On Tue, 27 Mar 2007 06:18:09 -0400, "Joe McIntosh"
wrote:

still learning---how does a trout find it"s spot beside the streamside log
after it has been chased out to midstream?
eye ? nose ? [seems current would deny this }? brain memory ?

nothing else to think about when you wake up at 4am and paper does not
arrive till 6

Joe

They probably don't worry about the current conditions on ROFF, so
there's lots of excess brainpower...

Seriously, I'd offer it is probably using some of the same "clues"
salmon use to find their way back to "their" river tributaries area:
clues that the "traveler" probably isn't even aware of - sight, chemical
triggers, smell, "memory," even magnetic field clues in long-distance
travels, etc. AFAIK, it isn't known absolutely how fish "know" where to
go, but there are theories on what's likely.

Hey, humans generally find their way back home after a trip to the
grocery...or even the neighborhood bar...so how hard could it be...?

TC,
R