THE NOISY FISHERMAN

Originally Published the Week of Oct. 20, 2009 in WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS


When I was a kid fishing with my dad and uncles, I was constantly admonished to be still. Be quiet. You’re going to scare the fish!

Like most kids, I fidgeted a lot. I had the patience of…well, a kid! And when fish weren’t biting, I did what most kids did. I skipped rocks. I played in the tackle box. I sang. I banged things. I even ate all the Velveeta cheese bait when no one was looking!

Although I never ate the worms, I did try salmon eggs once. If fish liked them they couldn’t be all that bad. The ruckus caused by my gagging and coughing surely scared away any fish in the area.

I grew up learning to be quiet when I fished. Most of us did. Noise was our enemy! Be verrrry quiet. The fish might hear you!

However, the more time I spend here in Baja, going on 15 years now, and the more time I spend fishing in small craft, the more I’m re-thinking the pros and cons of noise.

Any angler will tell you how many countless hours we spend choosing our tackle be it line, lures, hooks and other equipment to make sure it’s the right color, size and shape. Does green line work better than blue line? Will the red feather hookup better than the purple feather? Does the color of the hook make a difference? You get the idea.

But what about noise…or better yet..SOUND! The difference is as profound as someone crashing two pie tins together and someone playing the drums in a beautiful rhythm.

Many veteran anglers and captains have long known that engine sounds and prop wash are known fish attractants. Ever notice how some boats just have a knack for raising fish? They can have the same captains; fish the same area; use the same lures and one boat gets consistently bit over the other.

It’s like having two cars that are exact duplicates in every manner, but for some reason, one is a lemon. Same with boats. One just has that certain ju-ju that is an unfathomable combination of the shape of the boat, the way the motor vibrates and other variables.

I have worked on commercial boats and noticed how engine speed and certain revs caused fish to be attracted. Or, by the same token, drives fish away. I’ve read stories about how sharks will sometime chomp down on a moving propeller, much to their detriment of the shark, thinking it’s food.

The same with terminal tackle like lures. If you’ve ever been scuba diving, you’ll remember that aside from the sound of your regulator and bubbles, you’ll often hear a cacophony of clicks and snaps underwater. That’s the fish!

In a bait school or school of predatory fish, the sounds are extremely audible and the submarine environment gives off a tangible and often audio vibration.

Hence, you’ll notice that many lures these days are built with clickers, ball bearings, bubble holes and whatnot that attempt to duplicate those sounds. I know several lure manufacturers that do detailed studies of their products to see how they “swim” and attempt to duplicate the precise vibration a nervous baitfish makes in the water. The better to attract a predator!

The same with lures that splash, jump, pop and gurgle. Not only do they create a visual stimulus for a potential gamefish, but all of that action produces sound that will hopefully put the predator into “attack mode” to generate a strike. Even if it doesn’t have noise-makers, how it “swims” generates vibrations that are detectable to fish.

Ergo, how you troll it or reel it back to the boat can make all the difference in the world. That’s what makes it fun.

For instance, I’ve used surface plugs. I can cast them into the rocks and pop them along and get some viscious strikes from cabrilla and pargo. By the same token, slow popping won’t work on roosters. Reeling as fast as I can to skip the lure on the surface gets the pez gallo all worked up.

Same with yellowtail. Slowly retrieving a yo-yo iron will only get you tired. Winding as fast as you can until your arm feels like it will fall off will get you tired sooner, but it will also get you bit!

Make some noise. Catch some fish!


Jonathan Roldan is the Baja Editor and his column appears every other week. He can be reached in La Paz at: riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com