Smartest Freshwater Fish

[Smartest Freshwater Fish]

I have been sitting here for two straight days now watching it snow and thought this might be fun.

What species is the hardest to catch once they reach trophy size? My vote goes to wild Brown Trout. There are a quite a few lakes and resevoirs that hold fish over 20 lbs in my region, in fact the state record is almost 31 lbs. But I don't know anyone who has ever broken the 14 lb mark and I know some very good trout fisherman. The fact that these fish live a almost total nocturnal existence makes them that much harder to catch. once these fish reach 10 lbs they are very wary. They also learn their lessons well, so don't expect the old mossback that has held residence in the same hole for years to ever fall for the same lure twice. Very few fisherman are dedicated enough to fish at night, in frigid weather, to even have a chance at hooking one of these bad boys. Then if you were to hook one you would have to land it!!! Better have at least 300 yards on your spool.

I have read that in the Great lakes they are less wary and are easier to catch because of the sheer numbers. The opposite is true where I live, most are wild fish.

I would expect to get alot of votes for Muskies also. Truly large Stripers would also get some votes I would imagine.

[Neal/CO]

Sorry guys I forgot to put my name on this post. Somehow I double typed "Smartest Freshwater Fish". The fish are smarter than me!

[Mell]

Wild brookies forsure

[Neal/CO]

I was watching In-fisherman this weekend and Al Linder said he thought Carp were the smartest freshwater fish.

[Ness]

Carp??? Smart??? Hmmm, maybe the pollutants in the Mohawk lower
their IQ?????? I find them to be one of the easiest of fish to entice to bite. I wonder why he said that?
I'm going with native trout as the hardest to catch a trophy size of. They have to survive other fish eating them, bears, coons,
skunks (do they eat fish?) and man. No wonder you just see a darting shadow when you spook them.

[cisco]

I think he said something, too, about carp having the largest brain (altho I'll bet the largest fish brain is still very small). Big carp are wary, but can be caught using Mick Thill's bank fishing methods and chumming -- illegal in many states.

Frankly, what biology I've had over the years leads me to believe fish in general are reactive and behave via instinct and conditioning. I don't believe they think, nor do I believe they are smart. That we fail to catch them is due to our failure to stimulate reactive behavior.

Incidentally, in one outing on Lake Michigan my son-in-law, his uncle, and I caught 15 brown trout (a limit of 5 per angler) and weighed them at Salmon-a-Rama in Racine. The smallest was over 8 lbs, and the largest was 13.5 lbs. On L Mich we have consistently taken browns over 12 and (for my boat) up to 18 lbs. The relatively new Seeforellen strain is now present, and two browns over 32 lbs were caught in the same year. DNR personnel believe L Mich browns (Seeforellens) may exceed 50 lbs. A 21 lb brown weighed in at the Baileys Harbor Brown Trout tourney (Door County) was checked for age and was only 3 yrs old. They are bigger, grow faster, and are probably not a twit smarter.

It's probably a blow to angler egos to acknowledge that fish are dumb animals.

[crash]

I'm sorry guys, but if you can toss a wiggly slimy sumtin (or something made outta feathers that LOOKS like a wiggly slimy sumtin) in front of a trout without it seeing you, then he's hooked. Wary yes, Smart? Idontikso.

BIG carp are hard to fool, and theres a reason why follows are almost as good as hook-ups when it comes to Muskies. BUT...

I'll go with the Sucker. Other then a worm on the bottom, is there any other way to catch them? Not even a good artifical worm will get them.

[Neal/CO]

You cannot compare browns from the Great lakes with wild the fish out here in my neck of the woods. A 20lber here might be 10 to12 years old and seen everything. Browns in the Great lakes are there in large numbers and smack crankbaits just like walleye's. yOu might very well troll a rapala nonstop your whole life out here and never break the 5 lb mark. Most of the lakes I fish the party is over the minute the sun peeks over the horizon. It will be interesting to see just how big those seaforlorens get? They sound like a great game fish!

[crash]

They stocked the reservoirs out here with the Seeforellen strain. One complaint, not nearly as pretty as the regular brown. They require HUGE amounts of forage to have those incredible growth rates. Ours are maxing out at 15-18 lbs. Albeit in four years they are hitting that size, but our regular Res. Browns can hit 20.

Neal, you need to fish out here where the trout are stupid. Every year somebody gets one that big.

[Ron]

Carp are obviously the smartest fish. They chow down on corn, just to keep their cholesterol level low. :-)

[byron]

The Seeforellen brown is a relatively shallow water trout that grows quickly when food is available and was planted by the DFG because they are fairly easy to catch. These fish are primarily found on east of the rockies.
The German Browns on the west coast are a mix of the German Von Behr and Scotland's Lock Leven. These are deep water Browns that only come out in low light and are very difficult to catch because of their genectic make-up. They grow old and large. These trout are the ones someone hopefully was refering to.

Smartest fish..........anyone that can outsmart us :)

[Al Gore]

Define smart. While you are at it define freshwater...oh what the heck...define fish too. I'm getting really bored. I keep wanting to get at those legal bills but the pile is so high I don't know where to start. Do I start at the top or the bottom.

[hoghunter]

I think since travel in schools, they are all smart. Sorry couldn't resist. Open water where are you?

[RANGER]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-29-01 AT 07:15PM (CST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jan-29-01 AT 07:13*PM (CST)

I think it is the Goby! They've stumped everyone incuding the Biologists, they steal your bait nearly everytime and when they do get caught they're so dang ugly you throw them back (or crush their heads) LOL!

Actually, I agree with native Brookies!


RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"

[Gilligan]

I consider a walleye as smart or smarter than any other game fish; trout included. In my opinion people relate skittish to smart. Nothing more spooky than a large trout in a shallow stream but then wouldn't a walleye be that way also if that type habitat held them? Don't we use planer boards to target walleye in shallow/clear water that flee to the sides of the boat when it passes over? To me the larger the fish the more opportunity I have to catch it since it requires more forage to support its size. A trout laying in 12" of water in the tail of a pool is much more vulnerable to predators than a walleye in 12' of water. Where the walleye can just quietly slink away to safety the trout requires a 100mph get away.

[Tough Guy]

Tough Guy say little buddy Gilligan is right. Nothing more wiley than the old, mighty walleye. Most opportunistic feeder in any water.

[Scott Richardson]

No fish is "smart." They do not think. They have a brain the size of a fingernail. They react to stimuli. Al Lindner is quoting studies that show carp are quickest of the freshwater fish to recognize threats. Small carp, defined by carp anglers as though under 10 pounds, are less wary. After growing to that size and larger, they are hard to entice. That's why carp anglers resort to stealth tactics like hair rigs, etc. Visit www.carpanglersgroup.org for more.

Scott

[Al Gore]

Define threats.

[SUPERTROLLER]

Hardest species of fish to catch is whatever is under my boat. It's been so long since I had a truly easy day of fishing that I can't remember when it last happened! It's like they ring an alarm whenever I back the boat up to the launch! "Full Alert. Beware. The SUPERTROLLER is Launching Again. This Is NO Drill!"

I do have to disagree with those people chosing the Wild, Native Brookies as the toughest to catch. I can catch big Brookies easier than big Browns. Maybe it's a difference in streams or methods, but big Browns appear to be substantially tougher for me to find and catch. I should also say that I am referring to any stream trout bigger than 14 in. as a big matured trout and not those living in the Great Lakes. These Great Lakes trout are basically eating machines, just like the salmon, and when you find them you can usually find something they'll slam.

My vote thus has to go to Brown Trout in a Stream situation.

[Neal/CO]

Yes German Browns. Especially the truly large ones.

[Mr. Whiskers]

Flatheads!

[night eyes]

I've heard that species of catfish are very "smart". Whether they are the "smartest" i dont know.