Do the fish know?

[WishICouldFish]

So my boss and I got into a little tif about this the other night....

Do fish know when you're there??

What do you think?

What do you know?

Let me know!!

[BASS fisherman]

IMO, and from what I have read, if you are shore fishing, yes most of the time if you just trampled up to your fishing spot, drop all your gear, and start fishing, yes the bass that were shallow know your there, and have swam off, I have experienced that numerous times.  When boat fishing, usually the bass aren't to concerned about you, unless your in say an aluminum rowboat, and you make noise by dropping stuff, so it bangs on the boats bottom, or if you have a nice boat and have a radio blasting.  IMO, sometimes the bass are just spookier than other times.  I have carried on conversations on shore with a guy right next to me, and had bass bite 5 feet off shore.  But on the other hand I have been real quiet, snuck up to my spot, and can actually see bass, and I can't buy a bite.  

IMO  It is instinct for any animal to survive, so fleeing, or being cautious of humans is in their genes.  

[George Welcome]

I have it on reliable source the bass don't wear genes.

[Laggyman]

I found a hole in the middle of a wooden dock I had been fishing for about an hour. Been walking on this dock like an elephant. But I got bored so I dropped a plastic into the hole. I caught 2 fish out of this hole about 12in wide.... Talk about frayed lines LOL I had to cut about 6ft off the end of the line because it got so frayed rubbing against the wood.

Sometimes the bass don't seem to care. Sometimes they bug out. Sometimes the just zip up their mouths... They do seem to KNOW you're there. And it also seems like they spook a lot less than trout.

Maybe it has something to do with fishing pressure over the last few days.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Haha, trust me. The bass know you are there. They spend the majority of their lives doing two things...

1. Eating things in the lake.

2. Trying to not let other things eat them.

Put yourself in this situation and I guarantee you become very aware of your surroundings.

[Deuceu72]

if you can see them, they can see you..however..........bass have a very short memory span so they probably "forget" you after a little time...................

[RoLo]

I agree with Deuceu72, if you see a bass, the bass most likely sees you too.

If you drop your fishing pliers on the bottom of an aluminum boat,

it's not likely that bass will be in a feeding mood, even if they don't see you.

All the same, bass have very short memory spans and do not stay in alarm-mode for too long.

Roger

[fishbear]

I agree with the above posts, about seeing you and memory,,, I think that is what they said,,, darn, now I cant remember  :-/

[sirmo]

of course the fish will be aware of your presence.  And probably moreso than you think.

But just because he knows your there, doesn't mean he knows thats your worm that just fell in.

A fish will most likely take guard if your presence is definate, and may hold off on feeding for a while.  But as will anything natural, you can't say exactly how that fish will react to you.  It will be different for each fish each time.

Best I can say is try to not be so noticable, and your likely to find more fish that will actively feed.

Keep it quiet!

[Frank19]

I would imagine that Bass work a lot like deer.  When a deer spots you in the distance it tends to become alert and move away from you a bit.  After a few minutes it gets comfortable and starts eating again however it will keep a close eye on you if you get closer than say 200 ft.  I'm not a hunter but I live in a wooded area with tons of deer and have experienced this many times.  I think that a bass would react similarly by fleeing when you first arrive but then quickly calming down and going about it's business.

[FIN-S-R]

I think fish know, all they do is observe...all day long, every day, its how they make a livin. So if somthin' happens they know. Now does that matter??? Seems to with shallower fish more than deeper fish. A shallow fish doesnt have much room to work with when trying to get away...low ceiling to their environment...deeper fish have much more space to work with and probably "see" much more boat traffic so boats and loud sounds dont bother them as much at times.

[senko_77]

They ABSOLUTELY know your there.  I think it depends on the fishes conditioning to human exposure.  If people are there all the time then they get used to it.  I have never heard of trampling all over a virgin pond's banks an wearing out the fish.  I also think there are dumb fish.  Fish that will see you throw a bait at them and take it.  

[FatBoy]

There's a small pond I've fished a few times for smallmouth.  The bank is lined with rip rap most of the way around.  The water is not too clear, but not murky either.  I've never caught a fish standing on the rip rap.  BUT, if I SIT DOWN on the rip rap, I can catch em.  So, yep, they can see me, even if I can't see them.  They know I'm there.  

[Muddpuppy]

I've known several people that have had catfish ponds and the fish can sense when they are heading down the bank or clang a metal object to call them up to feed from a pretty good distance away and they will begin to surface. The catfish have been conditioned to respond like that because of their anticipation of food so it seems reasonable to me that they could pick up vibrations and relate it to a physical danger for an adverse effect. True, they probably do make a lot more intentional noise and even calling them or walking much harder then you normally will while fishing, but they seem to be able to sense their pressence. I have also seen where they will not bite if you are standing on bank or where you can see them in a boat.

[WishICouldFish]

Thank you!!

[Tom Bass]

The most successful, as in fish caught, smallmouth fisherman I ever met used to fish the banks of creeks and rivers in PA in full camo gear and ducked into the low lying brush and rested against tress to catch his quarry. He used floating Rapalas and jerkbaits. The first time I ever saw him I thought he was nuts. After talking to him I tried some of his techniques and WHAM! I was catching smallmouths!

When I fish from shore I usually try to dress in colors that blend with the surroundings.

In the boat I don't care. I just don't make a lot of noise.

[CJ]

They may know you're there but do they know what your up to?

[RoLo]

They may know you're there but do they know what your up to?

That's brilliant

Roger

[KenDammit28]

The most successful, as in fish caught, smallmouth fisherman I ever met used to fish the banks of creeks and rivers in PA in full camo gear and ducked into the low lying brush and rested against tress to catch his quarry. He used floating Rapalas and jerkbaits. The first time I ever saw him I thought he was nuts. After talking to him I tried some of his techniques and WHAM! I was catching smallmouths!

When I fish from shore I usually try to dress in colors that blend with the surroundings.

In the boat I don't care. I just don't make a lot of noise.

as far as I'm concerned, that "camo clothing" stuff is a gigantic myth.  I've bank fished in bright orange shorts, orange shirts, red, all kinds of things that don't blend into a single thing and have had MANY, MANY fish bite my lure right in front of me.  

I've had lots of conversations while bankfishing, had dogs bark right next to me, dropped things, so on and so forth and still caught fish in my immediate area.  I think that we over-estimate how much bass care.  A LOUD bang or sound, I think would spook bass, but they hear a lot of weird sounds almost constantly.  Ever listened to stuff under water?   Its a whole different world and what we perceive as "noisy" can sound like pretty much nothing to them.

[Brian_Reeves]

The Force is stronger with some than with others.

[Capt Jack Thomas]

Good post.  I know that in several of my spots the fish know as soon as we pull up.   We have to sneak in and cast from way beyond so that they dont know we are there,, then we hook up instantly.  If we walk up to the edge of lake, we dont catch anything.

[bass ackwards]

my wife and i were snorkeling in our lake this spring and we were checking out the bream in and around the coontail. right directly below us at just over arms length two bass came in at about 100mph for some din din and didnt give a crap about us. i also know a guy that wades out to fish bass so imo when bass are eating they'll wait to be spooked later

[jomatty]

it certainly dosent always affect all of the fish but it just as certainly can affect some of them.  when i fish from the bank with my son i always let him sneak up to the shore and make the first cast and it is amazing how often he hooks up on that first cast