Video: Man Trains Giant Bass to Jump Through Hoops
Daniel Xu 06.13.16
Whoever said you can’t teach an old bass new tricks? After all, if you’ve ever seen those videos of goldfish being trained to play soccer, then you’ll already know that few things are impossible. In this video, a YouTuber by the name of The Fish Whisperer demonstrates his method of getting a largemouth bass to jump through hoops. Sure, it takes a gizzard shad for the trick to work, but it is still pretty neat to see.
Contrary to popular belief, you can actually teach fish to do tricks. Naturally, some species are easier to train than others, and fish such as betta are especially popular among aquarium owners for this purpose. As with other animals, the proper use of repetition and rewards will allow the fish to associate the act it is being taught with positive outcomes. Training fish to swim or jump through hoops is one of the most popular—and easiest—tricks out there.
Trying it on a wild bass, however, is a a pretty novel idea.
“The bass have been very active lately, so I decided to see if they would jump through a hoop again,” The Fish Whisperer wrote in the video’s description. “I dangled a gizzard shad over the water on a line with no hook, and this giant came up and inhaled it and went through the hoop.”
