My first thoughts when seeing the above headline the other day was, "Boy howdy! Do they ever! And to think we're the ones who are supposed to have a bigger brain...but note, I said bigger, not better."
Don't mind tellin' ya, though, that I have days on the water when I get the distinct feeling that even the young 'uns in the bunch have figured me out and are layin' down there just laughin' their tails off at me. But I digress.
That was the published result of research performed by University of Florida professor Mike Allen and two graduate students from the university's Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences program.
"Anglers have always been curious whether changing lures helped them catch more fish, or whether it was just coincidence," said Allen. "There's really strong evidence that fish were recognizing this lure and learning to avoid it," he continued.
The project, which spread over four weeks, involved two anglers who fished six hours a day in Devil's Hole Lake, a 27-acre lake that has little fishing pressure because it's on private land. The anglers used only two lures: a lipless Rat-L-Trap crankbait and a Senko stickbait.
Said Allen, "The bass that were caught and released figured out pretty quickly that they should avoid the crankbait. The anglers were catching about 2.5 fish per hour at the start of the experiment, and that rate had dropped to about 0.5 fish within three days of fishing. By the end of the four weeks, the catch rate consistently was 0.25 fish per hour.
"Meanwhile, the Senko fared slightly better," noted Allen. "The catch rate started at about 1.8 fish per hour and dropped to about 1 fish per hour at the end of the month."
Allen, an Orange Park resident and an avid bass angler, said he'd had days when he couldn't catch a single bass after a few hours with a lure but brought in a huge catch after switching to another lure.
"There's a lot of truth in what they're saying," he explained, "but I don't know that you could base everything you know off just one study like that. There always are caveats to any research. Since only two lures were used here, it doesn't necessarily represent fishermen who have access to a wide variety of lures."
Nevertheless, Allen indicated he felt the research seemed to indicate that bass can wise up pretty quickly to avoid getting hooked. He suggested switching up lures to keep the bass guessing, and he said it'll probably be more difficult to catch bass in lakes that are very popular because those fish will have seen many more lures before.
"The mechanism for how an individual fish learns to avoid lures still is largely unknown," said INHS fish ecologist Jeff Stein. "What if they see a neighbor getting caught? Are they learning from other bass that disappear? Do they learn by sight or by a chemical or other signal?"
To answer those questions, the INHS researchers stocked four small ponds with 160 fish that had not previously been caught (demonstrators) and one large pond with 152 experienced bass (observers). Then they fished two of the smaller ponds so that the demonstrators would have experience with lures and placed the observers into all four small ponds and fished in all the ponds again over several days.
After observing how many fish of each type were caught in each pond, they found no difference in the catch rate of the observer fish, whether or not they shared a pond with experienced demonstrators. So, in heavily fished areas, largemouth bass are unlikely to learn to avoid capture simply by being in and around other fish that are captured.
A significant number of fish were caught more than once, showing that fish may have to experience being caught several times before they learn that chomping the bait is a bad idea.
When the bass were introduced to unique lures, more were enticed to bite. By simply using a different color lure, more fish were captured initially, but the catch rate soon fell off as fish learned from experience to avoid the recognizable bait. The number of fish declined steadily over 12 fishing sessions.
When the researchers used a radically different lure--in this case, a spinnerbait--they received a much more dramatic result.
"The number of fish caught shot up but then dropped within four angling sessions," said Stein. "Anglers have known for years that they need to change their lures in response to changing conditions, but now we have the data to show that even if conditions are stable, making regular lure color and style changes make for a better day of fishing...but there are no guarantees!"
In conclusion, let's consider an analogy once made by fisheries biologist Bob Lusk.
"Think about it," he said. "Fish live, eat, reproduce, and avoid being eaten...that's it. Nothing more.
"The lateral line sends messages to the brain. When they detect movement, bass instinctively move that direction. Vision takes over. If it looks familiar, they continue the rapid investigation. Then, if it fits inside their mouth, that's where it goes.
"Spawning is instinctive, not thoughtful. As a matter of fact, a huge female bass in the ShareLunker program in Texas met its demise during spawning one year, several years ago. It was repeatedly rammed by a much smaller male, less than two pounds. A 2-pound guy beat up an 18-pound female. What were they thinking? Reproduction is survival and procreation. That's it...nothing more.
"It's absolutely true bass will return a long distance to its safe haven. How does it find its way? Instincts, combined with sensory conditioning allows the fish to navigate its way back. Its living space is distinct to the creature...distinct because of smell, water quality, tastes, light...things only a bass can interpret.
"Ask any good fisherman what it takes for a bass to bite, and most will tell you the same things. The fish is hungry or angry...or both. If you can't make it bite from hunger, make it mad by throwing something noisy in its house. A bass will protect its habitat from intruders.
"Research has proven a bass has 'memory,' which lasts no longer than 15 minutes. But repetitive behaviors condition fish. That's why they become 'hook smart.' It's also why they 'learn' to come to fish food. Conditioning...nothing more, nothing less. Take away fish food, and they still will come where they are conditioned. They don't think about it at all."
According to Lusk, "Fish want food, sex and survival. Hmmm...sounds like about half the human population," he opined. "Think about that."
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