Turning off sonar after mark.

[Todd2]

I was watching a show where the guide said after he marks his spot (fish, brushpile, rocks, etc.) he'll pass on by, turn off his sonar ping and then go back and fish. Do any of you do this? Does it make a big difference? The thought being that the sonar puts the fish on alert.  I've been playing around with it but can't tell if it's made much of a difference. Thanks....

[eddallen]

Sonar does NOT affect the fish...they can't hear it or feel it in their lateral line. They can however, feel the vibrations from a turning prop (gas or electric) at the slowest of speeds.

I wouldn't consider this guide's claim.

[Wayne P.]

3 minutes ago, eddallen said:

Sonar does NOT affect the fish...they can't hear it or feel it in their lateral line. They can however, feel the vibrations from a turning prop (gas or electric) at the slowest of speeds.

I wouldn't consider this guide's claim.

I agree. It that was the case no one would be catching any fish with vertical presentations while watching their lure and fish on the sonar screen.

[eddallen]

On the other hand Wayne.......we could make a case for, 'If it works for you...use it!'

 

[Wayne P.]

Lots of myths and superstitions in the sport of fishing.

[pawpaw]

I could see this topic going back and forth between the two opinions. I have buddies on both sides of the argument. I don't know for certain either way so I really have no solid opinion. I have turned mine off during high fishing pressure times like the Big Bass Bash but most of the time I don't. I can't say turning it off helped at all, but I'm pretty confident in saying it didn't hurt at all.

[J Francho]

37 minutes ago, Wayne P. said:

I agree. It that was the case no one would be catching any fish with vertical presentations while watching their lure and fish on the sonar screen.

Exactly!

[Choporoz]

An interview I read...few years old, but fwiw:  When fishing shallow, he turns off all of his electronics to further hide his presence. "They can hear the 'tick, tick, tick' that the sonar makes," allows (Casey) Ashley.

 

Mr. Allen, I am not going to argue, but I've heard clicking from some (older?) sonars and I'd be surprised if fish couldn't sense it, too.  That said, I have no clue what a bass may or may not be able to hear or feel, so you may well be correct.  Either way, I also couldn't begin to guess that even if they CAN hear/feel sonar (or any other noise from your boat), I also wouldn't guess to predict how it would affect their chance of taking your lure. 

 

[Todd2]

Thanks for the responses....

[Team9nine]

Can they hear sonar - not likely. Studies at Auburn Univ on both redeye and spotted bass concluded that, “Long story short, bass are essentially deaf.” Their hearing frequency range (<2.5 kHz on the high end) is generally shown to be much less than ours (up to 20 kHz), so traditional sonar frequencies in the 192-1200 kHz range would be well above what they (or we) could hear. I can't speak to what the "clicking" noise frequency is or what causes it.

Personally, my rule of thumb has always been, when I step in the boat, the sonar units get turned on and they never get shut off until I ramp out. I believe what you learn by always having them on more than outweighs any possible negative effects. I've done this for nearly 30 years, and can't say I've ever felt like it's hurt me, at least in the big picture.

-T9 .

[pawpaw]

3 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Can they hear sonar - not likely. Studies at Auburn Univ on both redeye and spotted bass concluded that, “Long story short, bass are essentially deaf.” Their hearing frequency range (<2.5 kHz on the high end) is generally shown to be much less than ours (up to 20 kHz), so traditional sonar frequencies in the 192-1200 kHz range would be well above what they (or we) could hear.

Personally, my rule of thumb has always been, when I step in the boat, the sonar units get turned on and they never get shut off until I ramp out. I believe what you learn by always having them on more than outweighs any possible negative effects. I've done this for nearly 30 years, and can't say I've ever felt like it's hurt me, at least in the big picture.

-T9 .

Gotta link for the Auburn study?

[Team9nine]

Just now, pawpaw said:

Gotta link for the Auburn study?

Dr. Allen's Lab

-T9

[pawpaw]

Interesting. Seeing this makes me wonder what frequency the Hydrowave is?

[slonezp]

5 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

Lots of myths and superstitions in the sport of fishing.

Amen

[ClackerBuzz]

1 hour ago, pawpaw said:

Interesting. Seeing this makes me wonder what frequency the Hydrowave is?

The BS frequency

[12poundbass]

11 hours ago, pawpaw said:

Interesting. Seeing this makes me wonder what frequency the Hydrowave is?

It is pretty interesting considering there are a ton of lures out there with some type of rattle/noise. Wouldn't that be in the same category as the hydrowave or a transducer as far as sound?  

[pawpaw]

13 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

It is pretty interesting considering there are a ton of lures out there with some type of rattle/noise. Wouldn't that be in the same category as the hydrowave or a transducer as far as sound?  

I would think so but I really don't know.

[Wayne P.]

Since sound is the topic, do a web search for Bobo's Thumper.

[J Francho]

10 minutes ago, Wayne P. said:

Since sound is the topic, do a web search for Bobo's Thumper.

The testimonials are great.

[pawpaw]

26 minutes ago, Wayne P. said:

Since sound is the topic, do a web search for Bobo's Thumper.

And to think about how when I was a kid and all those times I got smacked on the back of my head for making too much noise in the boat I was actually ATTRACTING fish.

[12poundbass]

46 minutes ago, Wayne P. said:

Since sound is the topic, do a web search for Bobo's Thumper.

Interesting. It's appears the fish were curious just like I was and then they thought the same thing I did...man that thumping is annoying. Pretty interesting to see them come right up to it though. The final decision on this topic would be from the fish and I'm guessing they're not going to answer that though. 

[eddallen]

What I remember reading is the range from which fish can 'hear' or sense sound is between 160Hz and 200Hz. Our sonar transducers vary in frequency from 25kHz to about 900kHz. There is a difference of 1000 times between Hertz and Kilohertz.

Maybe we could ask a fish in the Pacific Ocean if he hears his mother calling from the Atlantic coast. If there was anything to this theory of fish hearing the sonar pulse waves, I think all the commercial guys would remove their sounders.

[eddallen]

21 hours ago, pawpaw said:

Interesting. Seeing this makes me wonder what frequency the Hydrowave is?

I believe that is transmitted arount 200Hz

[Wayne P.]

3 minutes ago, eddallen said:

I believe that is transmitted arount 200Hz

"A fish is stimulated primarily through its lateral line. The lateral line is naturally tuned to detect low frequency (1 – 80 Cycles) vibrations created by small prey such as shad, herring, minnows and others. The Lateral Reactive Technology of the HydroWave produces these vibrations in patterns that create a predatory response."

That is sort of far away from 200 kHz.

[12poundbass]

14 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

"A fish is stimulated primarily through its lateral line. The lateral line is naturally tuned to detect low frequency (1 – 80 Cycles) vibrations created by small prey such as shad, herring, minnows and others. The Lateral Reactive Technology of the HydroWave produces these vibrations in patterns that create a predatory response."

That is sort of far away from 200 kHz.

As usual Wayne you swoop in at the nick of time and save the day. Makes sense what you're saying. In a nutshell fish can hear to an extent and as we've seen from Bobo they are attracted to sound. They can hear boat noise and sound from our lures but unlikely from transducers.

Edited November 17, 2016 by 12poundbass
Grammar error