A FISHERMAN'S LUCK 5 



spinners. Frequently fishes follow an artificial bait of this nature but 

 seem unable to make a decision to strike. Sometimes a little induce- 

 ment through the sense of taste or smell may help. An angleworm or 

 a minnow on the hook of the spinner will usually give just enough 

 inducement to cause the fish to strike when, otherwise he might not. 



Some fishes, particularly those that feed at night, find their food by 

 the sense of smell or taste rather than by sight. The sense of taste in 

 fishes may be on the lips, the skin, or the barbels. Bullheads become 

 very much excited when food is thrown to them; they swim and gy- 

 rate about the food, trying to locate it. They must come close or touch 

 it before they can seize it, and there is no evidence that they see it 

 even then. 



Carp kept in aquaria at the University of Minnesota are fed corn. 

 They mouth over the bottom until they locate the corn and then 

 suck it up with some sand and mud. They forcibly eject the entire 

 mouthful and swimming ahead suck the corn back in before it settles 

 to the bottom. Thus they separate the corn from the sand and mud 

 and at the same time make the water muddy. 



Paddlefish feed almost automatically, apparently without need of 

 sight, taste, or smell, although it is claimed that they locate water rich 

 in microscopic food by means of taste or smell. They swim slowly with 

 a spiral motion. Their mouths are always wide open, the water pass- 

 ing in and out through the gill-clefts. The microscopic organisms are 

 strained out continuously and swallowed as they accumulate. In the 

 same way some species of the whitefish family, such as the cisco, feed 

 extensively on planktonic Crustacea, which they strain from the water 

 by means of fine gill-rakers. This diet must be rather monotonous, at 

 least as far as effort is concerned. As a group, however, no animals 

 have a greater range of food than fishes. 



All fishes have a general fishy taste, but most fishes have some indi- 

 vidual flavor. The general fishy taste is not Hmited to these animals but 

 is a property of aquatic life in general. Some water plants taste fishy. 

 The individual flavor of fishes is partly influenced by the food they eat. 

 Any fish, no matter how high it ranks as a game species, may become 

 highly unpalatable if it feeds on certain substances. Bullheads, carp, 

 suckers, crappies, sunfishes, and buffalofish when feeding on muddy 

 bottoms, particularly where decayed vegetation is abundant, have a 

 decidedly muddy or weedy flavor. However, when these same fishes are 

 transferred to waters with clean bottoms, the taste of the flesh becomes 

 much more palatable in a few weeks. The same is true of the flavor 

 of game fishes, but to a lesser degree, because such fishes usually re- 

 strict their diet to living prey. Fishes from waters polluted by sewage 

 usually have a flavor reminiscent of sewage gas. The fisherman should 

 always remember that the cleaner the water from which he catches 

 his fish, the better will be their flavor. 



