Artificial Lure Wary Pike - Myth or Reality?
written and published by Captain Blaubaer, author in our German forum.
When visiting new waters and asking local anglers for the most effective bait, one often hears, 'The pike here won't take artificial lures' or 'The pike here are very suspicious of artificial lures' or 'The pike here are so used to artificial lures, if they could speak, they could tell you the make and model', etc, etc, etc.
What can/should you do when you hear such comments?
Anybody with a little knowledge of fish will listen to these old stories and realise how ridiculous it is to treat fish as an intelligent species comparable to human beings. Fish have relatively small brains and would be challenged with complicated concepts such as 'line', 'artificial lures', 'angling/angler', etc. and are not be able to make any associations. So, what can fish do?
Fish and their ability to learn
Fish have a limited ability to learn. Anybody who owns an aquarium will understand that - the fish learn where and at what time they are fed. They can also recognise feed and the different types of feed. Fish can be trained, up to a point, but this takes a very long time and requires much repetition. Even then, it might only be successful if one has a particularly 'intelligent' fish. Generally speaking, due to the lack of long term memory, fish will forget anything they have been taught after a relatively short period. The fish in my aquarium for example, learnt to feed from 'stick on the glass' feed. As long as they received this treat once or twice a week they retained the ability to find it. After removing this feed for a few weeks, it took the fish a long time to find the new source and start feeding there regularly.
You can then rest assured that a pike which has been taken a few times on artificial lures will not have learnt much more than aquarium fish. So, why are there some large, old (smart) pike? The answer lies in the individual 'character' of the fish.
Fish and their character traits
Here, once again, those who own an aquarium will know that within one species, there are varieties of character: smart, cheeky, careful and shy fish, etc. This has been scientifically proven in a study of behaviour patterns in fish, e.g. Trout. So, fish have a variety of character traits, such as 'wary' and 'nosey' but I would like to limit myself to those character traits most important to angling.
The variety of character traits makes sense, especially when viewed with respect to survival. In waters with little natural feed, the 'nosey' fish take greater risks and have a greater chance of survival. In waters with larger natural feed, the 'shy' fish, who do not take risks will still find their fill and survive. Where both character traits are present in a species, their chances of survival are increased. Although predators possess a natural and an acquired sense for prey: behaviour, look, taste, etc. we can take it for granted that they possess a certain amount of curiosity and will experiment. How curious, is dependant on the individual.
Fishing with artificial lures
So, we'll agree - fish are stupid but there are 'nosey' and 'shy' fish. Guess, which fish is most like to take an artificial lure - the 'nosey' or the 'shy' fish? Yes, it stands to reason that the 'nosey' fish is more likely to go for a lure that differs from its natural feed. In heavily fished waters, we can then assume that most of the 'nosey' fish have already been caught and that the only fish that are left are the 'shy' ones who, as I have already said, generally tend to stay with what they know and live to a ripe old age. If there were no bait fish anglers, they would probably never be caught, but bait fish, when presented correctly will not raise any suspicion amongst 'shy' fish. When angling with bait fish, it makes sense to select a softer and less conspicuous trace than you would when angling with artificial lures. I would say that, when angling with artificial lures, the choice of lure and how it is presented is much more important. When in doubt, I think it a good idea to use lures that behave in a lifelike manner, look like the original and are fitting to the season. The greater the similarity to natural bait, the greater the potential interest. This is not the case, if you wish to provoke fish and play with its natural curiosity and territorial characteristics. The more suitable bait would be aggressive and striking. One should be aware that the chances of success are less, but the technique can prove successful when the fish take less feed (for example, in summer or winter). The best example: salmon take no feed when rising but plenty are caught during this time on artificial lures (for example, an attractively coloured fly).
Conclusion
In reality, it is not so black and white. Dividing fish into 'nosey' and 'shy' is too simple. There are definitely a larger variety of character traits that can be associated with fish and should be taken into account. Apart from that, it is equally false to treat fish as an intelligent species with human characteristics as it is to deny the fact that fish possess 'human' character traits and are purely driven by instinct. Fish are neither intellectuals that understand the complexities involved in angling, nor are they purely driven by instinct and will react to anything that moves.
Returning to the original comments
The comments of anglers may sound ridiculous but the experience hidden behind these comments are usually not so ridiculous.
The comment, 'The pike here are very suspicious of artificial lures' can be interpreted as follows = 'Very few pike can be caught here using artificial lures'.
The search for the reason for this can help:
- Are there any pike in this water at all? If not => try another spot
- Are artificial lures used often? If not => the chances are good
- Having many fish been caught using artificial lures? If so => try using bait fish, etc.
I think that you should more or less look and some of these more dubious angler myths analytically and try to understand what lies behind.