I hear ya. "Brain the size of a pea".... wanna fight about it?
BT, As you know, I am a long time steelhead fisherman. I can't tell you the times I have seen steelhead pointed upstream, adjust and slightly move out of the way as a line and jig float toward and past them. Why do you think steelheaders use 2 - 6 lb. floro tippet leaders for those pigs? Not for fun (well kinda.) Sometimes you can't catch them any other way. They avoid anything that seems out of place. A line floating/cutting through the water is absolutely out of place.
I have also sight fished and watched largemouth that have become "line shy". The dinks will readily hit your offering, but try and get one of the bigger, older (wiser) fish to hit it. Rare. Now switch to a small diameter floro. Bam! makes all the difference in the world. Didn't change lures. It was the line.
It's about water clarity (light dispersal/depth), speed of retrieve (do they have time to see it?) and the tactic you are using. Also hunger, aggressiveness, and learned/adapted response.
Pea brain. A fish that has successfully evolved and adapted for millions of years. Yes they proliferate by shear numbers, but even today, a fish doesn't reach 18" to 20+ inches by being lucky or "dumb". Now I agree with you that many times, line color doesn't matter. But sometimes it absolutely does. Why risk it?
my 2 shinny pennies
- Jim
There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process. ~Paul O'Neil, 1965