Two Quick Questions About Spooking Bass

[cjam93]

Hey guys so my first question is do you turn off your depth finders when you are fishing shallow water? I have heard some people say the noise from the transducer may bother the fish.

 

My second question is if I drive into a cove by my outboard looking for fish and start seeing them on side scan. Am I safe to start fishing for them right away or should I wait a bit and come back? I am thinking about depths around shallower than 10ft. Past that I question if the noise of my outboard would bother the fish, but shallower I am not sure.

[Kuenro02]

No I don't turn off my unit. I really don't think that makes a difference. Secondly, if I go over an area with the big motor that 10 ft or less I usually give the spot 15-20 min before I fish it. Unless the area is a high traffic zone.

[Choporoz]

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/147994-how-do-you-handle-noise-from-your-boat/

[frogflogger]

Stick your head underwater and listen to a trolling motor operate - another is listen to a "silent" crankbait -  a bagley balsa bait sounds like a mariachi band - we make a lot of noise - the bass hear it - really giant trophy bass (for a given area) are much more easily spooked by noise than the average bass, that said I like to be quiet - very quiet - But years of guiding taught me some folks are incapable of being quiet yet still catch some fish..

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Saw some intersting footage not long ago on the Hook-N-Look program. In the example they showed, fish were much more bothered by the sight of the boat than trolling motor noise. 

[A-Jay]

The previous thread posted (copied) above covers this topic well and I enjoyed reading it.

 

I'll offer this; if an angler believes in the "invisible" properties of Fluorocarbon line / leader & using Baits that "Mimic" something that the fish feed on to at the very least illicit a strike, adding unnatural sounds to the environment one is obviously trying so hard imitate, seems counter productive.

 

We've all caught our fair share of suicidal bass, but if your objective is locate & land the bigger fish - you really can't go wrong with keeping "the Noise" down to a minimum.

Each angler may have his/her own idea what that means and how far they prefer to take it.

 

I fish some small waters where I seem to have better results on the above average bass by disturbing the environment a little as possible.

 

A-Jay

[basshole8190]

I very seldom use my sonar unless I'm fishing off shore or scouting an area for structure/fish. In shallow water I try to be as quiet as possible. Do I think it helps? I don't really know, but it certainly can't hurt your chances.

While fishing with a friend he often has the boats stereo on with his sonar units on and banging around in his tackle storage areas. It doesn't seem to stop him from catching fish tho. I'm sure it probably makes a difference in some places or under certain conditions.

[everythingthatswims]

The previous thread posted (copied) above covers this topic well and I enjoyed reading it.

 

I'll offer this; if an angler believes in the "invisible" properties of Fluorocarbon line / leader & using Baits that "Mimic" something that the fish feed on to at the very least illicit a strike, adding unnatural sounds to the environment one is obviously trying so hard imitate, seems counter productive.

 

We've all caught our fair share of suicidal bass, but if your objective is locate & land the bigger fish - you really can't go wrong with keeping "the Noise" down to a minimum.

Each angler may have his/her own idea what that mean and how for they prefer to take it.

 

I fish some small waters where I seem to have better results on the above average bass by disturbing the environment a little as possible.

 

A-Jay

^^^This 

[RoLo]

Hey guys so my first question is do you turn off your depth finders when you are fishing shallow water? I have heard some people say the noise from the transducer may bother the fish.

 

My second question is if I drive into a cove by my outboard looking for fish and start seeing them on side scan. Am I safe to start fishing for them right away or should I wait a bit and come back? I am thinking about depths around shallower than 10ft. Past that I question if the noise of my outboard would bother the fish, but shallower I am not sure.

 

My sonar/GPS unit is powered 'on' at the ramp, and runs nonstop until it's powered 'down' at the ramp.

My gut feel is that fish are not disturbed by radio waves, but since I have no way to confirm that belief,

I remain open to any new findings.

 

Without a doubt, there are situations when excess surface disturbance will alarm bass, but I've always believed

that the larger the bass, the less likely that it’ll be alarmed, and the more likely it will be intrigued.

Lunker bass harvest many solid meals from the water surface, which might explain why buzzbaits, spooks & hollow frogs

are all noted for wall-hangers. It's well-known that northern pike, muskies, tuna & mackerel are all attracted

to the whitewater wake of a boat. When trolling for mackerel & tuna, most of our best action on flat lines

came from lures riding the 3rd wave.

 

Roger

[scaleface]

I fish a 200 acre lake a lot. The only boat allowed are the Conservation boats  , 14 foot flat bottom johns .Electric Motors are allowed. I catch quite a few large bass on this lake  and several times people have asked me how I catch them. When I tell them where and how they say its the same thing they do. The big difference is they are just to dang loud .  

[scaleface]

I also heard a story about a ball of water moccasins attacking a swimmer except  it was in a farm pond. Funny thing is water moccasins dont live this far north . LOL   Still ,  people believe it .