Blackwater
08-01-2007, 10:37 PM
I just know there's several of you out there who may know something about this. I recently got back from Santee-Cooper where the big cats were showing how dispassionate they can be sometimes about biting hooks. Whole lotta' folks got skunked. Most were fishing the channels, and deep water. We found the fish on the slopes just off the shores of the islands, where they apparently were taking baitfish rather casually, but consistently. We came home with over 200 lbs., which wasn't terribly good, but was way ahead of what most folks did, so I ain't ashamed of it at all. 20 fish at 200+ lbs. will keep us makin' hush puppies for a while!
I've seen quite a few shows on TV, and read elsewhere, about the shark's ability to detect magnetic fields with sensors they seem to have in their noses or cheeks. I can't help but wonder sometimes, if catfish don't have some similar ability. Sometimes, even when it's a cinch they can't see the hook well enough to matter, they can be very hook shy, and you have to bury the hook in the bait almost totally to get many bites. Other times, it doesn't seem to bother them at all. If it bothered them only when they could SEE the hook, I'd think it was a visual thing, but I really don't think that's it. Not real sure why. Just one of those nagging hunches we outdoors folk get from time to time. Heck, it may just be what I ate for supper!
I know they often, if not usually, examine the bait, if very briefly sometimes, with those whiskers. Maybe that's what shies them from the hooks? If it were that, though, it looks to me like it'd be a more consistent thing with them. Yeah, I know, fish are like women - always changin', sometimes several times a day.
Still, though, do any of you know, or have you read, what might make them shy from hooks at times, and not at others? Is my faulty memory (dang that CRS disease anyway!) letting me imagine reading or hearing something about this in the past??? Darn! Of all the things I miss, I miss my memory the most.
And has anyone noted stainless hooks (non-magnetic) working any better than the carbon steel ones?
Stainless hooks likely won't affect any detection facilities that use induced current - current induced by conductive metals passing through a magnetic field - would it??? I remember just enough about electricity and the physics of it to really get confused, so .... can anyone help?
I've seen quite a few shows on TV, and read elsewhere, about the shark's ability to detect magnetic fields with sensors they seem to have in their noses or cheeks. I can't help but wonder sometimes, if catfish don't have some similar ability. Sometimes, even when it's a cinch they can't see the hook well enough to matter, they can be very hook shy, and you have to bury the hook in the bait almost totally to get many bites. Other times, it doesn't seem to bother them at all. If it bothered them only when they could SEE the hook, I'd think it was a visual thing, but I really don't think that's it. Not real sure why. Just one of those nagging hunches we outdoors folk get from time to time. Heck, it may just be what I ate for supper!
I know they often, if not usually, examine the bait, if very briefly sometimes, with those whiskers. Maybe that's what shies them from the hooks? If it were that, though, it looks to me like it'd be a more consistent thing with them. Yeah, I know, fish are like women - always changin', sometimes several times a day.
Still, though, do any of you know, or have you read, what might make them shy from hooks at times, and not at others? Is my faulty memory (dang that CRS disease anyway!) letting me imagine reading or hearing something about this in the past??? Darn! Of all the things I miss, I miss my memory the most.
And has anyone noted stainless hooks (non-magnetic) working any better than the carbon steel ones?
Stainless hooks likely won't affect any detection facilities that use induced current - current induced by conductive metals passing through a magnetic field - would it??? I remember just enough about electricity and the physics of it to really get confused, so .... can anyone help?