The Preference of Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacépède) for Selected Bait Species under Experimental Conditions
- 1 April 1973
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 102 (2) , 355-362
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1973)102<355:tpolbm>2.0.co;2
Abstract
The preference of largemouth bass for selected bait species was tested under experimental conditions. Three fish species and one species of larval salamander were utilized in preference experimentation: Notemigonus crysoleucas, Carassius auratus, Lepidomeda mollispinis, and Ambystoma tigrinum. Preference experiments were conducted in 2.4 and 3.0 m plastic wading pools. A total of 23 bass, varying in weight from 84–499 g, was utilized in determining single, group and replicate profiles. Replicate experimentation was conducted with previously tested bass and/or bait combinations. Twenty‐five experiments were completed which included 28 trial periods (14 single and 14 group) with a total trial time of 190 days. Largemouth bass showed a significant preference for spinedace and waterdogs over golden shiners and goldfish. However, bass did not show a significant preference for either species when spinedace and waterdogs were tested against each other. Goldfish were the least preferred bait item. The order of preference did not change when the number of bass and the number of bait species offered were changed. The size of bass and change in size of bait items from trial to trial did not appear to have any substantial impact on preference, except in trials involving the golden shiner/waterdog combination. Vulnerability, palatability, behavior, and perhaps size of prey organisms affect the feeding behavior of bass in nature and under experimental conditions.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: