely heard the rule of thumb throw light-colored baits for bright, clear water days; and dark lures for low light and cloudy water. When peering into your tackle box consider organizing your gear into these categories- bright(chartreuse and white), red, green, and dark (blue, black, and purple) and choosing your lure based on what the sky looks like.
As with most everything, practice is necessary. The best guide for fishing of any kind is the knowledge that can only be obtained from casting a line. Keeping in mind how largemouth bass, and researching how others see, is just one possible weapon to have in your corner.
