I was wondering what exactly you can learn by the color of a bass you caught? I heard KVD on shows talk about catching and knowing that the fish just moved in that area by their color.  I was wondering how he knew this? Are they lighter than usual or darker?  And what other things can you tell by looking at the color of a fish you just caught?

i know the muddier the water the lighter the bass will be along with the deeper. Where shallow and weedbed bas are usualy dark almost black at least what Iv noticed

I was wondering what exactly you can learn by the color of a bass you caught? I heard KVD on shows talk about catching and knowing that the fish just moved in that area by their color. I was wondering how he knew this? Are they lighter than usual or darker? And what other things can you tell by looking at the color of a fish you just caught?

basically, he can tell it just moved if he catches a light colored bass in shallow water, or a dark colored bass in deeper water

I thought they also changed color because of the water color. They get darker and more defined in darker water, and the opposite for lighter colored water.

For example, the fish in my avatar is from light brown water.

I've noticed some patterns.  Its mostly time of year, and light penetration, and how much sunlight they get.  The sun, the darker they are. 

I think.  :-/

Shallow weeds resident, probably gets a lot of sun:

Fish from deep, moving shallow to feed:

Deep, clear lake:

Deep, tannin stained lake:

Bass like most fish can make color changes within their natural color range. Water chemistry and depth of sun light both affect coloration; hard water (high ph-alkaline) is usaully clearer water with little weeds cover and coloration is vivid, soft water (low ph-acidic) is usually off color water with lots of weeds and coloration is muted to camoflage themselves.

Bass from deeper clear water and tend to be lighter in color and bass living under shady weed mates tend to be darker colors.

You can tell the bass are making a transition from deeper water to shallow water when you see color variations in the same area on a specific lake.

Tom

I've observed that I catch the darkest bass while frogging. I believe that just like humans, the bass are "tanning" and producing a melanin-like substance to protect their skin from ultraviolet radiation.

JFrancho. I have a ??? about the second pic. Do you keep your lunch in the top part of that hat?

Lunch, a spare set of keys, a garden gnome, and bottle of orange Gatorade.

Lunch, a spare set of keys, a garden gnome, and bottle of orange Gatorade.

Now I know where my gnome went.