Catch and Release

[DR_FISH]

Do you think that when you catch and release a fish, the fish learns its lesson and and is less likely to be caught again? When a cow is shocked by a electric fence, it learns its lesson and does not get shocked again, are fish the same way?

[DRH1175]

I suppose they get smarter so are less likely to be caught. Honestly they get caught mostly because they are hungry, Unless they quit eating they may be caught again. Mostly I release fish because they will have a lot of babies that I can catch at a later date. I have caught bass that have holes in their mouth's from non other than a hook.

[Jarrid Houston]

I have witnessed same fish being caught. Friend got snapped off once, and caught the fish that did it. He removed both of his jigs, and released the fish. It was a pike, go figure...

I like the C & R comment!

[OnAFly]

It happened to me the other day. I had a walleye on, then it got off half way up. Literally a minute later I got him back on. He still had the original shiner in his mouth too

[Jmeyers]

I've always heard that fish have such little memory that a few minutes/hours after being caught they forget and as long as they are hungry or you present the bait right they will keep on biting

[FutbolGuru]

Caught an eye on the st croix once bobber fishing and it was gut-hooked... we cut the line right above the hook and let the fish swim away in hopes it'd survive. 15 minutes later we caught this fish again... and released it, again.

[live4chrome]

caught the same eelpout two nights in a row on low. we knew it was the same fish b/c we had to cut the line the first night. and the jig was still in its throat

[LeAndra]

My boyfriend and I caught the same 30.5" walleye 3 times in the same month and once was a day apart!

[reddog]

I caught the same fish prefishing a small tournament on Friday, and as the last fish on Saturday that won the tournament for me. The rear dorsal fin only had the front spine, the rest of it was kind of tore off. Unmistakable charachteristic of that particular fish.

[Slabasaurus]

I released a rock bass off my buddy's dock a few summers ago. It swam to the bottom and didn't move.

Until we put the worm within 2 feet of the thing, then it would come and take the worm down.

This happened a lot that night... well over 10 times.

So i'd say no... fish aren't really intelligent enough to connect the dots on bait, pain, and human contact.

[Chode2235]

Not sure about walleyes, but when we were up at lake vermilion a few years ago I was changing the water on my leeches by the dock and one got out. A big old smallmouth came out and gobbled it down really quickly.

Light bulb went off, and I threw a leech and bobber over the dock and caught that fish in about a minute. My little nephew was really impressed.

Tried it again a couple days later, the bass swam out again and rushed up to the leech, got about an inch away, stopped and turned around and went back under the dock.

So yeah, bass will learn.

[Stick in Mud]

I have also caught the same fish numerous times... I don't think it's all that rare. That isn't to say that pressured fish don't get a little wiser, though. Or at least that's what they always say on TV.

[JohnMickish]

I think as a general rule they do, but there are times when instinct overcomes intelligence. Fish do become accustomed to presentations, but it comes down to they still have to eat to servive.

[Beast26]

I grew up on the Mississippi around Monticello and I caught and released the same smallmouth 7 times in one summer. He was 16 inches long and had a lower jaw that was split right down the middle making him unmistakeable. He was always within one 100 yard stretch of the river when I caught him. I caught him two consecutive days at one point in time.

[Sonicrunch]

Northern pike here. He cut the line, the we caught him with he jig still in his lip an hour later.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, Beast, I know what you're talking about....some of those smallies on the river stay in the same place all summer, and they either are so hungry they can't deny the lure/bait, or they are so instinctively aggressive that they can't resist it. And it's funny sometimes on how different of lures I've caught them on. Live bait one day, buzzbait the next, same fish hit completely different lures. Maybe some fish are just, for whatever reason, more or less suicidal. I dunno. But it is certainly nice to see with your own eyes just how well catch-and-release can work when you catch and let the same fish go numerous times.