Red Lips??

Jayhawk- I beleive Bixby is right.  The red part of the bass' mouth you're referring to is the raspy, sandpaper-like part, correct?  If they are kinda' "gummy" and red, it is because they are feeding on crawfish, and it is from crushing the crawfish shell on pick-up.  If you put one of those bass in your livewell, I can almost guarantee it will start pukeing chunks of crawdads in the tank.  

This time of year (pre-spawn), the bass get the most nuttritional value for their efforts.  And the females need calcium for their eggs, and they can get that from the crawfish shells.  

If the bass is feeding on forage fish, the gums will be clear.  If you look closely at that bass' gums, you can actually see little teeth.  That's why the inside of your thumb gets that nice "rash" after a good day of rippin' and lippin' fish.

Anyway, just my thoughts on your question-  JB