I think we catch more juvenile fish because there are a lot more of them
...
Thomas
------ Originalnachricht ------
Von: "J Balmer" <jbal...@betadigm.com>
An: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
Gesendet: 13.09.2014 03:20:22
Betreff: RE: [VFB] Are Fish Intelligent?
While I agreed w/ most of the points presented, there is some anecdotal
evidence of learned behavior in some fish species, & predators in
particular seem to possess greater intelligence than bait fish. I truly
believe that the reason we catch more juvenile fish is more than just
because there are more of them. Why, for instance, will a more mature
fish spend more time observing a lure or fly before taking action,
including backing away? The more time you spend studying fish in their
habitat, the better your chances of enticing said piscatorial foe into
catching a lure, and “out thinking” is an overused term in that regard
but that doesn’t mean that fish don’t learn.
J
From:vfb-mail@googlegroups.com [mailto:vfb-mail@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Jack Harford
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 12:54 PM
To:vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
Subject: [VFB] Are Fish Intelligent?
Virtual Fly Box Collaborators - I would be interested on your feedback
on this article published in the Armchair Angler a few months back.
Tight lines..
Are Fish Intelligent? . . . or are Fishermen Stupid?
Fly Fishers through the ages have allotted great intelligence to fish
in general and the harder it is to catch a fish the smarter it must be.
However the question remains, “are the fish really smart or are the
fishers dumb.” Since few people are able to accept or admit that they
are not intelligent (in some area) they tend rather to accredit great
intelligence to the prey and grant themselves the title of “even more
intelligent” when they happen to land a fish.
If one admits that a fish has but a pea sized brain and relatively
simple cognitive skills, they must also recognize that, though humans
have a grapefruit size brain and complex cognitive thought processes,
we often remain quite stupid when it comes to thinking like a fish.
Some fishermen have interesting irrational thought patterns like:
“That looks like a nice spot I’ll fish here.”
“I think this is a beautiful fly, so I’m sure the fish will like it
too.
“Wow . . . That is a beautiful fly rod, if I have one of those I’ll bet
I can catch a lot of fish with it.”
“I caught a fish.”
I would surmise that the only ones who have “caught” a fish with a rod
and reel are the ones snagging fish in low water with a bare treble
hook on the end of the line. In all other instances the fisher did NOT
catch a fish; rather the fish caught the fly. Fly rods, no matter how
beautiful or expensive do not catch fish; fish catch flies. It makes
little difference if the fisher thinks his flies are beautiful; it only
matters if the fish thinks the fly is food or is endangering their
space. There are many beautiful stretches of water that contain very
few fish – the old 80/20 rule – 80% of the fish are in 20% of the water
(or even 90/10).
What matters to the fish are three things:
· Food – is there a source of nourishment
· Shelter – am I safe here
· Oxygen – can I breathe freely
Fish are very sensitive to these three things . . . sometimes very
sensitive. And maybe a fourth would be reproduction. They are very
sensitive to their spawning time. The author’s opinion is that these
sensitivities are not so much learned through intelligence, but are the
God given instincts that all fish are imbued with.
The fish have an instinctive ability to perceive if they are safe or on
danger. They will avoid places and situations where they feel unsafe
and gravitate to places where they feel safe and protected; we call
these places structure.
The fish have an instinctive ability to sense how much dissolved oxygen
in in the water. If they cannot breathe freely they will look for a
place where the water has greater oxygen content, like below a riffle,
in colder water, or beneath waves.
And fish instinctively know when they are hungry, what items are food,
and maybe, and this may be a stretch, even which will give them the
most protein for the effort it takes to catch that food. Sometimes
when fishers say, “the fish are so smart today and won’t take any of my
flies,” the fact of the matter may be that they are not feeding at that
time of the day.
Since fishers are not fish, they do not instinctively think like a
fish. If fishers believe the fish think like humans they fall into
self-deception. Perhaps, if a fisher can get out of himself and begin
to think like a fish (and each species has different instinctual
characteristics) then maybe one can be lucky enough to offer a fly in
such an enticing way that the fish cannot resist the urge to catch the
fly.
Like the oldtimers often say, “That’s why we call it fishin’ and not
catchin’.”
Good luck and tight lines,
Jack Harford,
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