Fish Reactions

[PBH]

[quote TubeDude]...They are endowed with a visual system geared to detecting and analyzing motion and we shouldn't wonder that bass can be pretty picky about different lure presentations. They don't see lures move the way we see them move; bass are highly sensitive to motion and it is likely they are predisposed to look for key motion characteristics while ignoring others.... [/quote]

As I mentioned before, and is being directly eluded to above, is that fish respond to stimulie differently than we do.

We continue to try to give them characteristics of humans: the ability to reason, think, make decisions.

We don't know if fish can do this -- or how.
"They don't see lures move the way we see them move". They don't process information the way we do.

Further, fish have a sensory organ that humans do not: the lateral line. This gives fish yet another way to process and respond to stimuli that humans simply cannot understand.

When trying to reason or understand why a fish did or did not strike a lure we can only come up with one conclusion: we don't know.

Again, lot's of anthropomorphic reasoning amongst us fisherdudes.



I especially liked the comments from the gentleman that tried to bring whales (mammals) and sharks (sharks) into a "fish" discussion.
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[smittyts]

This article reminds me of a book I read when first getting into fishing called, "
Fish Don't Think". A short good read that pretty much said the same things here. Thanks for the link.
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[RonPaulFan]

"... Here's a concept worth considering: fish react, period! ..."

(above from the post TubeDude linked)

That's what the fish have conspired to have us believe and from all the replies, I see they have done a brilliant job including tricking you into promoting their agenda of deception.

If the post were true, then how do the fish know it's me even when I dress in camouflage?

How do they decide they like one color and combination of lure and action characteristics one morning and change to something totally different by evening?

How did they communicate those choices to the fish at the opposite end of the reservoir at speeds faster than they can swim?
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Indeed.

Any question that begins with the words "why" or "how"...and the question relates to fish or humans...is not likely to have a good answer.
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[castnshoot]

A lot of fun discussion here. Ever see a big bass that knows you are there, and you throw everything in your box at him with no luck.

Then you pin a lively shad on, toss it out and he charges strait over and hammers it.

No doubt some fish do know real from fake. I have tons of tackle in my box, but always end up using the same hand full of lures that always work for me.

TudeDude, my Dad and Granddad taught me the same thing your uncle taught you.

First find the fish then don't scare them off.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Sounds like we went to different schools together.

Your example of the bass recognizing real food from fake reminds me of something I have observed many times since I first started learning to fish. That is when you fish a bait for a long time without any action. Then you take it off your hook and throw it in the water to put on a new bait. Suddenly a fish comes out of nowhere and snarfs the hookless morsel. That rankles a mite.
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[Anglinarcher]

I held off of this thread for some time, but thought I would like to toss in my two cents.

SenkoSam sounds like someone either skunked one too many times, or someone on the verge of his own spiritual/fishing understanding. Not quite sure which. ROFLOL

In my 50+ years of fishing, I have seen the live bait outfish the artificial too often to not believe that fish can tell the difference. But, on given days, artificial lures can outfish live bait. I have seen specific colors that would turn fish wild on a given day, when nothing else would touch a fish. I have also seen days when anything would work. Scent, sometimes only a specific one, will work, then sometimes anything that covers human scent will work. Some days you can dip your lure in gas and it will still catch fish.

I agree, stimulus is the key, but understanding the stimulus is important, and almost impossible sometimes. The "pea brain" of a fish is a pretty complex microprocessor that we simply do not understand fully. But, it is true, it is not human and it does not think.

It is important to understand that fishing can be simple, but consistent fishing is seldom simple. Filtering out the commercial hype, figuring out what scientific information is important, or real, and which ones are red herrings, determining what factors are important to each species, now that is what makes fishing fun and interesting.

I would love to discuss what I consider the order of importance, but I think TubeDude did a good job of starting that line of thinking.

Great job guys on how you dealt with this thread.
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