It’s a fact of the sport that there will be days when the fish don’t bite. Luckily for us, consistent success in the fishing arena is not an essential component to life. Humans, while we can be brilliant fishermen, don’t typically view catching a fish as a do-or-die pursuit. For many animals, however, fishing is precisely that: an essential component to survival. Fishing skills can be the difference between a delicious dinner and starvation, so it’s hardly surprising that many animals are better than we are at ensnaring fish and ensuring themselves a meal.
Here are five of the many species who fit into that description:
1. Sharks
This one may go without saying, but as the phrase “there’s always a bigger fish” explains, the best fishermen in the world are often the predators of the ocean. By being the definitive predator of the sea, sharks are arguably better at fishing than any other animal species. Often, sharks need do little more than open their mouths and bare their teeth to swallow entire schools of fish. Sure, they have the advantage of actually being underwater, but their skills at living off a diet of smaller fish are unrivaled.
2. Grizzly Bears
If you’ve never seen a grizzly bear – or any bear, for that matter – snatch a fish out of a stream and gobble it up, then you have yet to see one of nature’s most effective fishermen at work. Forget baiting and casting: bears can catch fish with their own paws. With reflexes that fast, it’s no wonder that grizzlies can easily surpass humans in fishing skill.