The 7th sense of pike - why they like cameras sometimes more than your bait?
There are ample videos out there that show how predatory fish, especially pike, love the odd chomping on an underwater camera. How come? Why bother then about intricate designs and mimicry of natural swimming behaviours and shapes of the artificial lures, if they fall for the no frills outlines of the underwater camera casings? See below for some close up and inside views of their gill frames, some discussions about the power of vision and smell for a pike (some videos are in German). Bottom line is that pike are strong visual hunters - and one of the first things that comes into their field of view when spinning or trolling is the camera (when the fish sit in between). The blinking light of some cameras may actually not have a deterrent but attractant effect (obviously this is pure specualtion, because no one has tested this rigourously). Ideally, your bait choice, depending on the situation, can play in on visual cues, taste buds, and tactile senses. In this video a bait from icapio was used which combines stimuli for all of them. The cam was dressed with a fish-skin look alike snack attack sticker. It did work a treat and you can see the repeated interest of the pike in the camera on consecutive casts. Enjoy.