Posted by Robert McMahan (64.217.25.92) on August 22, 2003 at 08:29:30:
In Reply to: Tip of the week posted by Jim E on August 21, 2003 at 14:02:08:
Jim,
Thanks for your tips, they are very helpful. However, regarding this weeks tip on scaring fish, I do think the degree to which noise and angler movement scares fish is proportional to the amount of activity they are used to hearing and seeing. In the heavily fished tailwaters of the SanJuan and the Frying Pan for example, an angler moving up the bank fishing can look back and see numerous large fish following him feeding on the "bugs" he dislodges from the rocks as he walks along, to wit: the famous "San Juan shuffle." Also on the White River where there is constant boat traffic with outboard motors, the fish will often become more active when a motor boat passes through the head of a fairly shallow run because the prop stirs up the bugs on the bottom and they begin to drift down stream. Also, Lake Texoma is another example. Stripers will feed on the surface in the middle of large numbers of boats with their motors running, people dropping tackle boxes in the bottom of the boat, etc. simply because they are accustomed to that sort of activity and because they would go hungry if they didn't.
But, having said all that, I agree with you in that given the choice of a noisy approach or a stealthy approach, I choose a stealthy approach any day.
Robert