When I decide to watch TV, sports and survivalist shows is all I watch. I'm watching one of my survivalist shows this morning and they built a fish trap out of bamboo. It's just a long tube with one opening. The idea behind it is the fish will swim inside for the bait and then they get trapped because "fish can't swim backwards" and there isn't enough room inside to turn around.

 

Now I know for a fact that I see bass back off all the time. Whether it's backing off the bank or backing away from a bait.

They CAN go backwards, but very slowly as they use their pectoral fins to do it.

 

The reason the trap works is that there's not enough room on the sides for them to use their pectoral fins effectively to back up through the opening.

I have also seen fish back up but fish traps work because the mouth of the funnel is easy to go through one way, jagged and (nearly) impossible to through through the other way. There’s room in most fish traps for them to turn around and try to escape head first but the funnel catches on their skin and fins 

Fish can't swim backwards 

I bank on this.

It's hard enough getting them in the Frabil as it is.

If they could, I think I'd be hosed.

?

A-Jay

 

20 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Fish can't swim backwards 

I bank on this.

It's hard enough getting them in the Frabil as it is.

If they could, I think I'd be hosed.

?

A-Jay

 

It’s so funny you would say this, my buddy still tells the story about a hooked smallie backing up to dodge the net. And it was years ago!! As you might imagine we always just call BS and tell him he’s a lousy net man 

most fish can swim backwards, just not very well. They are designed to move forward, like most other things. 

7 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

most fish can swim backwards, just not very well. They are designed to move forward, like most other things. 

A fish that can swim backwards is the clown knife fish. Landing them is not as easy as landing a bass to say the least. I have caught several of them and it is always interesting to watch them swim backwards when you try landing them.

Nearly all fish swim backwards. I don’t think sharks or tunas do. But I have seen more types of fish than I could count swimming backwards.

20 minutes ago, CrankFate said:

Nearly all fish swim backwards. I don’t think sharks or tunas do. But I have seen more types of fish than I could count swimming backwards.

Sharks can't because of how their pectoral fins are arranged, but tuna can.

And "dogs can't look up"!!!!

1 hour ago, schplurg said:

And "dogs can't look up"!!!!

Haha! But up is where all the squirrels and bugs on the ceiling are 

Maybe it's how they're defining the act of actually swimming. I've seen bass use their pectoral fins to slowly back away from something (usually my bait when I'm trying to site fish them), but they can't slam it into reverse like say trying to escape a predator and move at a higher rate of speed than that. 

My old dog was "chasing" a squirrel that was in a tree in my front yard once. The squirrel ran along a few branches then made a leap for the neighbors roof. Landed on it with a slapping sound, right on it's stomach.

 

It was a big jump and I'd never seen that before. The look on my dog Rhodi's face was priceless. What the....? We were both impressed I think.

On 9/5/2021 at 7:46 AM, ironbjorn said:

When I decide to watch TV, sports and survivalist shows is all I watch. I'm watching one of my survivalist shows this morning and they built a fish trap out of bamboo. It's just a long tube with one opening. The idea behind it is the fish will swim inside for the bait and then they get trapped because "fish can't swim backwards" and there isn't enough room inside to turn around.

 

Now I know for a fact that I see bass back off all the time. Whether it's backing off the bank or backing away from a bait.

I mean they can, ive seen them when bed fishing swim backwards a foot or so and forward a foot or so, expecially when fanning their eggs but, they do it slowly, its not like them cruising forward i guess its more repositioning, they can also move sideways with their fins but slowly as well, just think of a bedfish moving in all directions on a bigger bed, they can its just well... slower.