• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Peripheral noise spooking fish.

Chris Cheshire

Senior Member
I'd appreciate your thoughts.

When I approach a swim I try to be as stealthy as possible so as not to spook the fish... who doesn't right?

The other day I was fishing the wye. I slipped quietly into position and carefully cast my light lead in with as little disturbance as possible. Just as I did someone started hammering away at some fence posts some 200 yards downstream. The noise echoed all around me. I was undecided whether I should just stay put, or move off.

Do you think fish can differentiate between a clumsy bankside thud and someone getting physical with a sledge hammer in a neighbouring field?
 
I think that they'll learn to ignore a constant steady noise such as traffic over a bridge but would initially be wary of a noise that suddenly starts. Likewise I was concerned about an irrigation pump that started up adjacent to a stretch of river this last summer.
 
Not sure of the answer, but I always try to be as quiet as possible. On several occasions this has allowed me to feed carp right at my feet in a local pond. However on the same water when assisting work parties, I have seen anglers have double figure carp when we have been using chainsaws and a tractor not fifty yards down the bank.
 
I think any loud and unexpected noise/vibrations are likely to spook fish, but some groups of fish are spookier than others. I've seen carp spook at the sound of a nearby shot gun blast, but on the same water in the same season also watched the same carp seemingly unbothered by the regular blasting of a nearby gas gun used for scaring pigeons - the gas gun had been going on regular intervals for a week. They must have got used to it.

For me, more than anything it's a confidence thing - any seed of doubt in my own mind and I move on.
 
I was thinking the same when I could hear the big artillery guns when I was fishing the Bristol Avon yesterday. Must have been why I caught so little over 2 days.
 
The river i fish has a herd of Cows that regularly walk down to the water's edge. This seems not to disturb the fish at all but a missed placed human foot will scatter the fish. So some fish can tell the difference from the usual sounds/vibrations. Others just spook at a shadow cast on the water. All down to their survival instinct.
 
My over excited spaniel barks quite a bit when I'm fishing and really makes no difference at all,I have my fair share of barbel and chub.Also caught some nice barbel on the Kennet when some very loud firework have been going off,vibrations are a different story and ditto shadows and siluettes(sp?)then they tend to melt away esp chub
 
sudden movements will effect the fish much more than noise will, slow and slower and keep a bit of cover wherever available
 
i have seen barbel oblivious to bank side movement and shadows, even when a friend has used his shadow to indicate to me where the barbel were but be very wary with vibration. chub and carp seem much more wary of movement. Chub get attracted to baits splashing in at times. i suspect a steady vibration, like a pump might spook them a bit on startup but they would soon settle down.
i am fairly quiet but not obsessively so.
 
About 12yrs ago I crept down the steep bank and into an overgrown swim on the Teme. I baited lightly before swinging a baited hook out. Just as I did a hugely obese guy, loaded down with tackle, shouted very loudly down to me from the top of the bank.. "Had owt mate?". I murmured in the negative..and shrunk further into the Himalayan balsam.
10mins later I heard him cursing from ~50m downstream of me as he tried to hammer (yeah, hammer!) bank sticks into the (sandstone) bank. He then threw a keep-net out, then splashed about trying to secure it in place.
I was livid...but soon after I heard much splashing. Thinking he'd fallen in I thought "Fair enough, God truly does work in mysterious ways". But then it went quiet for a minute or so, followed by more splashing, more hammering, more splashing, then a brief quiet before more hammering, then more splashing ......ad inf.
After not having a touch for about 45mins I crept up the bank and downstream towards my next intended swim. There in the next swim (brightly lit bare bank with zero cover) was the white T shirted obese guy, red in the face and obviously angry.
I asked him how he was doing.. and he loudly complained that he was well pee'ed off as barbel were continually ripping his rod out of his downstream rod-rest, and not giving him chance to hammer his upstream rod-rest in!
I think he'd had 6 or 7 barbel so far, all from the same spot, in about 45mins, and was mostly annoyed as they weren't giving him chance to sit down (on his picnic chair)
I'm not 100% sure but I think I blanked that day. Maybe I should have jumped up and down and thrown rocks in? :)

PS...I've often had barbel around my feet when wading. My crunching of gravel etc. doesn't appear to bother them.

That all said, I try to stay as low profile as possible in all ways.
 
I gave up trying to second-guess fish a long time ago. Just when you think you've worked out a set of rules the fish seem to abide by, they do a 180 and ignore the previously accepted wisdom - I've witnessed chub not being in the least bit bothered by two dogs jumping into the water and splashing around just 8 feet away, and those same fish scarper at the slight rustle of a carrier bag on the bank.

Nowadays I just cast to/trot through a likely looking spot, wait for 20-30 minutes and then move on to the next swim if nothing happens.
 
I think fish spook instinctively depending on their environment and what they are used to. Carp in a busy park lake will be used to screaming kids and barking dogs but a carp in a quiet, secluded pool, or a barbel in a small intimate river will soon melt away if a strange silhouette appears above them or if they sense a sudden / strange noise. Chub are the worse.
 
About 12yrs ago I crept down the steep bank and into an overgrown swim on the Teme. I baited lightly before swinging a baited hook out. Just as I did a hugely obese guy, loaded down with tackle, shouted very loudly down to me from the top of the bank.. "Had owt mate?". I murmured in the negative..and shrunk further into the Himalayan balsam.
10mins later I heard him cursing from ~50m downstream of me as he tried to hammer (yeah, hammer!) bank sticks into the (sandstone) bank. He then threw a keep-net out, then splashed about trying to secure it in place.
I was livid...but soon after I heard much splashing. Thinking he'd fallen in I thought "Fair enough, God truly does work in mysterious ways". But then it went quiet for a minute or so, followed by more splashing, more hammering, more splashing, then a brief quiet before more hammering, then more splashing ......ad inf.
After not having a touch for about 45mins I crept up the bank and downstream towards my next intended swim. There in the next swim (brightly lit bare bank with zero cover) was the white T shirted obese guy, red in the face and obviously angry.
I asked him how he was doing.. and he loudly complained that he was well pee'ed off as barbel were continually ripping his rod out of his downstream rod-rest, and not giving him chance to hammer his upstream rod-rest in!
I think he'd had 6 or 7 barbel so far, all from the same spot, in about 45mins, and was mostly annoyed as they weren't giving him chance to sit down (on his picnic chair)
I'm not 100% sure but I think I blanked that day. Maybe I should have jumped up and down and thrown rocks in? :)

PS...I've often had barbel around my feet when wading. My crunching of gravel etc. doesn't appear to bother them.

That all said, I try to stay as low profile as possible in all ways.

Recon you need to pack on a bit of weight Terry
 
Back
Top