2007-06-22 07:47:31 · 6 answers · asked by Capn Fishy 1 in Sports ➔ Outdoor Recreation ➔ Fishing
Some fish jump to catch food. I've seen tuna chasing flying fish, and catching them in midair a couple feet out of the water. Sometimes they jump to come down on baitfish on the surface. Wahoo do this too, sometimes coming 6 feet or farther out of the water. It's not rare for one of these fish to follow a fisherman's lure as it's lifted out of the water and jump aboard a boat.
Some fish jump when hooked. I suppose it's to try to shake the hook, but other fish never jump when hooked. (Tuna, again, do not jump when hooked.) Marlin and Dorado (among saltwater fish) do this all the time... but I've never seen a Dorado jumping when it wasn't hooked. Freshwater bass will jump a bit, but saltwater bass don't.
Smaller fish jump to try to get away from big fish -- anchovies, sardines, and (the best example) flying fish do this.
And some fish seem to jump for the heck of it. I've seen marlin do this, and small mako sharks do it -- just straight-up jumps, then splashing down sideways. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with feeding or escaping a predator.
Maybe the best answer is "They jump because they can."
2007-06-22 08:57:19 · answer #1 · answered by Peter_AZ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fish need speed to capture and eat other fish. Some predators lurk below a school of baitfish. At the point of attack, the predator accelerates upward with a burst of energy to the water surface with open mouth to where the baitfish are. With the burst, sometimes it carries them out of the water and it appears they are jumping. Also the baitfish jump to escape being eating by predators.
2007-06-22 15:41:00 · answer #2 · answered by mac 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fish jump to try to dislodge a hook stuck in the mouth. Fish jump to catch bugs. Fish just jump. People dive to extinguish a fire. People dive to catch fish. People just dive.
2007-06-22 14:53:29 · answer #3 · answered by Ghostly Ghost! 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
to get food off the surtace of the water being a bug or baitfish on the waters surface.
2007-06-22 14:51:56 · answer #4 · answered by BASSMASTER 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it depends what species your talking about... from my experiences of fishing for bottom feeders such as bream tench and carp i reckon it has something to do with clearing their gills whilst feeding in silt... or possibly they're just showing off!
2007-06-24 04:37:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can tell ya' why they jump after bein' hooked ~ H _ _ l, it's because they don't have a MIDDLE finger... OOOONLY KIDDIN' ;).
2007-06-22 15:18:54 · answer #6 · answered by FishSteelhead 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋