Do bass eat salamanders?

[NKlamerus]

Specifically largemouth.

Sure they will absolutely chomp them down on or near a bed, but that goes for just about anything moving near a bass bed

But the rest of the year, I see them (salamanders) swimming up to the waters surface and resting, then swimming 10+ft back down to the bottom

How could they get the chance in waters loaded with bass?

The first thing that comes to mind is Horton Pond, as there's probably thousands of them, maybe there's enough the bass can't make a dent in the population.

But I also saw them in Alton Baker for the first time, clear water in a very small body of water, you'd think they wouldn't be able to survive a trip in the open like that.

I have thrown the river2sea nest raider but the hooup ratio isn't great, it's also very heavy, and doesn't last long.

But saw these (slam-a-mander) at DSG and would probably rig nicely on a football head or EWG

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Nothing except garter snakes eat rough skinned newts, which is what I assume you mean by salamanders. (Correct me if I am mistaken.) Rough skinned newts have glands that excrete a powerful neurotoxin, so anything other than a garter snake (which are immune to the toxin) that eats them will soon die. This includes frat boys in hazing incidents… look into it.

Regarding the often quoted idea that somehow a salamander is the enemy of bedding bass… I have no idea where that started. I think it might have been Homer Circle, or maybe he got it from a French fur trapper in the 1700s. ANYTHING in the bed is the enemy of bedding bass. I’ve caught bedding bass on Q-Tips to win a bet. Personally, I don’t doubt for a minute that a salamander or a newt would eat bass eggs, but I also figure bluegill are going to be the biggest culprit when it comes to nest raiding.

Just my thoughts, I have no way to prove it.

 

[NKlamerus]

I'll have to snag a photo. I thought they were salamanders just based on their head shape, and they did seem smooth from afar, but I haven't netted one. The color looks right

Homer circle- there's a name I haven't heard in awhile.

His book "Bass Wisdom" is one of the best. Usually a go-to recommendation when anyone asks what I've read.

I still remember tips from "Ask Uncle Homer" as well, specifically setting the hook every 3rd cast when targeting schooling bass and missing hooksets

Or using cut peices of foam from beer coozies, they work great on pompano rigs

 

[Shaun Solomon]

One of these critters?

Speaking of Uncle Homer, did you ever see that video Glen Lau did with Homer called “Bigmouth”? Pretty eye opening in some respects. It’s old at this point but still a good thing to watch if you want to understand the dynamics of bass feeding.

 

[Fred]

One of these critters?

Speaking of Uncle Homer, did you ever see that video Glen Lau did with Homer called “Bigmouth”? Pretty eye opening in some respects. It’s old at this point but still a good thing to watch if you want to understand the dynamics of bass feeding.

Rough-skinned newts are everywhere. I see them surfacing to breathe all the time, and in their breeding season, they lump onto each other, and it's a comical sight when several different male newts are riding on top of one female newt. I catch them in the puddles in the rocks when I go out to the coast.
Here's a video of a bullfrog that died when it tried to eat a rough-skinned newt and a video of bass eating tiger-salamander larvae.

 

[plumbertom]

Yes Bass will indeed eat waterdogs.
That was a favorite bait for bucket mouths when I fished for them in the lower Colorado River.

 

[Grant22]

Kinda cool fun fact, rough skinned newts are actually the most poisonous animal in the northwest.

 

[Senkosam]

I no longer believe that simulating prey like salamanders or newts is key in getting fish to strike. In fact, such simulations I believe only catch fish if they will but only because something about the lure simply triggers the strike. It takes the guesswork out and opens the door to a huge variety of lures that could work most days of the year.

 

[NKlamerus]

I'm with senkosam, I have been throwing the fishlabs slam-o-mander with no real success, some fish here and there but they much prefer a lizard.

Been to Horton twice and seen hundreds of newts, chill as can be.

 

[Senkosam]

The wild tail action of that lure NK is what causes bass to react - not the sim or any sim. IMO. Fish instinctively know what's a real meal and everything else simply annoying. Take this Whiskas lure I came up with recently:

All it is is a wacky-rig mini-stick made of thin tails from two grubs and the body of a grub attached to them with a flame.
The mod had caught many species of fish and many fish - easily.

Sure, I could claim the lure looks and acts like any number of prey animals, but I would be lying to myself. The twitch says it all when fish attack it - sometimes on each of three casts after getting caught on the 3rd cast.
The Mepps spinner has caught millions of fish over many decades but not because fish it's a minnow. The flash had vibration are more than fish can tolerate.