Understanding Freshwater Gamefish

Part of learning to become a fisherman is understanding how fish behave and think in the water. Knowing their habits and how they react to their environment will have you reacting accordingly. It’s not about having the best gear or fishing electronics. Having the fundamentals down will allow you to nail that Bass, Pike or other freshwater species.

Of course, getting over some of the beginning hurdles can be tough for the newcomer, but remember, the more you learn, the better you get and the more rewarding fishing becomes. Sooner than later, you’ll have developed your natural style using tricks you’ve picked up yourself, tips you’ve picked up from local anglers, and maybe then, you’ll have an idea of what gear you’ll want to try.

Thinking like a fish

Freshwater gamefish use their senses to discover food and protect them from predators, even anglers. Their vision is very effective. With their positioned on both sides of the top of their head allow them to see everything above, in front and laterally. They cannot see directly behind or below themselves.

How clear the water is also determines how well they can see. In murky waters, they may only see a foot in front of them, but they can see up to 75 feet in clear water. Shallow water fish have excellent color vision, as well as humans. Since color begins to be filtered out ad depths 10 feet and greater, fish with or without good color vision won’t see some colors. This can be an indicator on what type of lures you’ll use for both of these varying environments.

Fish also use their hearing extensively. Their ears, though not external, enable fish to pick up sound and maintain equilibrium. Fish do not have ear drums, instead they use their body to pick up vibrations which are picked up by their ears.

Perhaps more utilized than their ears is their sense of lateral line. This sense, not equipped in humans, allows fish to pick up the slightest vibrations in their environment and translate this information into predator or no predator, the size of the predator, and fast and in what direction it’s moving. This acute sense consists of pores along the sides of the fish from gill to tail. These pores, connected to a network of nerve endings, transmit the information back to the receptors in the ear.

Most fish use their smell and taste senses to detect prey and predators close by. The amount fish use this sense varies from species to species. Walleyes, bass and pike use it less than catfish, trout, sunfish and salmon.

This should help you in picking your lures. Rattlers and spinners work well with the walleyes and bass while “stinkbait” works great with catfish. You can find many recipes online for stinkbait.

Assortment of spinning and rattler tackle.

Fish Food

The fish diet of any particular species will vary depending on what food is available. During the course of the year, different food becomes available forcing fish to constantly adjust their diet if they’re to survive. This means that your lure selection should match the size and behavior of what your target fish is eating. For trout fishing, if the trout are feeding on the surface, then picking a lure that stays on the surface will be a good choice. If you’re fishing bass, and they are all on the bottom hunting for crayfish, then a jig would work well.

small fish are the primary diet for adult walleye, bass, pike and other large fish. Thin fish make great a great catch for a large predator as they slide down easy.

Aquatic insects like this mayfly pictured here often are the primary food for fish, young and adult. Mayflies can easily be hooked and make a great bait for trout and other surface feeders. During large insect hatches, there usually follows a feeding frenzy. Walleyes and trout may exclusively feed on this diet during this time.