If a shad or crawfish is located in that adjacent water … well , it ’ s more than likely lights out .
If it happens to be a plastic craw at the end of your line in that adjacent water , you know what to do next .
The “ large ” mouth of largemouth bass makes them particularly deadly suction feeders . Studies have shown that during feeding , the volume of a bass ’ mouth cavity expands by more than 240 percent , which means they create a big negative pressure and plenty of suction force to overcome even the most stalwart prey species .
Combine that with the fact that the average bass strike only takes a fraction of a second , and you can see why they have little trouble feeding in almost any habitat or set of conditions .
Bite feeding is exactly what it sounds like – when a fish captures prey by closing its mouth and crushing or pinching the prey item between the jaws . Resist the temptation to assume it ’ s a common feeding style for most species .
The truth is , despite so much of our effort and vernacular as anglers centered on the word “ bite ,” in reality , actual “ bite feeding ” is not nearly as common in bony fishes as suction feeding . Bass can make do , though . With well-developed dentary bones on both the top and bottom jaws which are powered by a series of operculi muscles , both largemouth and smallmouth bass are adept bite feeders .
You may have seen videos of bass foraging for crawfish using this method , and their skill at bite feeding can also confound bass anglers – you ’ ve probably felt the pain of watching a big bass gently pick your bait up between its lips to move it off its bed ; the whole time never getting the hook in its mouth .
BODY-POWERED SUCTION ?
You might assume that most of the muscular power required to rapidly expand the mouth cavity would be built right into the head , but a recent study found the diminutive jaw muscles alone are not nearly strong enough to generate sufficient force to displace water in volumes equal to what bass strikes displace .
Instead , what the study showed is that the epaxialis muscles of the body ( think of the biggest “ shoulder ” part above the lateral line ) perform much of the heavy lifting . They jump-start the process by pulling back on the top of the skull , which allows the other three muscles to move the dentary bone down and snap the maxilla bone forward , explosively inflating the mouth cavity .
This finding was key to building a 3D model of how bass feed , and it will lead to a deeper overall understanding of how fish move and feed . n
ILLUSTRATION BY RON FINGER
APRIL-MAY 2021 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 29