A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Time of Day and Lures on Largemouth Bass (Micropterus

Sara Rose and Michelle Garcia

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Time of Day and Lures on Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) in Lake Mission Viejo

Sara Rose and Michelle Garcia

Department of biological sciences

Saddleback College

Mission Viejo, California 92692

Changes in the feeding rhythms during differing light conditions and ambient temperatures were investigated in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) within a natural environment. Demand-feeding behavior was monitored in Lake Mission Viejo (California) with water temperature from 55 F to 80 F. Micropterus, being diurnal, displayed a positive and stable relationship between the peak of the feeding rate and the rising and setting of the sun. (elaborate on the abstract)

Introduction

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) are the dominant top carnivores of many North American lakes and reservoirs and are popular sport fish, but the behavioral mechanisms of their feeding are still poorly known. After reviewing numerous scientific journals it has become apparent that largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)( you already wrote the scientific name you do not need to do this again) have evolved advanced predatory mechanisms that help them find prey (Ludsin, 1997,Johnke, 1995, Brown, 2002, Linser, 1998, Moeller, 1972)(can use this many references for one sentence? Talk to Teh to make sure.), though little seems to be known. Micropterus use their six senses, including their lateral line system, used for detecting water vibration variances (pressure variances), to detect prey in all conditions of water (Johnke, 1995). These senses are not only used in hunting and feeding, but also in evasive maneuvers, avoiding any temptations that seem less than natural, such as lures. However, largemouth bass are known to be attracted to certain colors, shapes, smells, and vibrations that resemble real life prey which brought about the invention of the common fishing lure (Brown, 2002). As stated above, largemouth bass have six senses which mainly benefit them when living in the murkiest of water. The experiment performed tested what color crank bait lure largemouth bass prefer in minimal to full daylight conditions (Linser et al, 1998). Results of examining the most popular line and reel set-up used on average will help the average fisherman/woman ensure a good fishing experience in California winter conditions (Moeller and Engelken, 1972). It is hypothesized that the colorful bait in both light conditions will have the highest frequency of successful catches in the allotted amount of experimental time.

Methods

The experiment was conducted at Mission Viejo Lake in Mission Viejo, California. The fishing was designated to the end of the dock where casting reached the bass hunting grounds. The lures tested consisted of two main categories: brightly and neutrally colored crank baits (were the two baits used simultaneously by two fishermen or was one used for a period of time then switched over to the other one?). Among the brightly colored crank baits, the color ranged from neon yellow, to bright blue. Among the naturally colored baits, the color ranged from dark brown to grey. All crank baits were rigged in the drop-shot style with a Palomar knot (drop shot weight at end of line with actual bait a foot above it) to ensure that the bait reached the average depth at which largemouth bass typically live (between 7 and 15 feet below the surface). The selection of reels varies from high rate flexibility to little flexibility due to budget restraints. The reels used were spinning/casting reels which allowed investigators to cast out and reel in at a personally customized selection and pace. The strength of the fishing line used was 6-8 pound tests which made it light enough to feel the bite of the average largemouth bass. Over the course of a month, 50 hours of fishing, in varying light conditions, was conducted. Water temperature was recorded (surface temperature or the temperature at the depth that the fish are located?) as well as detailed accounts of the weather conditions. The data were collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The data were run through a descriptive statistics test to determine the standard of error of means. An unpaired two-tailed T test assuming equal variance was run to analyze the data.

Results

The overall number of fish caught using the bright and naturally-colored lures represented by figure 1. (were graphed using a bar graph on Micrisoft Excel) put this in your material and methods portion.(Figure 1).

Figure 1

Figure 1. Catch rate of Largemouth bass with brightly-colored vs. naturally-colored lures (always put a figure caption)

The amount of fish caught during low light or bright light conditions is graphed in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Catch rate of Largemouth bass in low light vs. bright light conditions. (figure caption!)

Lastly, the two graphs constructed below (Figures 3&4) display the amount of fish caught with naturally-colored and brightly-colored lures in both low light conditions (sunrise and sundown beyond) and bright light conditions (between sunrise and sunset).

(revise your results above this section above this mark. Or change the location of your graphs; they don’t need to be right under the sentence that references them. Doing it this way makes it redundant.)

Figure 3

(remove the borders on figure 3 and 4)

Figure 3. caption- The above graphs shows the amount of fish caught in low light conditions comparing the brightly colored vs. naturally colored lures. (p=0.33+/- S.E.M. 1.5)

Figure 4

Figure 4 caption- The above graph shows the amount of fish caught in bright light conditions comparing the brightly colored vs. naturally colored lures. (p=???S.E.M. +/- 0.5)

The data was were (data is plural) collected to compare the number of fish (n=???) caught with each lure in bright and low lights conditions to perform an unpaired two-tailed test assuming equal variances. The data showed a significant difference in the number of fish caught in low light conditions versus bright light conditions (p=0.33) this p value is from figure 3. Where is the data that just looks at low light conditions compared to bright light conditions? (p value greater then 0.05 means NO significant difference). The data showed that fishing in low light conditions produced more fish caught then fishing in bright light conditions. The data was run through a descriptive statistics test to determine the standard error means. What about the difference in the lures used without taking into account for light conditions? Them maybe show how the light conditions can affect the choice. Is there a difference in choice because of the light conditions? Did you test to see is the temperature did have an effect on the amount of fish caught? You talked about temperature, you measured it but there is nothing in your results. Did you use it for any tests or was it just a waste of time?

Discussion

When considering the rate of success with any given kind of bait, one must look at how Micropterus(it might be easier if you say largemouth bass and not Micropterus) experiences the bait through all six of its senses. According to a study on pisciverous feeding in Micropterus “In the pursuit phase of the predation cycle, largemouth bass are more likely to choose prey with large apparent size, closer proximity, or greater motion.” (Howick and O’Brien, 1983). A complete analysis of their finding showed that bass use multiple mechanisms simultaneously to determine which organisms to prey on. First, we examine sight. The brightly colored lures are easier to see in murky water, however, it is still unknown the range of colors which Micropterus can actually see. According to a recent study, bass may have some, but not full, color vision (Kawamura and Kashimoto, 2002). This most likely is the cause of the bass’ lack of interest in the unnatural, brightly colored lures. A keen sense of smell is perhaps another contributing factor to why Micropterus rarely approaches lures. In such murky (visibility of the lake was measured to be between 8ft-15ft in bright condition and 3-9ft in low light conditions) water, it is highly likely that bass depend less on their eyesight and more so on their other senses. If a lure gives off a plastic scent, or perhaps even no scent at all, it is likely that the bass are not even considering it an option as a food item as they hunt through the algae. A sense of taste is imperative to many organisms in determining what food items will be most nutritious. Largemouth bass use a glossopharyngeal taste system (Ogawa and Capio, 1999) to sample and understand potential food items before consuming them. The bass will swallow potential prey and spit it out or swallow it depending on taste. A big part of the reason that bass take in so much information about their prey before attempting to consume them is because of the mechanism by which they feed. The final sense that Micropterususes is the lateral line system that all fish use to detect vibrations and pressure differences in the water (Bleckmann and Zelick, 2009). Micropterus use this sense to hunt prey in the wild by having the ability to even detect the heartbeat of nearby prey.

Using these senses in unison is what has made Mircropterus a popular sport-fishing trophy, because it does not take merely a fishing pole and hook to capture this predator. As the results show, the most favorably condition to fish for largemouth bass is in low light. This indicates that lower temperatures are also favorable since temperature corresponds with changes in different light conditions (i.e. hot in the day and cool at night)(no where in your paper do you talk about testing for temperature changes, bight days aren’t always hot and cloudy days aren’t always cold, if you tested for the temperature and saw that this is true then you can say it but I see nothing in your results stating that this was tested. If you revise this and talk about time of day rather then light conditions then this statement can be true.). It became apparent after recording data that Mircropterusgave more attention to the lures painted to imitate the colors of fish in the wild (naturally-colored lures), therefore it would appear that the lure choice is only important when there is enough light for the fish to see the colors (though this was not a significant difference p=0.33. The results did not show a significant difference, but if more research with spot fishing was conducted then it could possibly show that Mircropteruswill spend more time analyzing the naturally-colored lures. The results are from a small sample set and in the future data might be taken from professional fishermen in order to have more accurate and precise results.

References

Brown, 2002???

Bleckmann Horst, Zelick Randy, (2009). Lateral line system of fish. Integrative Zoology 4, 13-25

Carrol, A. M., (2004). Muscle activation and strain during suction feeding in the largemouth bassMicropterus salmoides.Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 983-991(where is Carrol refernced?)

Grant, B. E., Devon, Gershaneck L., Plata D. L., and Golub J. L. (2002). Ontogenetic Changes in Response to Heterospecific Alarm Cues by Juvenile Largemouth Bass are Phenotypically Plastic. Behavior, 139(7), 913-927. (did not see in paper)

Howick, G. L., O’Brien, J. W., (1983). Piscivorous Feeding Behavior of Largemouth Bass: An Experimental Analysis. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 112, 508-516.

Johnke, W. K., (1995). The Behavior and Habits of Largemouth Bass. Dorbil Publishing Co.. New York.

Kawamura, G., Kashimoto, T., (2002). Color vision, accommodation and visual acuity in the largemouth bass. Fisheries Science. 68(5), 1041-1046.

Linser, P. J., Carr, William E. S., Cate, H. S., Derby, C. D., & Netheron, J. C. (1957). Functional Significance of the Co-Localization of Taste Buds and Teeth in the Pharyngeal Jaws of the Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides. Biological Bulletin, 195(3), 273-281.

Ludsin, S. A., & DeVries, D. R..(1997). First-Year Recruitment of Largemouth Bass: The Interdependency of Early Life Stages. Ecological Applications, 7(3), 1024-1038. (did not see in paper)

Moeller, G. H., & Engelken, J. H..(1972). What Fishermen Look for in a Fishing Experience. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 36(4), 1253-1257.

Ogawa, K., Caprio, J., (1999). Citrate Ions Enhance Taste Response to Amino Acids in Largemouth Bass. The Journal of Neurophysiology, 81(4).

Pawson, M.G., Pickett, G.D., Leballeur, J., Brown, M., & Fritsch, M.. (2007). Migrations, fishery interactions, and management units of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in Northwest Europe. ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil (did not see in paper)

Rutherford, E. S., Rose, K. A., Cowan Jr., K. H.. (2003)Evaluation of the Shepherd and Cushing (1980) model of density-dependent survival: a case study using striped bass(Morone saxatilis) larvae in the Potomac River, Maryland, USA. ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil. (did not see in paper)

Review Form

Department of Biological Sciences

Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, CA 92692

Author (s): Sara Rose and Michelle Garcia

Title:A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Time of Day and Lures on Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) in Lake Mission Viejo

Summary

Summarize the paper succinctly and dispassionately. Do not criticize here, just show that you understood the paper.

This paper hypothesized that brightly colored lures would catch more largemouth bass then a neutral colored lure. They tested the two kinds of lures in low light and bright light. In low light conditions there was no significant difference in the amount of largemouth bass caught with each lure. In the bright light conditions it is unknown whether there is a significant difference or not.

General Comments

Generally explain the paper’s strengths and weaknesses and whether they are serious, or important to our current state of knowledge.

The researchers put a lot of time into looking at previous work that has been done on this subject. The introduction and discussion are well done. I feel that the results need work. It seemed like they were going to test a lot more then what they ended up testing. They collected a lot of data and I feel that they could have done more tests with all the data collected. This research would be good for anyone looking at getting into largemouth bass sport fishing

echnical Criticism

Review technical issues, organization and clarity. Provide a table of typographical errors, grammatical errors, and minor textual problems. It's not the reviewer's job to copy Edit the paper, mark the manuscript.

X This paper was a final versionThis paper was a rough draft

Recommendation

 This paper should be published as is

X This paper should be published with revision

 This paper should not be published

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