fish memory

[tycomps]

anybody ever read anything on fish memory? how long after a fish gets hooked, pulled out of the water, and released do you think it is til he'll bite again? does he stop feeding for the day? anybody positively caught the same fish twice?

[Jerseydix]

Not sure.. but I have caught Largemouths and sunfish with hooks and line still attached to them...

[beachbunker732]

Not freshwater, but witnessed a fluke.break someones line.. then about a half hour later, there was the fluke right back on his line, with the old rig and all. Maybe its because he was never pulled out of the water the first time, or maybe he was just starving.. I don't know for sure, but it was definitely the same fish.

[Reelron]

Also saltwater. Quite a few years ago, while fishing in Costa Rica, I hooked a sail. After fighting it and getting it to the boat, we released it without taking it out of the water. I watched that sail, flip right under the boat and grab another live bait!

[nutleysigns]

I caught a Rock Bass on a Shad Dart in the Delaware. I let it go & watched it go right bach to the cinder block that I caught it next to I dropped the shad dart to him & he ate it again (dumb fish) Carp are the hardest fish to hook twice acording to In-Fisherman TV show.

[calbo]

anybody ever read anything on fish memory? how long after a fish gets hooked, pulled out of the water, and released do you think it is til he'll bite again? does he stop feeding for the day? anybody positively caught the same fish twice?


Once missed a smallmoth bass ~ 2 lbs. on a yellow-tailed rubber worm in the Musky. Pulled the hook and worm out of her mouth trying to set the hook. My son with with me and wanted to keep some fish to eat. I continued fishing and caught another bass, ~ 1 1/2 lbs - then another around 2 lbs - both within 10 minutes of each other.

When my son got home and cleaned the fish he found the tail of the rubber worm in the second fishes gullet. - So - this guy only waited 10 minutes after getting almost hooked, yanked 2 feet out of the water, and escaping to feed again.

[lunkertaker]

I have caught bluefish with a jig still in their mouth...most likely from the same trip and boat

Zero memory for blues

Freshwater species tend to get spooked and hide; however, I have caught a couple of LMB with an old hook in the mouth over the years

[saxmatt]

My buddy and I caught the same carp 3 days in a row once. We've had lots of other recaptures too. I have another buddy who caught his PB 22lb pike twice through the ice a year apart.

[NJ219bands]

I caught a striped bass in the Delaware River, then caught it again on 4 consecutive days.

[Ol Pedro]

Blue Sharks don't seem to have any memory . We have caught the same shark two or three times in a matter of a few minutes . A good wack on the nose with the butt of a gaff before cutting the leader will deter them . We had a small Hammerhead released Saturday night only to be rehooked
ten minutes later . We could see the lightstick glowing from the first release as he came up .

[flyboy1]

I read a study about this a while ago and it was concluded that fish (Bass) dont have memory in the way that we perceive memory... Fish have survival instincts and manerisms that dictate their actions when mating and feeding, etc.. When fish is hooked and pulled out of the water, unhooked and harmlessly returned it perceives the encounter as a "instantaneous" survival encounter so when its released it acts as if it got away from a predator and resumes its habits after a given time of duration...

[iceehot6766]

Have caught a pickerel let it go, then within one hour caught the same pickerel(I know because it had a very ripped jaw from many times being PREVIOUSLY caught) in that general vicinity...and this was from one very large body of water where I got him......Dumb fish...I also know while I'm speaking of Mr. Snot Rocket that when it swipes at your lure and misses, you can cast right back to that spot where he missed and it will 99.9% come back for round two so be ready for a hookup.....As for bass, IMO it depends how hungry he is but I'd probably say not as much(except for topwater I'd think)....I know that when a bass misses a spinnerbait, I immediately throw either a senko or a jig where he missed it and have a very good hook up ratio in that scenario....so there you go with my experience....

[tautog]

Have had the same pickerel hit 6 times in a row, small spillway pool. Missed 3 times, got half way up the bank and fell off twice and a full capture. Had nice dirt marks on it from the first two times it fell off.

[bigfishy]

To answer the original question , Ithink it really depends on the species and the amount of times its been caught...I have a few areas of rivers i fish in PA that we call P.H.D. pools..Smart azz trout:o

[SaltyAngler]

I hooked into a sea bass that was just short...released and I hooked him again not 5 minutes later...released and he goes off and grabs my buddies clammed hook. It was kinda funny. He REALLY wanted to get caught that day.

[tycomps]

went to my honey hole the other day with night crawlers and caught 1 pound cats non stop all day. they were like clones of each other, was thinking of a way to mark them to see if it was the same one but figured even a dot with a marker wouldn't be good. of course when I switched to my ultra lite to have some fun with the pounders I get the smallest kitten in the pond, must have been all of 6 inches!

[action]

Fished lake hapatcong many moons ago with my brother joe.We would fish this one spot every april.Joe hooks this big rainbow and gets it next to the ledge we fish on it has atag in its back goes to grab the leader.I say no joe lift under the belly so he grabs the leader and good bye trout.So he gets pissed off and heads up to cheers comes back an hour later half in the bag.About a hour later i hook a nice fish get it back to the ledge look down a big rainbow with a tag in its back.Always thought the same fish go figure:rolleyes:

[tycomps]

also wonder what the effect of watching one of their buddies being pulled out of the water has on the bite. lately I've been releasing my fish on the other side of structure so it takes them longer to swim back and tell everyone else to stay away from the fake worm!

[MGM]

That blackfish in my avatar was caught about 15 minutes after he broke off from another angler.....the other angler's snelled hook is still in its mouth.

[NorthJerzyG]

also wonder what the effect of watching one of their buddies being pulled out of the water has on the bite. lately I've been releasing my fish on the other side of structure so it takes them longer to swim back and tell everyone else to stay away from the fake worm!

I think I read something once about smallies doing this. Something about a scent or a stressed vibe they give off that's warns the others. Not sure how accurate it is but.......

[Ol Pedro]

I read an article that one of the Captains of the LR boat Excel wrote and he said " There are smart fish and there are dumb fish . We want the dumb ones . " I think that when you take out the easy fish and only the smart one's are left to spawn then an area will get harder to fish . Not because the fish are not there but they are hard wired to be wary . I also feel that Bass can remember being caught on a hard bait but are suckers for a soft plastic .