Conditioning...a new level?

[Fishnwire]

At my camp north of Sudbury, the SMB fishing is fairly spectacular this time of year. A three or four hour outing will generally see somewhere between 10-20 fish between 16 and 20 inches. The thing I have noticed is that the bass between 16-18 inches seem to fight a lot harder than the 19-20 inchers. The smaller fish are generally a lot more acrobatic and tend to strip more line and take more runs. Don't get me wrong, the big ones pull harder...but it's just more weight...they don't seem to be fighting like their life depends on it like their slightly smaller brothers and sisters do.

 

My body of water is relatively small and fished almost exclusively by myself or my guests. Small mouth bass catch and release is mandatory in my boat, and has been for the last seven years or so. I'm begining to wonder if those big pigs have been hooked a few times already, and have learned to save their energy, because they been "conditioned" to the extent that they know they'll just be released anyway, and that taking it easy is in their best interst.

 

It's funny, because the slightly smaller ones are more fun to catch...they're real scrappers, compared to the cows. And yet, I'd rather lip-lock a chunker, than one that stripped more line and took more air.

 

Is it possible a hooked fish who has been through it over and over again just thinks "Oh this again? No point wasting a lot of energy."?

[crappieperchhunter]

Perch would hands down be the species I fish the most and I have always noticed the same with them. A 7-9 incher will generally hit more aggressively and run around more then a Jumbo over 12. A few of us who fish them alot even have a line for it.

 

"What you got on" a buddy will say. The answer would be " An 8 incher that thinks he's a 12.