Very interesting piece there! It makes my mind wonder!I'm busy reading a book on fish behavior and I thought you guys might find this interesting...
"... Catfish are the taste champions of the world of fish. A single catfish has as many as 100,000 taste buds scattered over its body. Most of them are concentrated in the barbels, or feelers, that protrude on either side of the jaw like the whiskers on a cat. There are usually eight of these barbels that serve as external tongues, tasting various items in the water. With these barbels, catfish continuously test the water and the bottom mud to detect any taste of food. Without taste-sensitive barbels, species that live and feed on soft mud bottoms would have a serious handicap. As the fish roots around for it's food, it stirs up clouds of silt. The silt not only interferes with vision, making it impossible to see food, it also fills the water with a variety of organic smells that ooze from the bottom mud when it's disturbed. Odor perception becomes instantly confused. With vision and smell rendered useless much of the time, it is quite an advantage to the catfish to be able to taste it's way around..."
"... Catfish rely so heavily on their barbels for feeding that without them they could not locate any food. Since catfish normally taste or feel their food with their barbels, it stands to reason that they are more apt to locate bait that is on or near the bottom. They feed primarily on the bottom, and if the bait is suspended too far above their normal feeding zone, they may miss it..."
"... The chain response starts when the fish smells something that interests it. Becoming alert to the presence of food, it swims faster and begins to track down the source like a bird dog on the scent. Once its target is located, the fish first tests the nature of the substance with the external taste buds on its snout, barbels, or fins. If the fish likes what it finds, it puts the bait to the final test by deftly taking it into its mouth. At this moment, it will finally decide either to swallow the bait ot spit it out..."
Ja ek het ook in een van my boeke gelees dat as jy 'n baber 'n pizza of iets sou kon gee hy op dit sal gaan le om dit te proe eerder as om dit in sy bek te prop om te proe. Daar staan dat 'n baber van slegs 15 cm al by die 250,000 taste buds oor sy lyf het. En dis een van die redes hoekom ek meer en meer weg beweeg van te veel bloed en ander geure en my suskes rate bly maar nog dieselfde.zulu-X-treme wrote:Very interesting piece there! It makes my mind wonder!I'm busy reading a book on fish behavior and I thought you guys might find this interesting...
"... Catfish are the taste champions of the world of fish. A single catfish has as many as 100,000 taste buds scattered over its body. Most of them are concentrated in the barbels, or feelers, that protrude on either side of the jaw like the whiskers on a cat. There are usually eight of these barbels that serve as external tongues, tasting various items in the water. With these barbels, catfish continuously test the water and the bottom mud to detect any taste of food. Without taste-sensitive barbels, species that live and feed on soft mud bottoms would have a serious handicap. As the fish roots around for it's food, it stirs up clouds of silt. The silt not only interferes with vision, making it impossible to see food, it also fills the water with a variety of organic smells that ooze from the bottom mud when it's disturbed. Odor perception becomes instantly confused. With vision and smell rendered useless much of the time, it is quite an advantage to the catfish to be able to taste it's way around..."
"... Catfish rely so heavily on their barbels for feeding that without them they could not locate any food. Since catfish normally taste or feel their food with their barbels, it stands to reason that they are more apt to locate bait that is on or near the bottom. They feed primarily on the bottom, and if the bait is suspended too far above their normal feeding zone, they may miss it..."
"... The chain response starts when the fish smells something that interests it. Becoming alert to the presence of food, it swims faster and begins to track down the source like a bird dog on the scent. Once its target is located, the fish first tests the nature of the substance with the external taste buds on its snout, barbels, or fins. If the fish likes what it finds, it puts the bait to the final test by deftly taking it into its mouth. At this moment, it will finally decide either to swallow the bait ot spit it out..."
The dam i have been tring at so far is Shongweni. I know what these fish take, i have spent many hours now with a whole selection of bait. Red brest heads with some guts will always get picked up at night. Have put sardine oil on the head and this has not increased the strike rate. I am of the thinking that barbel , although they have an exceptional sense of smell, will go for bait natural to their enviroment or their actual dam, will always out fish anything that is not natural. Smell as i have gathered is important, but ive tried all sorts of dips that have been recomended, but so far nothing has gotten an improved success rate. I will conduct these tests again in summer to get a conclusion. If you guys have anything you want me to try and report back feel free to ask.
I think it's one thing attracting the fish to the bait using something 'strong' like sardine or anchovy oil. It's a completely different thing having him actually swallow it.
Who knows initially the scent could drive the fish 'crazy' and lead him right to your bait, but once he actually starts tasting it, maybe it's then that he has second thoughts?