Smart fish?

[RUGER]

Heard several times on youtube and other places about a big fish being "smart" by going around structure in order to get unhooked etc.

I just don't buy that.

I think big fish, or any fish, when hooked try to get to some kind of cover just to get away from whatever is pulling them towards the top.
The line getting hung up, or broke in the process is just "because" not because a fish is "smart" enough to know what it is doing.
What say ye?

 

[TNReb]

I agree. I don't think their logic/reasoning is very strong - otherwise we'd never catch them.

I think they just go to cover instinctually and a "big" fish is stronger and more apt to get loose. A little fish probably tries to go to cover also but they are weak and we easily reel them in before they have a chance.

 

[tahtah]

But they have been in a school.

 

[Dbllunger]

Fish are stoopid. Just like a lot of folks I know.

 

[TNReb]

Fish are stoopid. Just like a lot of folks I know.

You misspelled st... ehh.. nevermind.

 

[megalomaniac]

Fish are dumb. Doesn't mean they are easy to catch, though.

 

[TRIGGER]

The big ones just have the power to pull into things. The little ones try.

 

[Dbllunger]

Fish are dumb. Doesn't mean they are easy to catch, though.

I look at turkeys in the exact same way. Turkeys are some of the dumbest animals on the planet but exceptionally hard to kill.

 

[Tn Joe]

I call B.S.

 

[redblood]

i dont buy into the smart fish idea. But i do believe that have natural tendencies that help get them out of harms way. With forward facing sonar, i have seen schools of crappies vacate a brushpile after you pull a few of their closest buddies from the depths

 

[WTM]

lmb and carp probably the two smartest fish, at least smart enough to learn to avoid boats, plastic baits and possibly sonar signals. the bad in all of it is that its been proven that they can pass those traits on to their offspring basically breeding a generation of hard to catch fish.

 

[moondawg]

Fish are so stupid, that if you took a fish's brain and put it on a razor blade, it would look like a bb rolling down I-40.

I don't think it has anything to do with smarts, I think it's more of an instinct to dive towards cover.