A fellow fisherman noted when he catches LMB during spawn especially when males are guarding nest the eyes are red.  I typically do not bed fish but the ones we caught this year all had red eyes in different bodies of water while they were on beds.

  we  have redeyed bass here in east tn.  i caught three little ones in a creek today.

Spotted bass, smallmouth, red eye, and shoal bass all have the possibilty for red eyes. Never saw a largemouth with red eyes. Seen em very yellow but never red

Those are rock bass. You can tell the difference by the top spiked and their eyes.

Caught one this winter that had blood red eyes, looked like a demon. Never caught one with those eyes before. Brian.

I caught bass here in East Tennessee during a tournament that had red eyes. It was not 12 inches long so I could not keep the fish for weigh-in but it was a heavy fish. Was much heavier than a normal largemouth of that length. Looked like a football with fins. A wildlife officer called it a Red Eyed Bass and told me they were rare and normally caught in streams or large creeks. 

Never seen red eyes, but i have seen red "rings" on the eyes

My bass have started to have orange eyes, and I was wondering about it. Thanks for whoever bumped this thread.

No but I once shot a zebra wearing pajama's. : )

 

 The line is "I once shot a zebra wearing my pajama's".

 

That way the punchline "How that zebra got into my pajama's, I'll never know" makes sense.

Any chance that bass was caught in Colorado or Washington?  

 

If so, it may be a subspecies known as the "Pothead Bass".  They are fond of Doritos.

Redeye Bass are a separate species of bass with bright red eyes.

Redeye bass are indigenous to the Coosa River system in Georgia.

 

Rock bass also have red eyes, which are not true bass,

but then again, largemouth & smallmouth are not true bass either.

 

Roger

A lot of southern wv lakes have spots

a lot of the spots I catch in the creek have red eyes.

I have red eye shad...

On an outing on the lower Metawee River in NY several years ago, my buddy and I caught a few smallmouths that had red eyes and a different look to their barring.  You can't see the red eye in this photo, but the fish had red eyes like a Rock Bass....

 

 

They looked a little different than the usual smallies we caught there, and I remember wondering if they might be some kind of hybrid.  Guess not....

 

Tight lines,

Bob

Why was the zebra wearing pajamas?

Probably around bed time!

We catch kentucky red eye bass all the time. Calcasieu river is full of them

Beyond the more red-eyed species (Red-Eye and Spotted), both LM and SM have eye color ranging from dark brown to olive green to orange-red. There appears to be red pigments in all bass eyes but it is often obscured in LM and SM. Eye colors, like body colors, can change chameleon-like. In general, bass eyes in deep shade tend to be dark, those in bright lighting -often shallower- being lighter in color.

 

I've seen almost entirely bright orange-red eyes in largemouths but they seem to be more common in smallmouth. Likely eye color plays a social role as they can, at times, contrast noticeably from body color. It seems that I see bright red eyes in largemouth most commonly on bed-tending males, but I've seen them at other times too, and I believe, in LM's, that it's mostly been in small ones of 12" or less.

 

I haven't seen any mention of eye color in bass in fish research so far. There is one account I read stating that male bass get red eyes when on the spawning bed. I have the idea that this is more likely early in the spawn -maybe used as an attractant to females or signaling aggression to other males. Dunno whether this would stand up to scrutiny however.

I caught this in a subdivision pond in central Illinois, never seen anything quite like it. 

I caught this in a subdivision pond in central Illinois, never seen anything quite like it. 

Bright skies and shallow water, perhaps? That one looks like a pre/peri-spawn female. (BTW: Go easy on those jaws. They make their livings with those!)

I've caught a lot of smallmouth out of streams with red eyes. It always seems like I catch them the most in spring or fall when the water is cooler?

Caught a bass last weekend at a little river by my house caught a 2 lb lg mouth it had red eyes! It also had a lot of black discoloration along its back and his mouth looked like it was kinda smaller then I usually catch that size!

Red eyed bass are common in FL.

LM can not breed with SM or Spots. Spots and SM can hybridize. Spots and SM can have red eyes.

I've got examples of all 3 bass with red eyes right here.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/157632-bass-with-red-eyes/