Fish feel pain?????

[Iceman]

I really wouldn't know if fish get hurt when hooked, but they sure react as if they are hurt!

[Yankee_lake]

you also have to remember that the strongest survive and well we're stronger then fish so we win.  I'm sure if the fish could eat us they would, they dont think twice about eating livebait or our lures!!

[Snag]

I wish I could have all the worms that came out of that can that was opened with that thread.. Great bait.lol.. Anyhow, great artical Glenn and I'm still for fishing. If you get a hook in your finger it heals right? Well, take care of your fish and release them carefully or as stated before, kill them humainly for eating. We as fisherman, especially tournament fisherman are already a "spot" in the public eye. Lets treat our fish carefully and respect the sport and we can all have a clean conscience. Thats my .02.

Later all,

Snag

[sinker48]

I don't believe fish feel pain. All fish have a brain the size of a pea capable of three things not sure these are right but I think they are reproduction, food intake, and escaping predators. One half of a fishes brain does not communicate with the other if a lure is taken on the right side and released same lure passes left side fish may bite again.

In European countries when they catch and release fish they have ointment they put on injuries.

Good Luck!

Sinker48

[Muddpuppy]

With my back and legs I dought if it hurts them much worse to be caught then it does for me to catch them.  And besides anything that would try to eat something that looks like a creature or spinner bait is just asking for trouble and probably use to some pain.  I have seen some take a lure repeatedly (If it wasn't the same fish it was a clone) and it didn't seem to have a tramatic effect on them.

[chefxian]

Pierce your ear

[Chris]

If a fish was able to feel pain like we do then they wouldn't eat bluegills or crawfish.  

[Muddpuppy]

I personally believe bass fishing is the best thing that has ever happened to the species. They have been introduced into waters world wide, lakes and habitats are being desined to help the fish thrive. Their greatest predator is it's self, most others get removed. Their numbers have soared and yet they have become a virtual "protected spicies" I would be more concerned for their well being if we were to quit fishing for them. In the real world nature is a rough and hostile place, fish and animals fight for what they want and need. Pain isn't an issue with them like it is for us. I have never landed a fish that I considered to be in agony. I compare getting caught like haveing a job. If you want all the good stuff, you have to put up with a little aggrivation every once in awhile.

If it was proven or I believed that fish do feel pain and experience severe pain, by being  caught,  I might consider to stop sportfishg. Fishing for food would be anouther matter.  But even the humman brain does not remember pain, you do howeve retain thaughts and associated events.

[GobbleDog]

I bet they do feel pain, but when you hook into a fish, I think they're mostly feeling fear .

I doubt they feel actual pain in the cartalidge part of their mouth. That's like putting a hook through your finglernail.  But if you hook them in the gut or the roof of his mouth.... yeah, I definately think they feel it and it probably doesn't feel too good.

[Rattlinrogue]

If they do feel pain,it couldn't be any worse than what I feel in my 3 bulging discs in my back when I set the hook...LoL

[NickM]

This is a wasted, useless discusion. Who cares!?

-Nick ???

[catnip]

This is a wasted, useless discusion. Who cares!?

-Nick ???

It's one of the longer threads on the page, so I guess quite a few people care.  Most humans do not take pleasure in inflicting pain and the idea that we, as sportsman, may be inflicting pain on a level equal to the pain that we feel might be somewhat disconcerting.  I, for one, don't believe that fish don't process pain in the same way that we process it.  Most of the pain that we feel is driven by the emotion of the moment (true agonizing pain).  I don't believe that fish feel the combination of pain AND emotional trauma that humans feel.  I don't doubt that on some level fish feel pain...it's a survival instinct.  I don't believe that they school in 12 step programs afterward to get over the trauma of the incident.  They go right back to bedding, spawning, whatever.

[GAMEOVER]

Well I hope they dont, but it wouldnt change my fishing habbits if it did hurt them. Theres room for pain in any sport fishings no different.

What I really hate though is idiots I see around here sometimes just rippin in little blue gills that bass could eat, throwing them up in the air, and blasting em with a bat into the water. What morons.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

I agree that most likely they do not feel pain in their mouths' but i do feel if you gut hook a bass at the least, it does feel uncomfortable, i do feel guilty ever once in awhile that they might feel pain or if a bass is bleeding, but i do my best to get all of the hook out, return them as normal as possible, and as quickly as possible so theres the least amount of stress on the bass, but regardless id still be fishing, i even try to make feelow anglers in ny look better for example the ones who leave their garbage scattered near the boat launches, i pick it up and discard of the trash properly, if we do have the privledge to fish then might as well protect mother nature and watch out for her

[George Welcome]

No one, I repeat no one knows whether this thing we call pain in Humans, in any way relates to whatever bass feel when hooked.

However, we do that anatomically their nerve structures are vastly different, and that the area that we deal with, (mouth and throat), has to be severely desensitized in order for them to eat what they do.

If you are around long enough it might be possible for you to sit down and have a conversation with a bass as they become more educated, but until then it's up in the air.

[RobDar]

fish have a very limited central nervous system. Do they feel pain? Science says NO. End of discussion as far as I am concerned.

[Guest avid]

Let's stop kidding ouselves ok?

Fish absolutely feel pain.

I don't know what "science" is being referred too that says they do not but that is nonesense.

Think about it.

They smell

They taste

They hear

They see

We all know they have four senses plus the added sensativity of the lateral line,

but we delude ourselves into thinking they don't feel?  Have you ever simply touched a fish? Did you get a reaction?  

C'mon guys. We do what we do because thats what we do.

Let's not get all girlie about fishing not being a "blood sport".

It is.

[Bass Smacker]

Question: If there was conclusive evidence that fish DID feel pain, would any of you quit fishing? Isn't this the real question? Thanks!

Call me cruel but UM ER .......... NO

[gatrboy53]

all living creatures feel pain but its not the same as a human feels pain. god made only man w/ reasoning skills to assemalate what pain is.i have castrated many hogs and calfs.no anasthesia or pain reliever and they scream bloody murder.take a razor knife and slit his sack and reach in and pull out his testies.pack it w/ SALT and let him go.w/in min. hes up and moving about and eating and doing the things pigs do.you do that to a human and he could die.animals fish included do not reason that what they feel is pain.the sensation they know they feel has a reaction but they dont think hurt,or pain or anything else.thats why its alright to kill a animal,fish, deer, cow, bird,they dont REASON senses. senses are instinct to an animal .they also dont feel glad, happy,or joy either

[nboucher]

Avid and Raul are right. As vertebrates, of course fish feel pain. This is not a matter of opinion. I happen to be reading John McPhee's The Founding

Fish, and in his last chapter he reviews all the studies on this, including PETA's. Aside from being a brilliant writer, McPhee is a fanatical fisherman, especially of shad, which he catches and eats in great quantities. But he doesn't shy away from the fact that fishing causes pain to the individual fish being hooked. What's not known is whether fish have any emotional processing of pain the way we do, and given that you can hook the same fish over and over again, they probably do not. It is probably a temporary, really unpleasant sensation that they forget when they're back in the water feeding. We fish despite the pain fish feel; "believing" a fish doesn't feel any pain is just being in denial.

As for birdwatching, I've been doing it for 34 years, ever since I took ornithology in college, and there is NO contradiction between it and fishing. What's with the silly anti-birdwatching stereotyping? To me, nature is what I'm looking to experience in all ways and in any way I can, whether through angling, mountaineering, hunting, birding, hiking, scuba diving, etc. No, I don't have thousands of dollars in optics--just a pair of $60 binoculars and a $100 telescope. Just as I like to study fish to become a better angler and appreciator of nature, I like to watch birds and marvel at their natural history and their ability, often, to fly 6,000 miles a year in this crazy thing called migration. Birds are beautiful and canny survivors, and they, like fish, are all part of a magnificent natural world that, thanks to our ignorance and inaction, is fast disappearing. So instead of trashing birders, how about joining with them to help prevent a local wetland from getting filled in? There is too much destruction going on out there to create false divisions among those who love the natural world.

Sorry about the rant.

[Bass Smacker]

all living creatures feel pain but its not the same as a human feels pain. god made only man w/ reasoning skills to assemalate what pain is.i have castrated many hogs and calfs.no anasthesia or pain reliever and they scream bloody murder.take a razor knife and slit his sack and reach in and pull out his testies.pack it w/ SALT and let him go.w/in min. hes up and moving about and eating and doing the things pigs do.you do that to a human and he could die.animals fish included do not reason that what they feel is pain.the sensation they know they feel has a reaction but they dont think hurt,or pain or anything else.thats why its alright to kill a animal,fish, deer, cow, bird,they dont REASON senses. senses are instinct to an animal .they also dont feel glad, happy,or joy either

 

  AMEN

I had this very talk with all my kids. (All of us should before PETA dose)

my oldest seen a stray cat eating road kill. She was mad at the cat. I explaned to her and my youngest two thats how the world works. Animals are animals and thats what they do .  Its not wrong and that animals have no real sence of life and death love or hate. Just eat, survive and reperduce.  

     

[K_Mac]

Avid and Raul are right. As vertebrates, of course fish feel pain. This is not a matter of opinion. I happen to be reading John McPhee's The Founding

Fish, and in his last chapter he reviews all the studies on this, including PETA's. Aside from being a brilliant writer, McPhee is a fanatical fisherman, especially of shad, which he catches and eats in great quantities. But he doesn't shy away from the fact that fishing causes pain to the individual fish being hooked. What's not known is whether fish have any emotional processing of pain the way we do, and given that you can hook the same fish over and over again, they probably do not. It is probably a temporary, really unpleasant sensation that they forget when they're back in the water feeding. We fish despite the pain fish feel; "believing" a fish doesn't feel any pain is just being in denial.

As for birdwatching, I've been doing it for 34 years, ever since I took ornithology in college, and there is NO contradiction between it and fishing. What's with the silly anti-birdwatching stereotyping? To me, nature is what I'm looking to experience in all ways and in any way I can, whether through angling, mountaineering, birding, hiking, scuba diving, etc. No, I don't have thousands of dollars in optics--just a pair of $60 binoculars and a $100 telescope. Just as I like to study fish to become a better angler and appreciator of nature, I like to watch birds and marvel at their natural history and their ability, often, to fly 6,000 miles a year in this crazy thing called migration. Birds are beautiful and canny survivors, and they, like fish, are all part of a magnificent natural world that, thanks to our ignorance and inaction, is fast disappearing. So instead of trashing birders, how about joining with them to help prevent a local wetland from getting filled in? There is too much destruction going on out there to create false divisions among those who love the natural world.

Sorry about the rant.

nboucher

I completely agree with you with the exception of the "rant" comment. That was not a rant, but a couple of thoughtful comments on several interesting issues (IMHO).Thanks.

BTW,  am not a "birder" in any official sense, but do enjoy them as part of the outdoor experience. I feel the same about hunting quail, doves, or waterfowl as I do about fishing; they are a part of creation and a renewable resource that we are responsible for protecting.

[Replica.]

all living creatures feel pain but its not the same as a human feels pain. god made only man w/ reasoning skills to assemalate what pain is.i have castrated many hogs and calfs.no anasthesia or pain reliever and they scream bloody murder.take a razor knife and slit his sack and reach in and pull out his testies.pack it w/ SALT and let him go.w/in min. hes up and moving about and eating and doing the things pigs do.you do that to a human and he could die.animals fish included do not reason that what they feel is pain.the sensation they know they feel has a reaction but they dont think hurt,or pain or anything else.thats why its alright to kill a animal,fish, deer, cow, bird,they dont REASON senses. senses are instinct to an animal .they also dont feel glad, happy,or joy either

AMEN

I had this very talk with all my kids. (All of us should before PETA dose)

my oldest seen a stray cat eating road kill. She was mad at the cat. I explaned to her and my youngest two thats how the world works. Animals are animals and thats what they do . Its not wrong and that animals have no real sence of life and death love or hate. Just eat, survive and reperduce.

     

I hate PETA like most sportsman do, but why do dogs wag their tail and go crazy when they see their owner if they can not feel joy or happiness?

[CoRy]

I THINK  fish DO feel pain, but NOT in their mouth.  all of my post is 100% oppinion.  IF a fish can feel in their mouth, a hook gets shoved through so fast and it is so sharp, i highly doubt they feel anything.  Their mouths are practicly transparent, and because of that i think they don't feel pain.  even if they do, i will always keep on fishin  

[nboucher]

Maybe, CoRy, but have you ever gut-hooked a fish? The ones I have seem to bleed pretty red

Nobody on this forum asking anyone to stop fishing. But if you're fishing only because you think fish don't feel anything, well . . . you may be fooling yourself. I think the point is that the more realistic and knowledgeable we are about what we're doing, the better able we are to do it in a way that's as respectful of the fish as possible. Or the grouse, or the deer, etc. . . .