Is this true? How fish steal bait.

[steelhawk]

I went fishing recently, and even though I did well, I had many instances where those sneaky little fishies would steal my powerbait off of treble hooks.

I mentioned this to a friend and he stated that the fish use their tail to knock the bait off the hook. That seems pretty smart for a fish.
[signature]

[RockyRaab]

Their tails? How silly. Everybody knows they use chopsticks.
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Just started using a camera recently and I haven't seen one use its tail yet, I have fowl hooked fish in the tails before. So it's sure possible, but the camera has shown me how many times the fish take your offering without ever giving any tip of pole indications. I think they could suck it off and you may not even notice they were there. I think crawfish clean up your hooks sometimes too. Good luck. Later J
[signature]

[Jedidiah]

They suck it up and spit it back out repeatedly. I used to have an Oscar that we'd feed big fat grasshoppers to and that fish would suck up a hopper, crush it and spit out a cloud of parts a couple times and then select everything but the wings and hard back legs. It was not an accident, it was the same way every single time. Sightfishing perch has shown me the same thing, even dumb little perch are trying to get the bait off the hook on purpose by sucking it up and spitting it back out. They'll suck up an ice jig, spit it out, eye the wax worm for a while, suck it up again and spit it out.

While they seem to know that some of the stuff they try to eat can be painful or dangerous if they take it all in one go I doubt they have the reasoning to use their tails. BUT I have definitely seen a lot of fish run at bait and then chicken out and spin 180 degrees and hit the bait with their tail. Those fish take off and are never seen again, usually. I know this all sounds like I'm attributing a little bit of human behavior to animals but these are observations from what I would call a good deal of time sightfishing through the ice.
[signature]

[Anglinarcher]

I have seen a lot of video of fish taking lures with two or even three treble hooks and spitting them out without the fisherman even knowing that they were there.

I once saw some trout in a shallow pool that would inhale my worms but I could not hook them to save my soul. The hook and worms would come right out. I had to change to true-turn hooks to hook up.

Thresher Sharks do use their tail to stun bait so for them it makes sense, and lends credence to the claim that they can use tails to dislodge bait from hooks. Many ocean fish do use either a bill or tail to stun schools of bait before feeding.

I have seen video of trout behind a downrigger just pecking at the bait behind a lure over and over, then getting either and taking it or tired and moving off.

But, regarding powerbait, I have watched that stuff get soft in the water and simply float away. I once saw a place where the fishermen were fishing powerbait on the bottom but the fish were taking it off the top (even though the water was 20' deep). There was a powerbait hatch going on. LOL

[rgreenland]

Not sure if I can answer the question.....but here is a video that I took ice fishing in Jan 16. Had a 100+ fish day. Shows a bit of head, body, and tail smacking of the hook.
[signature]

[smittyts]

That video is great! Thanks for posting it.
[signature]