How smart do you think fish are????

You always hear people say things like: The fish get conditioned to a bait after seeing to many, Fish can see certain lines and will not bite, Fish know to jump or dig into the weeds gets to get off after being hooked, Ect. What made me really think about this ? was a TV show I watched last weekend. After almost a 2 Hr Tarpon fight the fish approached a bridge. The guide says to the fisherman that the fish is going to pass thru the bridge post and sure enough it did. After passing the rod around the post several times they finally got the fish back out to open water. The guide then tells the fishermen that his bet is that the fish will turn around and go back thru the bridge post again – You guessed it, The fish did. They were not as lucky this time and after passing the rod thru and around several post the fish cut the line. The guide says he’s seen this happen many times. Smart or lucky ??? The guide says the fish are that smart. Keep in mind when this fish was hooked it was A long ways from the bridge. How smart do you think fish are.

The average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused goldfish is nine seconds, but according to a new study from Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose concentration after eight seconds, highlighting the affects of an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain.

Researchers in Canada surveyed 2,000 participants and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs). Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (or about when the mobile revolution began) the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds.

https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

Well they definitely have fight or flight response. Which for the most part all the things you mentioned can pretty much be traced back to that response. How do you measure how smart fish are, I have no idea. It is not like there is a fish IQ test.
I know bass are real dumb.

There was a recent study done and published by Outdoor Life (I think) that someone posted about how bass can be conditioned and respond negatively when fishing pressure is high. It also mentioned how the genetics of certain bass populations are such that they generally are harder to catch (especially on artificial lures, like in tournaments) too, and this genetic trait can be passed on from one generation to the next.

Do I think the tarpon in your specific example is problem solving intelligent to the point where it knows that a bridge may break off the line and it could swim free? No. But I think the tarpon knows that a bridge offers some sort of cover and makes an association that cover helps so that it why it goes there. Sort of like when you hook a largemouth bass and it heads back into weeds or lily pads.

I used to fish Muskies on a certain lake in western Wisconsin. The “hot bait” in those days was a sucker colored Reef Hawg. I caught quite a few fish on that bait, including my personal best. A couple of years later you’d see a Musky come roaring up after that bait, flare it’s mouth open, and then at the last instant turn away and not come back. If they weren’t recognizing the Reef Hawg, well I don’t know how else you’d explain that behavior. Note: Those fish were still catchable, just not on any of the “standard” jerk baits.

Some of you know that my “thing” is fly fishing for Bass. On many, many occasions I’ve followed a couple of guys down a shore line and caught numerous fish behind them. They would be pitching Spinner Baits or worms or rubber jig things, and I’d be throwing flies. The only reason I can fathom why I would have better success is that those fish have seen a million Spinner Baits and a million Wacky Worms…..But one of my articulated streamers is something new to them. In late August I landed a 22 inch Largemouth on a Deer Hair top water after a big old Bass Boat and worked the area over. That fish had to have seen the conventional presentations and wasn’t having any of it.

The lake I frequently fish shuts off daily at 8AM. Rain or shine, spring, summer or winter. Pre-or-post frontal conditions. Various moon phases. None of that matters. At 8AM the access gets really busy, the jet skies and water skiers start tearing the lake up, there are people fishing all over the place. And the Bass shut off. I’ve been watching this happen for over 30 years now.

Unlike a lot of you, I can count on my hands the number of times I’ve been on Mille Lacs. But I have read the reports, especially regarding the Smallmouth fishery. The last two summers I see more and more guys reporting difficulties finding willing fish, or only having success with live bait in relatively deep water. It seems as though sight fishing in 6 feet of water doesn’t work very well anymore. It has changed from what it was.

Now does this represent intelligence? I don’t know and I guess we can leave that question to the philosophers. But fish sure seem to become conditioned to what we’re doing.

SR

I have spent 100’s of hours night fishing and convinced even the trolling motor spooks fish , seen it 2 often, I remember going over a spot with a paper graph once marking all kinds, twice nothing, fish know the ping of the transducer.

Last week while fishing the Rum River I caught the same northern 3 times. How did I know? From my jigs sticking out both sides of its mouth. Looked like a face pierced teenager! I’d say that makes this fish dumb falling for the same presentation 3 times in an hour…

Usually they are smarter than me.

eyefishwalleye wrote:

Last week while fishing the Rum River I caught the same northern 3 times. How did I know? From my jigs sticking out both sides of its mouth. Looked like a face pierced teenager! I’d say that makes this fish dumb falling for the same presentation 3 times in an hour…

LOL I think its quite obvious that pike are more aggressive and willing to bite just about anything compared to other species of game fish around here. A lot of bass, walleye, and muskie anglers catch more of them by accident than their actual intended target.

…Apparently you can teach a green sunfish today jump out of the water for a treat.

The Aliens in UFOs are in direct contact with the fishes. Explains lots of things. Im sure of this, they told me. Yes both the fish and the Aliens.

They have a brain the size of a pea, how smart can they be? survival instinct is another story.

Exact same thing happened to me with a tarpon.

Animals first instinct is to seek safety. It’s built in at a cellular level. Even the same for humans.

Safety for tarpon are those bridges. Protects them from sharks, full of bait, etc. that’s where they go when threatened.

Same for fresh water fish. Why do fish dive for weeds or under docks? Why do they run when at the surface? It’s a safety thing and not an intelligence thing.

They are plants with fins. They respond to their environment, lures and all.

Fish are slightly above insects and lower than reptiles when it comes to thought in my opinion. I think a lot of what they do has very little thought and that humans apply too much of our own cognition to what they’re thinking.

A fish is 4 times less smart than a cat.

I believe all fish lives matter. And there intelligence or lack there of should not be questioned by us higher beings. We should treat them all same regardless of taste when properly cooked or habitat they hang out in, or regional preference.
Should 1 man fish exclusively fish for a more exciting percieved species such as a musky or smallmouth bass?
Or should he equally spend his fishing time targeting all species in his given body of water regardless of perceived excitement from catching a more desirable or intelligent species?
Furthermore should 1 man spend all his time fishing for a more palatable pleasing species such as a walleye or perch when they are potentially many more carp, bullhead or sucker that may not be as pleasing to consume yet still are quite consumable?
These questions and many more have been haunting me my entire life.

Even fish would be smart enough not to respond to certain threads on the Inter Net.

Meat Eater had a good article on this – could’ve been the Outdoor Life one mentioned earlier as the writer is not one of their staff writers:

https://www.themeateater.com/fish/freshwater/ask-a-biologist-do-pressured-fish-learn-to-avoid-certain-lures

Of course they are smart.

It’s the result of spending so much time in schools.

I am sorry.

Dutchboy wrote:

Even fish would be smart enough not to respond to certain threads on the Inter Net.

LOL

Timmy wrote:

Of course they are smart.

It’s the result of spending so much time in schools.

I am sorry.

Being a Dad who’s a HUGE fan of Dad Jokes, I’m angry at myself for not thinking of this one, first!