I believe fish are smart! Well, maybe not intelligent, but smarter than we may think....

Here are a couple of "situations" that haunt me to this day!

Rooster Fish - here is a photograph of me with my mouth wide open holding a nice rooster caught off Punta de Mita, in Mexico.  It was a beautiful fish, my first Rooster!  When I picked it up, I could literally feel that fish staring at me, looking at me, a burning gaze right in the eyes... my Wife Jen was taking the photos and asked me to show exaggerated excitement.  Every time I opened my mouth, the rooster would defensively raise its dorsal fin and I could feel its body tense up.  As I moved the fish about the boat, it didn't ever take its eyes off of mine.  Very bizarre feeling!

Musky #1 - while fishing smallmouth on bass opening day back in 2004, i skipped a tube under a dock and hooked a pound and a half bass.  As I was bringing it to the boat, a 48 inch musky shot out from under the dock and grabbed it sideways.  I was fishing with a medium spinning outfit with 6 lb test line so was completely outgunned and unprepared to have such a battle with a big fish.  The musky would sound, I'd be able to bring it back to the boat and it'd go down again, each time looking at me (in the eye) as if to say. "come on dude, let me have it, let the fish go!"  well this tug of war turned into a grudge match and neither of us were willing to give up the fight.  I didn't have a net, I didn't have a cradle.  All I had, that would help was the pair of wool socks I was wearing.  I promptly removed one sock, put it over my hand and used it as a tailing glove, I landed a 48 inch musky with a stinky old woolen sock and didn't even have a hook in it.  Now that is fish determination!

Musky #2 - while fishing with Jim Saric (aka The Musky Hunter) during his University of Esox in northern Wisconsin, I had another eye-to-eye moment with a fish.  We had been fishing hard for 2 days looking for a giant... in the 11th hour of day 2, I was retrieving a top raider over a patch of cabbage weed when the giant we had been searching for showed her face.  She came rocketing out of the weed bed and opened her mouth to engulf the lure.  The fish was only about 8 feet from the boat and was clearly the biggest Musky I have ever seen in the water!  As soon as I saw her, everything seemingly went into slow motion!  As she had her mouth completely opened with the top raider clearly deep in her, she turned her head to the side, looked me in the eye and just slowly kept turning, never closing her mouth on the bait.. it was suspended between her upper and lower jaw as she turned down into the water column.  It was like she took one look at me and said "nope, been in this position before, and I don't want to get caught again".  Jim looked at me and said that was well over 50 inches and a true trophy for this lake!  To this day, that is the fish that I see when I close my eyes... that is the fish I wish I had a second chance at.  Unfortunately that was my only shot at her.  We ended up getting a 42, which isn't anything to scoff at but never saw that big girl again.

Melnyk