Anyone know why this smallmouth was so dark colored?

 

well... it won't let me upload a photo. But I caught a smallie today that was almost black. Very weird...

Smallmouth change colors like a chameleon. Depending on the water clarity, bottom content, and amount of sun, they can change pretty quick. I'm guessing the water you caught him in dark, tannic stain which made him dark. If you'd have caught the same fish over a light, sand bottom, he would have been very pale.

2 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Smallmouth change colors like a chameleon. Depending on the water clarity, bottom content, and amount of sun, they can change pretty quick. I'm guessing the water you caught him in had a dark, tannic stain which made him dark. If you'd have caught the same fish over a light, sand bottom, he would have been very pale.

Interesting. Yes it's stained water. I've caught plenty of smallie s out of there before. Today was really sunny and the weeds are starting to come up. I was wondering if that might have had something to do with it.

When fish coloration is very dark, it's generally due to gin-clear water.

In waterbodies that have perennially clear water, bass tend to exhibit a pronounced dark median line.

Conversely, bass taken from perennially muddy water will usually be silvery fish with washed-out color.

 

Roger

Put it in the livewell then take it out after 15 minutes and it will be a different color. They change color based on their environment.

 

Allen

This gal was half and half somehow. 

 

Mark Zona calls the dark ones Black Mombas. 

On 5/22/2017 at 9:58 AM, 12poundbass said:

Mark Zona calls the dark ones Black Mombas. 

"Old Blackie" ~

A-Jay

 

30 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

"Old Blackie" ~

A-Jay

 

Old Blackie, Black Momba, Slaunch Donkey, or just call it what it is a giant Smallie! You never disappoint A-Jay.

Sometimes I think it's because they're hiding in the shadows under rock shelves or in the cracks between large boulders. Even in clear water they can be really dark.

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Sometimes I think it's because they're hiding in the shadows under rock shelves or in the cracks between large boulders. Even in clear water they can be really dark.

Interesting. I always thought the clearer the water the lighter the fish. Is the bottom a dark color? Kind of looks like it could be in the picture. Either what you said makes sense, if they hide in the shadows or cracks I could see how they'd be darker colored.

"Blondes" are off sandy bottoms  (or dead).

"Black Mambas" are off rocks with little weeds around.

Dark and light bar ones are usually off of a good mixture of rocks and weeds.  I've found that water clarity and sun penetration have less to do with it than the composition of their environment.  That after all is the only constant in their environment.

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

Interesting. I always thought the clearer the water the lighter the fish. Is the bottom a dark color? Kind of looks like it could be in the picture. Either what you said makes sense, if they hide in the shadows or cracks I could see how they'd be darker colored.

Nope, off of big rocks and actually very shallow, but hiding down in between the rocks.

Smallies come in a wide variety of colors, and they can change very quickly. They can have very obvious vertical bars that come and go. I think the bars will change based on stress as well as being around other smallmouths. My friend did a study as a high school project on a pair of smallies, inserting tracking devices into both of them. Before inserting the devices, both smallies were in glass aquariums right next to one another. When a piece of cardboard was placed in between the tanks, both fish had a washed out color, remove the cardboard and within a minute or two both fish were heavily barred and their eyes were a more pronounced red. Replace the cardboard, and within 10 minutes or so the fish were back to their washed out color. 

 

Like others have stated, I think the smallmouth's surroundings have more to do with their color, than water color, depth, or light penetration.  The fish in the first 3 pictures were all smallies caught out of stained water with the first 2 being from the same body of water.

 

These three pictures are fish that came out of clear water, notice the same variation of color as those found in stained water. 

A dark 23".

 

38 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

A dark 23".

 

I never get tired of that picture...

This past weekend I saw first hand how quickly a smallmouth can change color.  I was fishing a river with fairly clear water and hooked a smallmouth (which immediately jumped) and it was so dark it looked black not brown. I fought it for less than 30 seconds and when I lipped the fish it was light brown with dark stripes. This same thing happened on 3 different fish. Crazy...

http://www.tuftslab.ca/why-some-smallmouth-dark

1 hour ago, fissure_man said:

http://www.tuftslab.ca/why-some-smallmouth-dark

Bruce Tufts is a genius, spoke at our TBF Divisional last September on Ontario.  Really great guy.

Figured I'd join the party.  Never have caught a smallmouth before with this red of fins.  Only a 2.5 lber but exquisite coloration none the less.

 

9 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

A dark 23".

 

 

d**n Dwight that smallmouth is a friggin' slob

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

d**n Dwight that smallmouth is a friggin' slob

Funny story behind that fish. My best bud & I fished for about 6 hours before we got our first bite off of an obscure spot. We drifted back over it repeatedly & scored three nice fish each time on that exact same spot. That was it for the day. We probably drifted about 11-12 miles before we got bit. 

On 5/22/2017 at 8:22 AM, DubyaDee said:

This gal was half and half somehow. 

 

Great looking fish, guess she did not know the rules for how and why fish are colored.

 

I got video of this smallie while snorkeling... it was blind in both eyes