What do a fishes eyes look like to a predator fish?

[jtexas]

Stare deeply into a fish's eye and to me it looks flat black, no reflected light at all. Take a flash photo and you never have a problem with redeye on a fish, yet they say fishes can see better in low-light conditions, like cats and dogs, whose eyes reflect light like crazy. So, what do a fish's eyes look like, to another fish, underwater?

I happen to be a firm believer that, all else being equal, a lure with eyes will outcatch one without but what, really, is the optimum appearance for the eyes?

Any opinions or insights?

jtw

[boatnik13]

I once read that the eyes on bait fish appear to get large while under attack by larger fish ect.ect. Now I know eyes on certain fish are larger VS a diffrent kind of fish of the same size and colors vary on the outside of the dark center. With my Aqua-vu > I could see that the small sunfish in a rock jam appeared to have huge eyes as my camera chased them> So I'd say its true about the eyes get big while under attack (FEARFACTOR). Guess we need a BIOLOGIST to answer this question.

[jtexas]

How do you like the Aqua-vu? Has it helped your fishing? Have you got a polarizing filter for it? Just curious - I read a theory that fish have some kind of polarizing vision.

thanks,

jtw

[RiverMan]

LIKE THIS

[Tally]

Thanks for the laugh Riverman.

Tally

[Jann]

It seems that the sympatical response is similar to the human? Pupildilatation - "bigger eyes" is a response for "fight or flight", you need to see more, blood is redirected from the intestines to the muscles, the hearts frequency rises, the breathing (gasexchange ) gets deeper and more frequent... just like when being strapped to a liedetector with something to hide!

Jann

[Nathan]

I'm a firm believer in eyes on lures.....If nothing else,I fish a lure with more confidence.When I tie streamers,they always have eyes,and I think I catch more fish with them

I read somewhere,that they believe fish use the eyes on their prey to help determine the direction the prey is moving,and how they are going to strike....Nathan

[RiverMan]

Jtexas,

I am a biologist but without doing some research cannnot give you an absolute answer. My guess is that it may make a difference having eyes at times, particularly when fishing something very slow and/or in very clear water. Think, however, of the millions of fish that have fallen for spinners, spoons, and jigs, all of which have no eyes. Keep in mind too that a fish has a brain the size of a pencil eraser. They do certain things because evolution has taught them to do so; those who didn't follow the rules of survival throughout history didn't live long enough to pass on the genetic code of carelessness and stupidity. A fishes needs include finding food, keeping from getting eaten (cover), and reproducing, that's it.

Fish detect prey through their sense of smell, sight, and the detection of vibration along the lateral line. Depending on the species and water conditions, each of these sensory functions may become more or less important. It is my guess that fish strike because of 1.) impulse---they have been feeding on various items (macroinvertebrates, crustaceans, fishes, etc.) since birth, if a minnow is hurt, take him before he escapes or someone else eats him before you, 2.) hunger, 3.) the prey item meets the criteria for proper form, color, and function. If you are a bass, pike, perch, whatever, prey items may be available to you for a very brief period of time, a shiner swims by, a crayfish comes out, etc. I sincerely doubt in most cases they can be so picky as to spend time looking for eyes. And finally think about this, if fish were intelligent enough to swim up to a lure and ponder "does that have eyes?", we would never be able to catch them as they would also note the lure doesn't smell right, has hooks, and includes a line towing it through the water.

All that aside, it's important to have a lure that gives us confidence. If you're confident the lure looks good, fishes good, and will produce, you will likely also fish harder and more attentively, leading to greater success. So if eyes on a lure make you a better fisherman then by all means include them always.

Jed

[boatnik13]

It wasen't my QUESTION RIVERMAN! but I do know this > since we are on the long subject>>If I fish with a live crawlfish and put one out with its claws attached and another out with no claws >guess what? the fish know.The realistic one always wins. Same with a helgramite> remove the pinchers and success drops qiuck. Oh well! What kind of biologist? riverman! And for the one who questioned about aqua-vu ,I'll e-mail you later.

[RiverMan]

Sorry for the "long subject" boatnik but I type very fast and at times get carried away. My experience has not been the same as your with crayfish. I have not fished with live crayfish for years but used to spend a considerable amount of time in the summer throwing "dads" as a kid. Bass, cats, and carp would all slam crayfish with claws, without, hardshell, softshell, large, small, whichever, they love em! If you have caught many crayfish you have undoubtedly noticed that they come in all forms. Certainly though there will always be "exceptions" to the rule and I have no doubt there are cases where eyes, legs, antenna, etc., will make a difference in catch rate.

One summer I noticed a large (3 lbs maybe) smallmouth patrolling an area in about 3 feet of water. I threw everything I had at him and he wouldn't take a thing. I later caught a small rough fish and returned to the area. I hooked the rough fish through the mouth with a single hook and tossed him out. The bass immediately swam up to the fish and sat motionlessly looking at him for what seemed like a solid minute. The bass then swam up to the fish and swallowed him, just like that. In this case I have no doubt that they eyes, fins, and everything else made all the difference.

Best Regards,

Jed

[MagicBob]

Right on Riverman. When people say stuff to me about how a lure's gotta have eyes to catch fish I just say I take the eyes off my lures because predators key on the weak prey. You can rationalize just about anything if you try hard enough.

[boatnik13]

Like this > If I throw a flashey lure into a school of BLUE FISH > I'm lucky to get the lure back! It doesen't even need paint> just flash. Now I can't get that action in freshwater so I do what they call "FIN CLIPPING". Customizing the live minnow to swim a certain way in distress and the action outways the EYE action. I guess we might be looking at paint and details like eyes as a way to lure fisherman/woman into buying the lure not really what the fish are thinking. As someone said> they use sences like us, SIGHT,SMELL,Vibration.Just that one of thoes sences is the strongest depending on what kind of fish we are after or the type of water condition that day.

[jtexas]

I appreciate Riverman's dissertation - sort of a back-to-basics type discussion. Nothing in nature looks anything like a spinnerbait, yet there you are. Also I've heard countless bass pro's say that confidence is more important than lure color. You have the reaction strike, where they just react to flash and movement, then you have the sight-oriented strike, like Riverman's example when the fish seem to study the bait and either swim away or inhale it. We've all seen fish in tanks do that. And if Nathan is right then eyes on a lure will make Mr. Bass a more effective predator of your lure. I just wonder how to make eyes on lures look more realistic to another fish.

Jann makes another good point - but I think you left out voiding the bowels to lighten the load. Has anybody here ever made a lure that mimics bodily functions?