Are Bass smart?

[Gomer Pyle]

I had a discussion with a friend recently concerning the intelligence of a bass. It seems to me that a 10+ lb bass would have a brain that weighs a few grams (<5 gr) at the most. In this massive brain, where would there be room for cognitive function? Seems to me that 90% of the brain would be preoccupied in maintaining physiological function and not in reasoning on whether a target meal is real or not. If bass were so smart, then how would one explain catching the SAME fish twice? Just my thoughts guys...how bout yours?

[Gangley]

no, they are not smart, but they are keen survivalist.

They don't know what's a lure and what isn't.  What they do know is that certain things hurt when they bite and certain things don't.  After a few "hurts" they become keenly aware of what does and doesnt go in their mouth.  They begin to single out vibrations and sounds, and associate those individual unique traits with food or danger.  Much like Pavlov's dog.  Thats why a lure presented one way wont get a single hit, but present it a slightly different way (different look and different retrieve/vibration) will trick a bass into biting.  

Again, they dont "think" down a cognitive path that leads them to determine that something is a lure.  What they know is that what they are looking at and feeling through vibrations caused them some amount of pain at one time and so they stay away from it.  When you change the sound, look, texture, vibration of a lure, it changes what they consider harmful or not.  Thats why eveybody is looking for the next big thing, the next lure that hasnt been identified yet, the lure that nobody else is using, because there is the chance that it will be new for the bass and the bass wont show caution when it is presented to them.  

[Big Phish]

Well I have heard, on a few separate occasions, that a Bass' memory only goes back 15 minutes.  If this is true it would disprove anything about bass becoming conditioned to any type of bait.

[Jake.]

Well I have heard, on a few separate occasions, that a Bass' memory only goes back 15 minutes. If this is true it would disprove anything about bass becoming conditioned to any type of bait.

I don't believe this. In several of the ponds I fish the bass are very conditioned to certain lures. Earlier in the year we caught several on buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, but recently we haven't caught much at all on these lures. In my experiences, if they see a certain lure enough, or get caught by it, they will remember the negative experience associated with it.

[.ghoti.]

A sack of bass is roughly as "smart" as a sack of hammers.

[fishinfewl]

They must be because I'm having one heck of a time catching them.  

[Mattlures]

The 15 minute thing is just wrong. absolutley wrong. No proof and its just bad info that has been passed around for a long time.

Read this article.

http://bassbuzz.outdoorsfanmedia.com/br_news_article.asp?thecat=2&id=257

[Catt]

Only the ones in California

[Mattlures]

Well the bass in CA must be smarter ha ha.

because nobody out here who actualy catches big bass thinks they are easy or dumb. Now the guys who dont catch big bass will tell you they are dumb and easy and all you need to do is find them and you can catch them. Well this is true for young inexperianced bass. They make a lot more mistakes then big fish. The longer a fish lives around fisherman the "smarter" it gets. Or the better its survival instincts become. Just like any other animal. If it does something and something bad happens becaus of it, it will learn not to do it anymore.

It may take a few times depending on how tramatic the experiance and of course what kind of animal, but they do learn.

[tnhiker44]

Well the bass in CA must be smarter ha ha.

because nobody out here who actualy catches big bass thinks they are easy or dumb.

I agree with you. But lets remove all the trout and other bait fish out of those California waters and I am willing to bet those big fish get dumb in a hurry. A big hurry. As mentioned, survival is the key. With nothing to eat those big Cali fish would bite a Rooster Tail on 80 pound mono thrown in 6 inches of water.

[Mattlures]

That would be the same with just about any species. Survival is always the first priority. You take away the regular food from any animal and it will try to eat something else. It has to or it will die. You ever see those national geografic films where the desperate lion tries to kill a buffalo or the one where a starving polor bear tries to kill a walruss? The bear dies from wounds it got from the walruss. If that bear had plenty of seals around it would have never tried the wallrus, same with the lion. Predators, even simple ones like fish learn which prey is the best for them and they aviod the dangerous prey untill they become desperate. So Yes, if you removed all the food from a lake the poor starving fish would become easier to catch. They would also shrink.

PS the trout that are stocked that the bass are feeding on are only in the lakes for 3-4 months in most cases.  

[Catt]

Yea we get it to catch big bass

California baits

In California waters

Thrown by California anglers

All others need not apply

[done]

    I remember reading similar stuff on trout. What it came down to was trout were more skittish, more selective than other fish. The ones who were, lived longer produced more skittish offspring, and so on.

    I would think Bass would have some association memory as they adjust to the specific environment and the food, patterns, etc. I would doubt they are thinking type smart, but hey, cannot say i have done any studies myself aside from dragging some hooks through local lakes.

  One thing I can say, I have had days where I have throw a spinner onto a bedded Bass dragged him halfway to the boat, lost him, come back in 10 minutes and caught the same Bass in the same spot with the same lure, so if the do have a memory it is not always too sharp.

[Uncle Leo]

Well golly gee, I hope not.

[RoLo]

A sack of bass is roughly as "smart" as a sack of hammers.

Then again, a "used" hammer may have the edge ;D

Roger

[bitemyworm]

Bass are smarter than me.  I'm tricked all the time into buying lures that look like live bait.  Unfortunately, the bass often times are not tricked into biting these lures.  

[Catt]

Anglers assume big fish to be elusive and intelligent because they don't catch many of them; in most cases, big fish are elusive simply because they are so rare making up only 1-2% or less of the population.  

[RoLo]

Anglers assume big fish to be elusive and intelligent because they don't catch many of them; in most cases, big fish are elusive simply because they are so rare making up only 1-2% or less of the population.

And that 1 to 2% of the population is actively feeding only a small percentage of the time.

[BobP]

Bass don't reason but can be conditioned.  And the bass population can pass some of their conditioning to later generations.  The more bass we catch on a particular bait, the less likely current and future bass are to bite it.  There is variability in the bass population and some bass behave differently than others.  The variability is good because it's how the bass species as a whole adapts to new and changing environments.  Yes, there are "stupid" bass that will bite a spinnerbait twice in a few minutes.  They are caught more often and suffer greater mortality, with less chance of transmitting their genes to later generations.  Over the generations of bass, that selects for a bass less apt to bite spinnerbaits in the places and at the times we fish them.  We're in a predator-prey relationship.  We make them "smarter" about avoiding us.  They hopefully make us smarter about how we catch them.  We should have the advantage because we can transmit successful predator behaviors through fishing forums  ;D

[George Welcome]

Bass are as smart as the fisherman that is fishing for them which is why I am glad that I am as dumb as rocks.  

[Mattlures]

Catt and Rolo you are correct. The population is less, in the odler class fish. However I was not only talking about the verry oldest and biggest.

Whith each encounter a bass has with an angler(getting hooked) it "learns" or adapts. so there is a learning curve. The more pressure the faster the fish becomes conditioned to specific techniques. So an old bass that lives in a pressured lake is going to much harder to catch then one the same size and age in a vigin farm pond. Also I have gone on a shocking trip with the fish and game in a lake know for small fish. You would be suprised how many fish are down there and how many of them are big. Alot more then people think. I dont remember the exact numbers but we covered probably 2-3 miles of shoreline and caught around 1200 bass. most were 1-2lbs but we had atleast 40 fish over 5lbs. They are in there they just arent as easy to catch as the small ones. There are less big one but they are there and they reject lures all the time.

[Catt]

Learn: to gain knowledge or understanding

Bass are incapable of learning

[Mattlures]

How do you know? do you talk to bass ? ;) ;)

I use the word "learn" beacaue its a comon term. I dont know that they dont learn. Whatever you call it, they do do it. Adapt,condition,instinct,learn,react, whatever. If bass were as dumb as you think then everybody would catch big ones and you would have 100's of pics with big bass. ;) ;) ;)

[Catt]

Adapt,condition,instinct,learn,react, whatever. If bass were as smart as you think then nobody would ever catch them but yet they are caught repeatedly through out their life.

[Matt Fly]

Bass will eat to survive, thats a given.    

How smart can a bass be to be caught numerous times off a bed with a boat setting on top of ya?

  Every year? the same routine?   Just how smart can a bass be?

    If bass are so smart, they would only spawn deep to escape the beating they take.   Do they condition to this?   WE tend to think the older girls do.  Why not all?   How come this gene isn't passed to others to spawn deep if it can be passed as some think.

 Texas actively stocks bass, Tx biologist believe that only 10% of texas bass see a lure in a years time.    I can see where states that don't have the bass populations, or small bodies of water, gin clear condintions, highly pressured, non active stocking program where those bass can be highly conditioned.