All fish are dumb, they just have different instincts.
jargo432
A guide doing a presentation at a TU meeting I was attending made the following statement:
“Trout are not the smartest fish we fish for, but, they know the difference between something that looks alive and something that does not.” His point was that if our flies did not look alive, trout would more than likely refuse them. I feel it is a good point and has a lot of merit.
Warren
One of the big universities, I forget which, did a study of fish intelligence a few years back. I think it was the University of Wisconsin, but I have the beginnings of Sometimer’s Disease, so could be wrong. Anyway, the most intelligent fish was carp, second was channel catfish, largemouth bass were somewhere not far from the top, and trout were waaaaayyyy down. They decided that trout stopped evolving long before carp, catfish, and bass.
Uh, wouldn’t you rather believe that they were high on the intelligence ladder. If not, how do you explain getting skunked by them dumb critters?
A trout, like any fish, has a brain the size of a BB. It is really just a tiny but powerful computer programmed to do certain things.
One thing it is programmed to do is to recognize when something is looking like it is alive. If it looks like it is alive, and it is small enough to fit in the trout’s mouth, then it is programmed to try to eat it.
If something looks alive and big enough to be a threat to the trout, it is programmed to run and hide.
If it moves, but doesn’t look natural, ie, alive, then the trout is programmed to run and hide. That is what happens, for example, when a dry fly begins to swim against the current. We call it drag, the trout just calls it spooky.
Live long and die with your (wading) boots on.
I think a lot of it is determined by how you define intelligence. John you are right on that a trout’s brain is well programmed, and their eyes are pretty impressive too. But how quickly do they learn?
I’ve seen other places where carp are cited as the most intelligent freshwater fish (maybe even smarter than the elusive saltwater bluegill 
) But that is based on ability to learn. One example was a carp caught and kept in captivity for 20 years. It would eat any food except the one it was caught on. That was after ONE bad experience. Fortunately for me, not all carp are that smart.
Lux
From personal experience, bass are smarter and learn faster than trout. For example, my inlaws had two ponds with largemouth bass in one and rainbows in the other. After feeding them regularly, the bass would come by the dock when they see you and wait. The rainbows didn’t do anything till the pellets hit the water. Sadly, an otter too residence and that was the end of the smart fish.
Only one thing Dunber than a trout… and that is someone who thinks he (or she) can out smart one!! lol
Rich
The ones I catch are.
Warren,
Would you define “alive”? Or do you recall how that guide defined it?
There are plenty of successful flies that look nothing like anything alive or in nature. So how is that possible?
As far as fish being dumb. They are.
Allan
Trout ARE dumb.
That’s why modern fly fishing has evolved the way it has.
To make it ‘harder’ to catch the fish (or more ‘challenging’ if you prefer). Nothing wrong with that. The challenge is what makes it fun for most of us.
But lets not forget the basic truth about trout:
Put piece of Velveeta onto a hook and drift it through any of the fly only water, and you’d clean them out.
That hunk of cheese really looks alive, though…Must be an EXACT match of the rare but desirable smelly orange globule hatch…
Trout are fun. Pretty. Exciting to catch. Not bright, even in the world of fish. And, they live, mostly, in VERY nice places.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Trout are Dumb? Well, my dogs must be really dumb cause they seem to eat rocks and their own feces weather it looks alive or not.
Have fun, Jeff
this is one of those questions that can be answered differently dependant upon your definition of “dumb”.
all fish are dumb, to an extent. all fish are instinctual in their feeding habits. they are “programmed” to react in a specific way to a specific set of stimuli, in regards to what is food.
the exact same presentation that will send a large mouth into an aggressive feeding frenzy will send trout into hiding. what attracts a trout, a LMB will ignore.
the fact is, each has its own set of instinctual triggers that tell it “this is food” and “this is danger”. like any other living creature, they can learn. in a very pavlovian manner, all species of fish will respond to repeated stimulation. this is why we have an evolution in tying and fishing techniques. this evolution evolves because of generational knowledge of danger passed on from parents to children, even in the fish kingdom.
to cliam that any species of fish is “smart” beyond instinct and pavlovian response is futile. to claim any species is “smarter” because of the quickness of this response is futile. a carp may be quicker to respond to the stimulation, but can it be proven that this knowledge is passed on through generations more rapidly or readily than any other species? i dont know the answer, im just asking.
to claim a fish, of any species, as intelligent, is only to appease ourselves. fish do not and cannot act and react in an intellectual manner based on their surroundings. that cannot assess a situation and make a decision based on current facts surrounding them. they can only react to stimulation based on instinct and pavlovian response. this is not intelligence, this is survival. nothing more and nothing less…
Everyone dies. Only the lucky ever truly Live. Take your time.
Chris-Bishop, CA, USA
jeff,
Wow, my dog does the same things,
except she washes it all down with a drink
from the toilet!
MW
They just need to be a wee bit dumber than we are…
I have cast the Orvis fly pattern book MANY times, OPEN to ALL pages…not ONCE have I retrieved that book & found “trout slobber” on the “foldouts” & them thar are some sexy flies!!! DUMB??? YOU BETCHA!!
Mike
Now I am really confused.
I used to think I was smarter than the average trout. Now I learn that in order to catch a trout it is perfectly acceptable if I am as dumb as dumb. All those years of wasted effort reading up and learning how to outsmart trout.“G” Jax
I’m a much better Fly fisher when talking fishing, than when I’m Actually Fly fishing!
Not compared to my boss.
jed
I have never caught a smart trout. I have, however, caught a carp that explained the Fundamental Theorum of Calculus to me. Clever little fellow, I let him go.
You’re smart. Would you live in cold water and eat bugs for a living?
Then again, you don’t have to be very smart to do well if you are as pretty as a trout. We’ve seen that with many a human.