What triggers fish to suddenly go on the feed?

[fishinwrench]

6 minutes ago, ness said:

It's the same phenomenon that caused humans to hoard TP a few months back.  

Yeah, of all things ....Why was it TP ?

Hoarding food, gas, or water would be understandable.....but Toilet Paper?

People are crazy!   

[Blazerman]

I have read about how animals and insects give off pheromones that relay signals to each other. Like bees when they feel threatened will release the one that signals time to attack and they will come from all over to do it. And deer will flee when one of them senses danger even though the others can be some distant away. 

And once one of them starts the activity, they all do it.

So i would think it would be the same thing with fish. And with them in water, maybe the pheromones work even better.

[Quillback]

I have wondered about this myself - I see it with stripers, hybrids and black bass.  I believe they can hear the other fish popping on top and that triggers them.  Maybe they hear it or sense it through the lateral line.  But it seems to happen a lot, fairly quiet, then they are blowing up everywhere, then it quiets down again for a minute or two.  

When used to have an aquarium, I'd tap lightly on the cover before feeding them, soon as I'd tap, they'd be swarming on top ready for that food.  

[fishinwrench]

6 minutes ago, Blazerman said:

I have read about how animals and insects give off pheromones that relay signals to each other. Like bees when they feel threatened will release the one that signals time to attack and they will come from all over to do it. And deer will flee when one of them senses danger even though the others can be some distant away. 

And once one of them starts the activity, they all do it.

So i would think it would be the same thing with fish. And with them in water, maybe the pheromones work even better.

It just has to be something like that.

I've considered that it was a certain angle of the sun, the sudden generation of water through a dam, and all kinds of other habitat related things.....but I've seen it happen on cloudy dark days, and in the middle of a bright sunny day, with no noticable changes to anything, so that theory just doesn't add up.  

Pheromones would take awhile to spread across a body of water, wouldn't it?      This stuff happens like flipping a switch.  It is instant.

[fishinwrench]

Also, to add even more confusion to the pondering......I don't see this type of thing happen on rivers like it does on lakes.  Not to the same extent anyway.

Yet our lakes are basically rivers.  🤔

[Flysmallie]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

I'm telling ya.....fish communicate, or get signals, somehow.   

One of the first white runs I ever fished was in a little stream in the mountains of Oklahoma. The water was crystal clear and you were up a little bit so you could see perfectly. In one hole you could see the whites the whole time. We would just cast and cast and cast with nothing. And then they would just go nuts and everyone would catch fish for awhile and then it was over and they would go back to just sitting there again. Never will forget that. 

[Jerry Rapp]

also, how does a white bass know it is swimming in a school with other white bass? Same with crappie, etc.  It is not like they have mirrors underwater and know what they look like.

 

[MOPanfisher]

I don't think I have every really seen it happen on a creek/river either but yeah I have seen several acres of whites and hybrids erupt withing a few seconds of one another and some be a couple hundred yards away.  Have seen some less obvious instances of crappie not hitting and then, within in the space of minutes they are hitting everything that moves.  Fish are weird,  they may not even know why, they are just doing.  Watching some of the live scope videos yiu can sometimes see that catching one fish get the others excited and they begin hitting better.

[fishinwrench]

5 hours ago, Jerry Rapp said:

also, how does a white bass know it is swimming in a school with other white bass? Same with crappie, etc.  It is not like they have mirrors underwater and know what they look like.

 

Yeah this one here obviously didn't understand who the hell he was supposed to be hanging out with. 

[nomolites]

8 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I was out chasing whites yesterday evening, catching a few here and there but it was kinda slow.  Sat down, cracked open a cold one and was just going to float around out there and take a break for awhile, and I hear a mild blow up behind me.  Within 10 seconds of that first little blitz the water in a 50-70 yard circle started boiling violently and it was fish-on every cast for a solid hour and a half.  

I've seen that happen 1000 times but I am still clueless about what the trigger is.   What are the possibilities that can cause fish, that are not even close to each other, to switch from a blah mood....to suddenly begin eating everything that moves, all at the same exact time?  The shad were there the whole time so it wasn't like they just suddenly moved into the area and became available, or suddenly moved near the surface.  The whole reason I started fishing there in the first place was because the shad had been there for hours.  

I'm becoming convinced that fish communicate somehow.  Telepathically maybe?  That's the only theory I have that adds up/makes any sense. 

Seriously, what do you think?

 

Oh and here's a bonafide mutt😊

 

I was down this week fishing mostly just eves and ended up with white and hybrid poop all over the deck, windshields, and me at times.  My observation is they herd the shad and push them to the surface and that is when the feeding frenzy starts.  I always see lots of baitfish jumping and fleeing in addition to fish boils when that is going down.  That said, caught all mine on jigging spoons - only kept ten fatties and a couple decent hybrids along with the lone keeper size(22”)walleye.  It sure makes for a fun filled evening fo sho.

 

Mike