ALMANAC C.qxd:1002 Coastal
6/1/10
3:14 PM
Page 57
HE WORDS SMART AND FISH SEEM MUTUALLY exclusive. They do not have large brains and are not known for their trainability or task mastering skills. However when it comes to evading anglers certain species are much more wily than others, especially when the pressure is on. Call it wary, smart or attribute it to pure survival instincts but the fact is some fish are downright frustrating to pursue. When I sat down to do this story my original intention was to have it represent only saltwater fish. However, I had to be honest with myself and admit there were numerous freshwater species we have all pursued that stack right up with the best from our bays so they are included as well. This is based on overall wariness and response to fishing pressure in a given area in the large specimens. Juveniles of most species are fairly easy to catch so this is only looking at the very biggest of the following fish.
T
C O A S T A L
5. FLOUNDER—My original list had tripletail in this position but I scratched that and put in flounder. It might seem strange that the guy who has written more about flounder than anyone in the world for the last 15 years would rank them at 5 but I am if anything honest and flounder while among the wariest have a few faults among the elite on this list.
by Chester Moore The biggest negative for flounder is just how tidally driven they are. I regularly fish a small canal that feeds into the Intracoastal. It is loaded with big flounder at times and it seems like every time I go there the tide is slack. Flounder do not bite well on a slack tide. However, when a ship comes through and pulls water they bite in a frenzy-like state. Wise flounder anglers who have the luxury of closely scheduling trips with tidal flow know this and routinely catch really big fish. The other side of this is the propensity of the largest fish to hang out right on the
A L M A N A C
T E X A S
F I S H
&
PHOTO COMPOSITE: TEXAS FISH & GAME
So, What is the Smartest Game Fish? edge of deep water on high tides, which anglers have picked up on. On the plus side, flounder in clear water can be super line shy and the biggest saddle blankets of all tend to stay in deep water and prey on larger baitfish much like the number one choice on this list. In addition few fish are as sensitive to how lures are presented which makes chasing them a real challenge for artificial purists. 4. CRAPPIE—These tasty panfish might seem easy to dupe but don’t forget we are talking about the very largest specimens of a given species. Big crappie are super wary. In fact John Prochnow of Pure Fishing (He is the inventor of Gulp) has spent extensive time studying fish in laboratories and said crappie are the second most intelligent fish according to their data. As I wrote in a column earlier this year I got to hand feed some two and three-pound crappie underwater and they blasted a jet of water onto the shiner I held in my fingers before striking it. In the wild I have experience a solid “thump”, G A M E ®
J U L Y
2 0 1 0
|
57