Newts and Bass

Does anyone know the following: If I'm fishing in an area that has newts is that a good bass environment?  Do bass eat newts?  Thanks

I don't think many fish eat newts because of the toxin in their skin, I'll bet they try them and don't go for them again. 

What type of waterway is it, is there any rocks or structure?

Still waters...lakes.  Yes lots of structure.  Very bassy looking type areas but just trying to discern if there is anything I can infer from seeing Newt activity.  Plus my daughter loves to catch newts so we can get two people happy in the same area! 

I call them sals, and yes, everywhere I bass fish has them. Used to have a dog that liked to walk around in shallow water and look for them. He loved to put his paw on them, and then watch them swim away!

I call them salamanders and i've seen them everywhere. Rivers, lakes, ponds etc. I've caught a trout with their tails before in a local reservoir.

Plus my daughter loves to catch newts so we can get two people happy in the same area! 

I use to play with those as a child as well, but I'd suggest she washes her hands when she's done, maybe bring her some purell or something.

The cute little ones in Oregon are really pretty toxic...

"The rough-skin newt (Taricha granulosa) is one of the most toxic animals known to science. One case involved a 29-year-old man who had been drinking heavily and swallowed a newt on a dare in Coos Bay, Oregon. Within 10 minutes, he complained of tingling in the lips. During the next two hours he complained of numbness and weakness and then experienced cardiopulmonary arrest. He died later during the day (despite hospital treatment). In another case, toxin from a Taricha entered a puncture wound on a scientist's index finger, and he suffered 30 minutes of numbness up the arm into the shoulder, and some accompanying nausea and light-headedness.


When describing the effect on more natural predators, one reporter wrote: "Scientists have tested 30 potential predators of newts, from belted kingfishers to great blue herons to bullfrogs and fish, finding in every case that the newt killed them." Of related gastronomic note: folklore held that pigs in England could eat newts with impunity, while their French porcine cousins would die a horrible death from the same ingestion. On a social-historical note, it is said that some Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest used Taricha newts to poison their enemies."


Taricha granulosa, the most toxic newt species
Source: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/toxin2.shtml

Ya rough skinned newts are extremely toxic whether bass are resistant to the  toxin I couldn't find and answer.  Garter snakes are the only thing I'm aware of that actively feed on them.  I know their toxin will kill frogs, catfish, pets (new a vet who had a cat die in his office cause it ate a garter snake with a newt in it's belly).  

But there are tons of plastics out there shaped like them that work so who knows.  Throw some lures try some night crawlers only way to find out if there are bass there is try and catch some ;-)

Ya rough skinned newts are extremely toxic whether bass are resistant to the  toxin I couldn't find and answer.  Garter snakes are the only thing I'm aware of that actively feed on them.  I know their toxin will kill frogs, catfish, pets (new a vet who had a cat die in his office cause it ate a garter snake with a newt in it's belly).  

But there are tons of plastics out there shaped like them that work so who knows.  Throw some lures try some night crawlers only way to find out if there are bass there is try and catch some ;-)

Per my semi-pro bass buddy:  Newts are effective on bass in Oregon only when they're on their nests.  He says they'll attack them because they're guarding their eggs.  Second hand info. but sounds right.

Wow!  I knew they were toxic but not THAT toxic.  Thanks for all the tips/info.

Good to know info Spot thanks.. BTW how do you go about getting that A$$hat title I'm always looking for new challenges?

Good to know info Spot thanks.. BTW how do you go about getting that A$$hat title I'm always looking for new challenges?

You have to be adept at pointing out how ridiculously ignorant those around you are.   
Or you can do like the man who invented the asshat award did and make over-generalizations about people based soley on their accents.     

depending where you are if the swimbait lizards will work for you for bass. sometimes they dont want anything over 4 inches, others, the bigger the better.

dont limit yourself to one color either.. and fish them deep, texas or better yet, carolina rigged, bset around spawning time.

Good to know info Spot thanks.. BTW how do you go about getting that A$$hat title I'm always looking for new challenges?

You have to be adept at pointing out how ridiculously ignorant those around you are.   
Or you can do like the man who invented the asshat award did and make over-generalizations about people based soley on their accents.     

Anyone remember which thread that was in? It might be fun for those not here at the time to better understand the true nature of this award.

I remembered the video from how to tie snelled hooks... gotta love the search:

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,1453.0.html

Bsteves went back and edited his original post, but if you look at the quote from TheAverageFisherman's post you can see...