04-06-2003, 03:14 PM
[cool]You might want to rethink having any kind of music...if you are serious about catching fish. Sound travels through water five times faster and more efficiently than through air. And, while I have never known a fish that was a music critic, I have observed the reactions of fish to unnatural sounds in their environments.
I have been a diver since before I became a float tube fisherman...over 40 years for both. I have witnessed first hand what touchy species...like LMB do when a pleasure craft comes cruising overhead with the stereo on high. I can hear every beat of the bass and every note of the music, while underwater, and the sensitive lateral lines of fish are even more receptive to such vibrations. I have seen formerly complacent largies, crappies and even sunfish go rocketing out of a cove for deeper water when loud music starts reverberating through their habitat.
On one of the lakes I tube in Arizona, I have had several productive mornings come to a "screeching" halt when a boat full of partyers comes cruising over to see what I am doing...with the sounds turned up. My sonar screen goes blank and my lures go unmolested for the rest of the morning.
I suspect that catfish may be different. A former fishing buddy from Ogden (now deceased) used to invite my wife and I on sundown cruises on Willard Bay...aboard his large cruiser, with all the amenities. As we drifted slowly across the calm summer waters, enjoying a broiled steak from the onboard grill, listening to his favorite "fishing music"..."BLOOD IN THE SADDLE" (I think it was by Tex Ritter...or maybe Slim Whitman)...we trailed baited lines off the stern. The channel cats loved it. However, it may have been the "blood" in the song that attracted them. Or maybe they were just responding to the sounds of an obviously distressed singer, as potential prey.
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I have been a diver since before I became a float tube fisherman...over 40 years for both. I have witnessed first hand what touchy species...like LMB do when a pleasure craft comes cruising overhead with the stereo on high. I can hear every beat of the bass and every note of the music, while underwater, and the sensitive lateral lines of fish are even more receptive to such vibrations. I have seen formerly complacent largies, crappies and even sunfish go rocketing out of a cove for deeper water when loud music starts reverberating through their habitat.
On one of the lakes I tube in Arizona, I have had several productive mornings come to a "screeching" halt when a boat full of partyers comes cruising over to see what I am doing...with the sounds turned up. My sonar screen goes blank and my lures go unmolested for the rest of the morning.
I suspect that catfish may be different. A former fishing buddy from Ogden (now deceased) used to invite my wife and I on sundown cruises on Willard Bay...aboard his large cruiser, with all the amenities. As we drifted slowly across the calm summer waters, enjoying a broiled steak from the onboard grill, listening to his favorite "fishing music"..."BLOOD IN THE SADDLE" (I think it was by Tex Ritter...or maybe Slim Whitman)...we trailed baited lines off the stern. The channel cats loved it. However, it may have been the "blood" in the song that attracted them. Or maybe they were just responding to the sounds of an obviously distressed singer, as potential prey.
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