TAKEOFF
BASS SCIENCE
TALES FROM THE BASS INFIRMARY
A LOOK AT COMMON INJURIES AND DEFORMITIES THAT AFFECT BASS By TJ Maglio
It’ s hard on bass out there. The natural world is fraught with dangers, and like every other creature on the planet, a bass is subject to a host of illnesses and injuries as it goes about its life.
If you’ ve caught enough bass, you’ ve most certainly boat-flipped one or two that have had some sort of unique deformity, damage or discoloration. Photos of such catches are regular fodder on Internet message boards and around the weigh-in stage after a tournament day.
While most anglers have caught a bass or two that looked a bit odd, there’ s little discussion of the cause of visual deformities. In some cases, understanding the causes can help anglers care for their catches better. In other cases, it’ s just interesting to know how some bass have come to look the way they do.
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Black Blotches
Bass have pigment in their skin that’ s responsible for their coloration. And they’ re prone to various genetic disorders that can cause pigmentation to be unique. The most common coloration oddity is melanosis, which shows as dark or black splotches on the skin of the fish. Melanosis is not a disease, nor has it been shown to affect bass negatively in any way.
Battle Scars
Angling is one of the main causes of bass injury and deformation, particularly in the mouth and head. Everyone has caught a bass with a big hole in the mouth caused by previous hooking, right? Occasionally a bass is caught that is missing an eye or part of a gill plate. Odds are that type of injury occurred during a previous encounter with an angler’ s treble hook.
Other forms of damage caused by fishermen include holes from culling tags and broken jaws from improper handling. An angler can minimize such injuries by using pliers to remove hooks quickly and cleanly, supporting big bass with both hands and using cull tags that don’ t puncture the skin around the jaw.
Road Rash
Bass, like all fish, have a protective layer of slime that coats their entire bodies. The slime coat reduces water resistance, making them more hydrodynamic, and functions as a barrier against infection. Take away the slime, and fungal or bacterial infection can set in quickly.
ILLUSTRATION BY HANS RANUM
Flopping and scraping against a boat’ s carpet can remove the slime and cause skin infections. A fisherman should always try to minimize the amount of exposure a bass has to carpet or other abrasive surfaces, and handle the fish with wet hands whenever possible.
Predator Damage
Though predators themselves, bass are also prey for other species at various points in their lives. They often exhibit scars, lesions and other physical damage as the result of encounters with predators. Ospreys, herons, snapping turtles, lampreys and toothy critters such as alligators, northern pike and muskies are all more than willing to take a bite at a passing bass, and if the bass survives, it can wear the resulting damage the rest of its days.
Spawning Damage
Many bass caught in the spring have bloody and worn tails or anal fins. This is damage caused by fanning out a nest and the other rigors of spawning. Paying attention to the presence or absence of this type of injury and how much these injuries have healed is a great indicator as to the phase of the spawn, and can lead to catching more bass.
Bug Eyes
Anglers occasionally catch bass with eyes that appear to be bulging from their heads. This condition is called exophthalmia, which essentially means“ bulging eyes.” It is most commonly found in large bass, and it can be caused by a number of stressors, including infection, trauma or being reeled in too quickly out of deep water.
FLWFISHING. COM I APRIL 2017