All Predators Act The Same Way

[bigbill]

While fishing in the country settings out in the middle of no where I find kittens that are just abandoned. Of course i take them home and give them an awesome home. Remember these are predators too. While playing with them they make me think of why bass will strike right away and sometimes they will hold off. I find the cats will act the sameway as were they won't hit a fast moving bait but when i slow it down they go nuts on it. It actually taught me to vary my presentation to figure out what mood trhe fish are in. It sometimes takes one fish to strike to get the frenzy going with the rest also.

I also see lynx, bobcats and mountainlions, and some bears too which i can't take home.......while fishing too.

[Missouribassman95]

Interesting, I never thought about it like that.

[7mm-08]

Yup it's pretty cool how some traits are pretty much universal. I was fishing topwater one day and it hit me how fortunate it is that there aren't a whole lot more shark attacks than there are.

[cajun_flipper]

I guess sometimes surfers aren't the right lures for sharks. That's for the aggressive ones in shallow water. (Buzz baits)

Sometimes they are suspended over structure in deep water and only want to hit free divers. (drop shots)

Sometimes the subtle splashing of a snorkeler does the trick. (Zara Spooks)

It all depends on water clarity, barometric pressure, current movements, and abundance of natural forage such as seals, fish, turtles, or even license plates from Kansas.

It is certainly true that predators react the same regardless of species. They way they stalk, ambush, and attack aren't unique. It's a good and keen observation that I've never thought about until now.

[SirSnookalot]

The overwhelming majority of predatory animals hunt specific prey, seldom deviate except when their food source is in short supply. Some animals hunt only a few different sources while others may have a wider range of species they eat, housecat's by the way may dine on hundreds of different animals, fish, birds etc, and are considered one of the animals kingdom's most prolific hunters, I've also read housecats are the only animal that kills for fun, except man.

Most shark attacks come from mistaken identity, humans are not their food source, surfers often are mistaken for seals. No question that there are maneater sharks, bull, tiger, and some others, bull sharks can be found swimming quite a distance upstream in freshwater rivers like Mississippi or Ganges in India.

Bass have a wide range of food they eat, some other species of fish eat primarily crustaceans, like Permit.

[SENKOSAM]

I came to the same conclusion as bigbill years ago about similarities in cat aggression vs fish. Though cat's have a much larger brain, the fact they playfully grab an object when in the mood,translates into a trait predators have in common: right stimulus = aggressive reaction regardless of the object (hich may not resemble, taste, smell or act like anything they normally eat or hunt). I believe fish are not selective and that if its aggression level is raised (like that of a cat)and sustained, they will grab anything that moves right (action and speed) and size range.

"It sometimes takes one fish to strike to get the frenzy going with the rest also."

I discovered that fact last year when trying some of my new handpours in my pond. Perch started coming over, started hitting the lure and soon enough a bass came out of the shaddows and took a swipe at it. The bass tried to get the lure three times before it gave up. (I took the point off half way down the hook curve.)

[J Francho]

So, you have let a cat catch the bait to catch it? Isn't that just fishing? I think you're putting too much into it. Bass are much more primitive than a cat. Besides, my cat will come careening after me from two rooms away to me loudly smacking my thighs, and yelling his name while running from room to room. He's 27 lbs. of Siamese, so I guess big baits, and fast retrieves catch bigger kitties?

I've noticed with bass (that you can visibly see behind your bait) that actually follow the bait as it is slowly worked - swimbaits, topwater spooks, or poppers - that it takes some sort of fast, fleeing motion to trigger a strike.