My brother-in-law says its due to their mood (i.e. an angry bass will have black eyes without visible pupil). Not sure if I believe him. Anyone know the answer?

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depends on what there smoking

I don't think fish have such "specific emotions" ... like anger. They're more in the "Fight or Flight" catagory (but, they do seem to exhibit "curiosity"). And I don't think Largemouth have red in their eyes ... but, Smallmouth & KY Spotted Bass do. And yet, I'm not so sure that that's always true, either. LMB eyes, most of the time, best I can remember, seemed to be black pupil with gold shading around them ... whereas, Smallmouth & KY Spots seemed to have black pupils and a red shading around them.
Good question, and I hope to see some more opinions on this. But, I think I'd have to disagree with what your bro-in-law says. I think he's projecting "human" qualities onto the fish

... cp

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i agree with pappy. alot of times peple confuse spotted bass with largemouths and spots tend to have a redish tint to there eyes

We have a "Red Eye" bass that populates some of our creeks and rivers around here. They seem to prefer running water and very seldom reach much more than 3lb. I think some folks refer to them as "Coosa" bass.

I think it just has to do with genetics in some cases, different sub-species in others. As a taxidermist, I get to study fish (all animals) eyes and many photos show that some fish just have a slightly different coloration, just like eye or hair color in humans. Because of this I've started trying to paint my own eyes from flints rather than having to settle for the factory eyes that are just somebody's idea of how they should look. I guess there's not really a right or wrong answer to the question. Since it's coming from a brother-in-law I would give him some grief over it anyway.

Yeah I always heard them called gypsy bass also. They live mosty is creeks or small rivers and don't get reallly big