Are you smarter than a fish?

[Carpkiller]

Sometimes I am not.

Had a couple spinning rods with me and tied up a dropshot on the lightest rod to fish a tiny, shallow pool in Creek X.
Nyet.
The next spot had potential for bigger fish. And it is accessed from a bank about 3 feet above the creek.
At one point i cut off the dropshot sinker and wacky-rigged a thin senko. Dropped it through a hole in the brush and it got hammered. If the fish had gone to the right I woulda never got it out of the roots and sunken trees...but it went left into a bank of dead tules. Sawed thru the gunk and got her out three times...when she ran for the timber i put a finger on the spool and leaned back and put a good stretch in the 4 lb test. If it breaks, it breaks.... If she gets to the woods i am boned anyway, right?
Took a couple minutes to tire her out...but now what?
Not enough stick to bounce the fish up to me...so I carefully dragged her up the grassy bank.

waay too much drama landing a pound-and-a-half fish. Especially since i have made the same mistake before at this very spot...

[Early release]

Ahaha. I fish at a pond near my house. Sometimes you get in some strange positions to catch a fish and one time I was holding on to a tree with one hand and planning to cast and then use my leg to hold on to the tree. I don't know why that seemed reasonable, I do things I don't always understand.Well, I cast with one hand, because you can, and immediately I got a hit on a decent fish. I had to do the gymnastics to even start reeling all while trying to control what would be a 3 pound fish with ultralight gear and 4 pound test. How I didn't end up in the water is a mystery. How I caught the fish, a bigger mystery. That was one of the bigger fish I have gotten there, so now I almost always try to make it difficult, in the hopes of that same drama.

[Mcfish]

The fish at San V are definitely smarter than me..as soon as I set the hook, they're burying themselves in the nearest tree before I can even get a crank on the handle!

[Gotfish?]

Apparently you guys target the smart fish. The ones I hook head for deep, open water.

[KillinTime]

Short answer......"NO"