after much internal debate and soul searching, i am ready to give up a very closely guarded secret for taking the best possible photos of your fish. before i do i want you to notice the picture below. this is another shot of the 9-12 i posted in the outing section. see how the fish's spots and lines seem to "pop" for the shot? it's almost as if she got all dressed up for this special occasion. i have been asked on many occasions how my fish are always so "pretty" for their big moment on film. people always assume that i tinker with the photos somehow and adjust the color or contrast to bring out the bass' natural pattern in such vivid detail. not at all. i'm not that smart. ;D in fact, the picture you see below is "stock" except for the fact that i cropped off some of the edges.

here's what you'll need. go to wal-mart and get yourself one of those big 30-35 gallon storage bins in blue or gray. fill it with clear water. best if taken from the lake you caught the fish in, provided it is clear. if not, it's a good idea to make sure the water is treated to remove any harmful chemicals that might be in there. using livewell solutions and/or hydrogen peroxide in proper amounts is a good idea. at any rate, the key is that the water must be clear. in order to avoid "shocking" the fish with an abrupt temp change, it's nice if the water is approximately the same temperature as the water the fish was caught from. but if you are gonna err, cooler is better than warmer. in fact, many guys use ice in their livewells to keep their fish alive in the summer. but like i said, i like to keep it the same temperature because the fish ain't gonna be in there long anyway.

put your prize catch in the bin for about a few minutes while you get your camera. by the time you have everything set up for your photo, or shortly thereafter, your fish should be "ready". you will notice that her spots and stripes will have jumped out in maximum detail, almost as if by magic. not only that, but your fish will have been in the water relaxing and recovering from the stress of being caught rather than out of the water laying on the ground or being held by your buddy.

the reason this works is that it capitalizes on the chameleon-like tendencies of the bass to brighten or darken her coloration based on her surroundings. the clear water in combination with the dark container encourages maximum contrast in the bass' natural pattern. taking advantage of mother nature's little trick will give you prettier fish pictures than you ever thought possible. of course the sad thing is that i have not found any way to improve MY appearance for the pics. at least the fish look good. ;D

i am sharing this in hopes that it will not be abused. i know that most folks on here are very conservation minded and would never do anything to intentionally harm a big fish. please always get your pix as quickly and efficiently as possible and get that lunker back in the lake so she'll be even bigger and prettier when you catch her again. hope this works for y'all. anxious to see those pictures.

I like, I like it a lot. Thanks for posting that!

Paul, could a livewell work ?

Very neat, thanks alot for the tips!

shane, a livewell would work provided the water was clear.  the clearer the better.  that seems to be the biggest key.  would probably help even more if at least one side of the livewell was colored dark. 

one thing to take into account too is that it is especially important to get bass caught out of deep water back in the lake asap.  taking them out of deep water and keeping them in shallow water (such as a bin or livewell) for any extended period will really mess up their equilibrium and once they are released, they may not be able to get back to the depths on their own.  in fact, many times if you catch a bass out of deep water and try to put it in a livewell (especially in cold water it seems) the bass will float belly up because it cannot adjust its swim bladder.  if it stays like this too long, it becomes too weak to swim back to deep water on its own once it is released.  at that point, the only hope to save the bass is to "fizz" it.  either that or use some sort of elaborate "weighted upside down holding pen on a rope" device to lower the bass back to the depth you caught it. 

so basically what i'm saying is that if you are keeping deep-caught bass out of the water too long for a picture or any other reason, you are running a big risk of killing them.  just sayin'.  please be especially careful with the deep-caught ones.  just something to remember as winter approaches.

Thats a cool tip. Thanks for sharing. Roby

Great tip Paul. I have noticed your fish are better looking than others 

Great tip Paul! 

FYI, if you or anyone else has any bad photos that they want retouched/color corrected send me a pm.

Thanks for the tip, Paul.

Thanks, Paul. I hear ya on what you're saying about the deep ones, but I fish mostly shallower lakes, like average depth of around 20-25 ft max, and usually much less, like 10 or so. Good stuff, though, thank you.

I often notice the color change of the bass coming out of a live well they've been in for a little while, never thought of doing it for pictures sake  from shore though. Great post!

Thanks for the write up, great info!

You need to send one of those pics to BASS Masters magazine "lunker photos" if you haven't already.

Holy cow that is a beautiful fish mate!!!

I have been doing this for awhile. Catch a good one then put it in the livewell untin I get out on open water so my boat does not drift into the bank or I find someone to take the picture because I fish alone alot.  That color change is stress. Yes your live well will stress a fish just the same as a storage bin.

trust me it works

That is a great tip Paul, thanks.

I would like to add, make sure you are using this technique when it is your legal bass season.  I know in PA, before the middle of June, this would be considered a "no-no" as you are required to immediately release a fish (photos are ok, but you can't put the fish in any type of container).