Music – and other such noise

I’m the type of fisherman that is very cautious about noise – whether I’m in a boat or on the ice. If somebody drop something in the boat or shuffling their boots on the ice I get pretty irritated. But I also enjoy listening to music as do my kids and I think that would help them enjoy the sport more then my constant shushing.
What is your experience with music and background noise in general while fishing? Does it scare them away or are they indifferent?

I think pressured fish in shallow water it effects them. Deep water? Not so sure. Can’t you use headphones?

I don’t mind it too terribly. In my boat I always have the radio on. On the ice I have my Bose speaker going in my Otter. In shallow water as Dutch said, I think it affects it. I look at it this way, it’s a recreational sport for 99% of all people and if making some noise, so be it. If I want quiet I have lakes that I can go to and be all alone.

Everything in moderation. Just keep the tunes at a reasonable volume and you’ll be alright. Unless your’re fishing shallow or with little to no snow cover, then it’s best to keep everything in ninja mode. Just my opinion tho

I’ve fished with a friend that has an amp and subs in his boat. He catches fish all the time.
DT

I have never experienced negative fishing due to music. I’ve experimented with it off when the fish haven’t been biting. No difference.

I have friends that like to slam the cooler lid shut, drop things and make noise in other ways. When this happens I ask them to try to avoid doing it because it scares the fish. For a few unbelievers I’ve told them to watch as I loudly clear my throat and have schools of bait jump and scatter. Stomping on the boat floor will also scare hooked fish that go under the boat back out. I believe noise is a negative that should be avoided.

I love music but not when fishing. I prefer the sounds of the lake.

Speared many pike in 6’ of water with the radio playing country tunes at a moderate volume. But I have spooked my share by shuffling my feet at the wrong time too.

I always have music playing while in the fish house. My dad claims you wont catch fish. But I seem to do pretty well. When I camp on the ice in my portable and get drunk I can guarantee Metallica or zeppelin or something at one point is on volume 100. And I always fish.

Red Eye wrote:

Speared many pike in 6’ of water with the radio playing country tunes at a moderate volume. But I have spooked my share by shuffling my feet at the wrong time too.

same here, but it ain’t country I listen to.

In the boat I am way more concerned about music, but on ice….have a bose speaker in portable, and in wheel house, radio is always on….just don’t crank it to 100. Although we have picked a few Walters up on rattle reels with Charlie Daniels really pickin the fiddle about as high as Sony ever intended and they didn’t care….

Standard operating procedure though, always fairly low just background noise enough to be enjoyed, unless it’s a tough bite, then it’s full on seek and destroy mode…. Good luck

Fish love ac/dc!

Feathers wrote:

Depends where and how deep you’re fishing. Sometimes music or other noise such as a truck or atv running helps in deep water. Seems like the noise brings em in. In shallow water such as url I’d never play tunes or make other noise. Grateful Dead and string cheese incident seem to work the best.

When flags arnt popping up we RIP the wheelers around a couple times. Works more often then not

So far I’m hearing country, AC/DC, some Grateful Dead… are these species specific? Are we attracting Walleye with country, Pike with AC/DC? What are the Crappies in to? I might have to create species-specific playlists

No no no. Walleye and crappies like 80s hair metal.

Bearcat89 wrote:

No no no. <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye and <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappies like 80s hair metal.

especially when you are playing Ozzies bark at the moon.

I have subs in my wheel house and sometime the party gets the music up to full volume and we always catch fish. Even in 8ft of water on red. I am talking the type of subs that you hear coming from a mile away. And apparently walleye even like rap music at times!

The old timers I fished with as a kid swore by the rule that if the perch slowed down, drill a few holes and the noise from the auger would bring them in.

As far as species specific. We had Slipknot, Killswitch, and the like going on LOTW last year and it was some of the best fishing we had. As the fishing got hotter the Bose got louder. When it was done we laughed at how loud it was.

My uncle has music blasting on his pontoon all the time. He has zero issues catching walleyes, even trolling in 10 feet or less. In fact walleyes seem to really like Metallica, AC/DC, Def Leppard.

All the eyes I catch seem to prefer dio and iron maiden, as Iowa boy said some ozzy. Put on that k102 crap and you spook all the fish away. Classic old good country yes. The new stuff that my wife love No

Saw some show about metal bands-band after band cashed in with ‘power’ ballads-ACDC? Nope, they try to kick your a** with every song. What does this have to do with fishing? Nothing! But was on a small lake with a campground-a fleet of teenagers in alluminum canoes came out-I thought ‘oh no’-clanging bangin’ We caught 3 bass over 5lbs after they came out.

One of the outfitters we used on LOW used to run the bomber in circles a couple times about 200 yards away from the shack. Usually got the fish going.

muskie-tim wrote:

One of the outfitters we used on LOW used to run the bomber in circles a couple times about 200 yards away from the shack. Usually got the fish going.

That’s my trick

When we first started fishing LOTW the guides told us to play music, and when we fish here in ND most of the time have music on the ice. In the boat about the only time I worry about noise is when fishing small shallow holes on the river, have seen fish just disappear after a load noise.

I’ve got a subwoofer in my castle and some of my best fishing has been late at night after a few too many cocktails when the music gets cranked up and this is often fishing shallow on url. Same thing goes in the boat. Often playing rap music pretty loud….keeps the crowds away and the fish don’t seem to mind a bit.

Vibrations=fish bite

Actually, I don’t worry about noise, music, or anything. I’ve caught fish in remote Canada that probably never see another fisherman and pound them with a running motor…come to think about it, I’ve pounded them in dead silence as well…

Feathers wrote:

In shallow water such as url I’d never play tunes or make other noise.

I rent a big 6-8 man shack on url every winter. Get that many rowdy 20-some year olds drinking beer- running outside to pee every 15 minutes, laughing at each other, yelling at the TV, and blasting anything from t-pain to luke bryan on the speaker and youd think there wouldnt be a fish within a mile of us. Yet, we have nights we cant keep fish off the line, have days we cant get a nibble. Its fishing, not rocket science. Dont give the fish too much credit.

Man, next weekend cant come soon enough

Play music while deer hunting, see if you fill your tag. Just saying

Just some knowledge from scuba diving, sound travels 4-5 times faster underwater. When your diving and hear something you don’t know what direction its coming from because the sound reaches your both ears to soon.

Personally I don’t think sound is really an issue, never found any ears on a fish. Vibration I think has more of an effect.