Bill makes a good point, but how would you test such a theory? Do fish caught and released on live bait stop eating live bait?
I'd bet that if a fish is caught on live bait it will change it's behavior towards that bait. Especially if it happens multiple times. Now if that bait is the only prey in the pond the only difference is that fish will probably eat less of it than it would have otherwise. Test the theory? That's a bit harder - or maybe George's pellet fly fishing results actually was a small sample test..?
I commented on the other post that George started
here with a longer thought on this.
