Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: minsyoo on September 28, 2009, 05:21:52 PM

Title: Why do fish jump?
Post by: minsyoo on September 28, 2009, 05:21:52 PM
Basic and simple question,

I see pinks jump all the time,

I wonder why???
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: milo on September 28, 2009, 05:29:46 PM
Because they don't have fingers. :D
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: milo on September 28, 2009, 05:38:30 PM
On a more serious note, it depends on the species and circumstances.
Excepting the obvious jumps when hooked (trying to unhook themselves), fish can jump for the following reasons: going after an airborne insect (especially trout); escaping predators (especially saltwater species); cleaning their gills (sturgeon, carp, some salmon species).
Some, like the chinese flying carp jump when they become agitated by intense light and/or noise.

As for pinks and other salmon in rivers, it could be that they are trying to loosen up their eggs skeins and milt sacks prior to spawning.

Last, but not least, they might be listening to VanHalen. ;)
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Frankey on September 28, 2009, 05:45:20 PM
Ive heard they jump to try and shake free the sea lice attached to thier bodies.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: searun17 on September 28, 2009, 05:55:33 PM
simple,they are playing jump rope with all the 6 foot leaders coming at them ;) ;D
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Matt on September 28, 2009, 05:57:22 PM
I dunno, but I'd get a little keyed up before a one night stand with 2 million females.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Fish Assassin on September 28, 2009, 07:34:51 PM
They want to have a look at the "fishermen" trying to catch them with 12' leaders.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: warlo_527 on September 28, 2009, 07:42:41 PM
Wouldn't you jump too if you evaded humans, nets across the Fraser, predators, sea lice, swam 1000's of kilometers, lack of plankton and food,  some more seals, other predators again, humans again, certainly more nets across the Fraser, 12 foot leaders, and then all of a sudden you smell your "home" stream! I would be jumping for joy too!
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: aquaholic on September 28, 2009, 08:04:50 PM
In an issue of BC outdoors magazine i think its 3 issues ago or maybe 4 not to sure I cant remember , has a detailed article why fish jump, I don't remember word for word what the article said, but I'm sure it had something to do with them sensing there home streams/rivers and them entering different types of water , you have to read the article to really get a decent answer, I threw the mag out, or i would have scanned and posted it up
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: vapor on September 28, 2009, 08:28:49 PM
I've also heard its for the whole sea lice thing... ???
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: samw on September 28, 2009, 09:10:23 PM
In an issue of BC outdoors magazine i think its 3 issues ago or maybe 4 not to sure I cant remember , has a detailed article why fish jump, I don't remember word for word what the article said, but I'm sure it had something to do with them sensing there home streams/rivers and them entering different types of water , you have to read the article to really get a decent answer, I threw the mag out, or i would have scanned and posted it up

Trying to sense where they are is what I think too.  On the Fraser, I noticed a lot of jumping during a tide change when they got confused and were swimming with the tide back towards the ocean.  Maybe jumping helps them find out that they shouldn't go back out with the tide?
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: yakideath12 on September 28, 2009, 09:20:32 PM
saw on fishing magazine. The researchers said that they are finding their way.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: hue-nut on September 28, 2009, 10:30:37 PM
In an issue of BC outdoors magazine i think its 3 issues ago or maybe 4 not to sure I cant remember , has a detailed article why fish jump, I don't remember word for word what the article said, but I'm sure it had something to do with them sensing there home streams/rivers and them entering different types of water , you have to read the article to really get a decent answer, I threw the mag out, or i would have scanned and posted it up

yeah I read it too, they are apparently scooping the water from the surface into their nostrils, this water has some type of signature of their home stream/river kinda like dna.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: fishherron on September 29, 2009, 05:18:22 AM
All good reasons. I have seen Coho, Sockeye,Chum jumpimg far out in the ocean and the middle of Hecitc stright. Fish jump because they can.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Frankey on September 29, 2009, 09:15:29 AM
Its great that do jump, provides some excitement when on the end of your line,probally then they are trying to spit the hook out.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: skaha on September 29, 2009, 09:48:03 AM
--anyone fished Penask lk? fish jump there constantly, if you fish there long enough I'm sure one will jump into the boat. I've had several hit the side of the boat but no yet direct jump onto the boat
--the penask strain is used for stocking of many of our lakes and they continue to be jumpers in other lakes so? must be a combination of all the explanations.
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: troutbreath on September 29, 2009, 09:55:06 AM
I heard that it goes back to when they were young and feeding on flies. Only later they try to catch birds flying by. :)
Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Hook, Line and Sinker on September 29, 2009, 12:28:02 PM
About 10 years ago I worked as a commercial diver and did some jobs for various fish farms.

Slightly awed at the site of a hundred thousand salmon in a net pen 100 feet square, I spoke at length with both their staff fish biologists and some government inspectors who were there to monitor operations, and they both told me that the salmon jump primarily to try to dislodge the sea lice, both in the pens and in the wild, except when spawning.

If you watch them long enough (and these guys had been watching them in 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week, for years) I'm told that you can differentiate the different types of jumping, whether it's a predator avoidance (you should see them move when there's a seal circling the pens), catching food like the trout after a chronomid hatch, the 'rolling humpback' of a fish navigating upriver, etc.

Title: Re: Why do fish jump?
Post by: Scooterguy on September 29, 2009, 05:06:32 PM
It jumps to give a signal to all your fishermen to get ready to cast and catch me ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D if you can .