I’ve seen a few Youtube videos recently with people saying FFS is spooking fish while ice fishing. Some I think are excuses when people aren’t marking or catching fish…but this video with pros like Hoyer, Hjelm and Minke saying they’re experiencing it makes me think it’s a real concern.
Also seeing guides on Lake Winnipeg commenting on FFS spooking fish lends credibility.
What are your personal experiences with FFS on the ice?
I use livescope. I see lots of fish chase my baits but won’t bite. I attribute it to the fish being neutral. When I’m experiencing this other people without live imaging are experiencing the same. I primarily fish walleyes. Can’t say I catch more on set lines away from the house.
It certainly has a stronger sonar pulse than traditional flashers or standard sonar on a boat.
I can’t comment on it personally, but its been brought up in the fishing realm before from tournament anglers. Fish get pressured to certain presentations and adapt, usually by biting less often.
I’ve seen a few Youtube videos recently with people saying FFS is spooking fish while ice fishing. Some I think are excuses when people aren’t marking or catching fish…but this video with pros like Hoyer, Hjelm and Minke saying they’re experiencing it makes me think it’s a real concern.
Also seeing guides on Lake Winnipeg commenting on FFS spooking fish lends credibility.
What are your personal experiences with FFS on the ice?<div class=”ido-oembed-wrap”><iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Tour Level Gold Walleye HAMMERS – Hoyer, Hjelm, Minke | Different Fish, Same Problems” width=”850″ height=”478″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/dGIvCaOJDrc?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen=””></iframe></div>
I wouldn’t call it a concern, but rather a good thing if it’s happening.
Been fishing with scope for over 3 years now. I have definitely seen fish shy away from livescope.
I haven’t seen it much open water, but I see it very often when ice fishing. For me, it tends to happen in deeper water in down mode. I don’t encounter it much in forward mode.
In down mode, if you turn the gain up a little bit, your cone is visible on the screen. I have seen a lot of fish swim towards the cone, hit the edge of it, and then swim the other direction. Burbot seem to be the most “scope shy” in my opinion. Just yesterday I had some crappies spook because of it.
Definitely a real thing
It definitely happens with certain bodies of water and certain species. It’s three ducers vs one so it’s a lot more noise. Hard bottoms make it worse due to sonar deflection. And obviously shallower water is worse than deep.
The fish on Mille lacs are very sensitive to it. Probably because it’s used so much out there by the bass and walleye guys. Fish will be coming toward you, stop, turn around and leave. When fishing open water I’ve seen big schools scatter. Some palegic creatures on Lake Superior are extremely sensitive to it. I always bring a standard flasher to have in case the ffs is spooking them. Muskies are learning too.
I was just talking to my buddy about this on the ice the other night. I said maybe we should turn off one or both of our vexilars for a bit just to see. Easier said than done lol.
But I do believe there is something to it. Ever point the transducer at your head? Sounds funny but you really can hear/feel that “clicking.” One time I was catching a bat in a fishing net in somebody’s house and it’s echolocation was pretty audible. Felt/sounded just like a flasher. 
Anyways, I do believe sonar can affect fish and their willingness to bite, especially if they’re already being finicky.
I absolutely believe this. I was out with a friend last weekend and I got on some fish early. He set up directly behind me. I was using my FL-20 and he had his Garmin in down mode. I caught around 30 crappies and some good gills mixed in during the prime half our before/half our after sunset. He caught 5. He put his wheelhouse on that spot and fished for 48 hours with his family over the weekend, again running the Garmin in down mode. 8 lines down, 60 fish caught in total. I have been out for that prime hour each night this week solo setting up on the same spot and caught 20-30 each night, and I’m leaving at 5:30-5:45 with fish on the screen. There is no reason they shouldn’t have caught 200 plus fish with that many lines down. The majority of the time it’s been impossible to keep two lines in the water they have been so aggressive. I for one consider this a win. The fish won’t get decimated and I save $3,000.
I think that people think they understand a lot more about fish behavior than they actually do. There are a few variables that we can control — depth, bait/tackle/gear, presentation/speed/technique, and of course sonar. We want to believe that everything a fish does is in response to one of these variables. So when guys see a fish coming in toward the cone, they assume that they are coming because of their bait, and when they turn away from the cone, they assume it was because of the sonar noise — while ignoring that they have no idea what else is happening just outside of the cone that could be contributing.
The more I try to understand what fish are doing and why they’re doing it, the less fun I have fishing. Older I get the happier I am to use my Garmin mostly as a depth finder/ safety device.
There is an article in one of the recent Infishermans talking about this.
They talked about what levels of sound fish can hear and feel at. The Levels of ultrasound, megahertz, do not fall in the fish range for feel/ hear.
Infisherman says scientifically it shouldn’t bother fish, but like previous posts- doesn’t mean it doesn’t in the real world.
I was ice fishing walleyes with a friend yesterday and I had FFS and he didn’t. We set up on a flat and he was 50-75 yards away. I marked 30 fish in about 4 hours and got 2 to bite. He used a Vex and saw plenty of fish, but couldn’t get any to bite. Considering we both fished this area during first ice and did well, I’m attributing the negative mood of the fish to the time of year more than I am FFS.
There is an article in one of the recent Infishermans talking about this.
They talked about what levels of sound fish can hear and feel at. The Levels of ultrasound, megahertz, do not fall in the fish range for feel/ hear.
Infisherman says scientifically it shouldn’t bother fish, but like previous posts- doesn’t mean it doesn’t in the real world.
The science IS the real world. It’s literally the only real thing. All the other stuff that we try to convince ourselves of is the result of the human brain’s inability to explain our lived experience. Because humans are pretty bad at understanding science and the natural world, we adopt all sorts of wild theories that fly in the face of scientific evidence.
It may be a burst of very high frequency sound, but when it happens there is a very audible “click”. Every depth finder I’ve ever owned was plainly audible. If the fish are shying away, it’s from the click.
SR
The Infisherman article talked about the “clicking”, and it’s potential effect on fish.
Because humans are pretty bad at understanding science and the natural world, we adopt all sorts of wild theories that fly in the face of scientific evidence.
Very interesting. I wonder where I heard this before.
I absolutely believe this. I was out with a friend last weekend and I got on some fish early. He set up directly behind me. I was using my FL-20 and he had his Garmin in down mode. I caught around 30 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappies and some good gills mixed in during the prime half our before/half our after sunset. He caught 5. He put his wheelhouse on that spot and fished for 48 hours with his family over the weekend, again running the Garmin in down mode. 8 lines down, 60 fish caught in total. I have been out for that prime hour each night this week solo setting up on the same spot and caught 20-30 each night, and I’m leaving at 5:30-5:45 with fish on the screen. There is no reason they shouldn’t have caught 200 plus fish with that many lines down. The majority of the time it’s been impossible to keep two lines in the water they have been so aggressive. I for one consider this a win. The fish won’t get decimated and I save $3,000.
Coordinates or it didn’t happen… 
Older I get the happier I am to use my Garmin mostly as a depth finder/ safety device.
Yeah, keeping you safe from catching fish… 
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