I remember my first attempts to fool the trout I hoped were there, with doubts that my own brain could conceive of what they were thinking.

That’s the problem with drowning some thread wrapped around a wire, only the result offers a clue that something’s being done right.

Above the waterline trout are thought of as efficient eating machines and for all the bluster about understanding why they do what they do, it’s all observation and anthropomorphic guess work without any true knowing.

I find myself leaning toward acceptance that more often than not I’m only fooling the quarry I hook during a momentary lapse of vigilance.

Recent studies, however, may offer a scientific glimpse into what’s so far only outwardly apparent.

Scientists have just observed a thought swimming through the brain of a live fish, and that thought concerned getting something good to eat.

— via Discovery News, Jan. 31, 2013 (from Current Biology)

Extension of this research could offer real insight.

Makes me wonder if I really want to know what that trout really thinks about my home-tied fly that it just refused.