Fish do not have hands to grasp. They have a mouth and that is their only way of interacting with other creatures. Fish take things into their mouthes that are both food and non food, and learn to spit at an early age. They take items in, test them for edibility and either eject or swallow as standard operating procedure. Fish take their babies into their mouthes to protect them from being eaten by other fish. They use their mouthes to fight for territory and mates. They use their mouthes to construct nests capable of attracting a mate. Their mouth is kind of it.

So they might bite to eat, but it could also be in reaction to a threat, or could be out of simple curiosity. Some specie will school up and usually when in a group will act similarly to the others. Either feeding, or moving over distance, or sleeping, etc all in unison. This group behavior leads to a competitive atmosphere where when several fish spot a prey item each dashes in as quickly as possible to capture it, knowing if it tastes bad they can just eject it, but if their buddy gets it they miss out.

Crappie are a schooling fish, but can operate in an independent fashion. Fickle devils in that they can see something that appears to be edible prey item and take a pass. They are watchers, and ease in for the kill. Carefully moving so as not to disturb the prey until it is too late. Death from the murky depths.

So our lure comes swimming by and they see it and from their they have to make a decision. Does it look edible ? Do I have to quick grab this before Little Johnny Fish Pants gets a chance ? Is this thing trying to hurt me ? Am I really hungry or am I just in the mood for a little snack ? Am I in position to actually capture the item ?

Then there are the instinctual behaviors such as putting on weight in anticipation for the spawn. This is like a festival where they feed wildly. Then there are all the environmental influences, such as cold fronts, Moon phases, structure, water temperatures, water levels clarity and currents, lighting effects, prey items available, etc. These too will determine the willingness of a crappie to bite our lures.

I have noticed how similar their behavior is, even from opposite sides of a large lake. Seven miles away, the fish are either biting or not. I can quickly drive over to the other end and experience the exact same result. Like a large gong has been rung announcing when to start and when to stop, and fish scattered wide and far all comply. When it is on it is on and when it is off it is off.

Then we have patterns such as the crappie in this lake like blue and pink and in another they like red and white. This lake they bite Road Runners and in this one they refuse them. The old men I speak with all have categorized lures according to the lake they are fishing. We assume it is water clarity, or perhaps a hatch we get to match, but it could be something else entirely. I have been struggling to find universals and they just don’t seem to be found.

The solution can be easily deduced if you take the square root of stupid and divide by fickle. It is why we say the phrase- it’s fishing. No computer can select the proper bait to be used at a certain time to catch large fish, or numerous fish. We develop skill sets that allow us to advantage them with regards to some aspect of their very complicated lives. If we loaded the boat every time we went we would soon tire of them. We like to best our competitors and crow about our abilities, and really like it when they other guys starts crying. I like to show my fish to my wife- lookie here baby, this is why I need all that tackle.

My guess is that fish are so dumb that our application of logic and reason cannot stoop low enough to be of any significant value. I have met some really dumb fellers that could get close, but usually humans are no match, and are left to ponder the question- why ?