How do you tell whether it's a carp or bass snapping up from the water?

[BlueGilling]

How do you tell whether it's a carp or bass snapping up from the water?

[DanB504]

(I am assuming you mean feeding on the surface when you say "snapping up from the water?".) Bass are far more often surface feeders then carp, and will take just about anything alive that falls on the water. Their mouth is in front of their face and opens quite large in comparison with a carp whose much smaller mouth is on the bottom of their chin. Carp eat more vegetation, fish eggs, and insect life which they vacuum up off the bottom with their sucker-like lips. Largemouth bass tend to be more silvery/green in color whereas the carp lean more toward golden brown.

[leeeeeroyjenkins199]

Carp rarely jump out of the water. If you look at a picture for common carp, their mouths are on the bottom, so if they wanted to eat on the surface, they'd either have to be upside down or their bodies vertical.

When carp jump, it's to cool down. They do more of a vertical jump outwards, like body perpendicular to the water.

Bass will usually be more subtle. it won't be a noise SPLASH

[dangerwildman]

bass normally jump out of water. they are colored green/sliver as to whether a carp is a golden brown. carp feed on the bottom. plus carp are the best fighting fish out in the world

[Evan737]

well... bass will attack your bait right away. when u feel a hard hit out of nowhere... its a bass. on the other hand carp r more wise. they will nibble on ur bait a few times and smell it. don't set the hook right away, make sure the fish has ur bait and then set hook. good luck!

[AlBundy318]

Bass and Carp have very different mouths. A Largemouth Bass with make a loud "sucking" noise when they eat something on the surface,(a dragonfly, beetle, frog, fly..etc) that's very aggressive. Carp are lazy and usually feed off the bottom, but when they do take food off the surface, it's usually a bit more mellow and they'll remain in the nearly same area for a long time, so you might see them keep doing it over and over again. A Bass likes to hit and run.