Author Topic: Sonar effects on catfish  (Read 7019 times)

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Offline fishermanatr

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Sonar effects on catfish
« on: September 30, 2014, 06:10:11 AM »
 Was reading old posts and came up with topic of sonar effects on fish.

 Would like to share a personal experience.  Several years ago we were fishing catfish (blues), in the winter by anchoring over schools of  baitfish and fishing multiple down rods.  Success had been high, but one day, we were almost skunked and on our way in.  I spotted a friend fishing and swung by to see if he had any luck.

 As I approached him I could see that he could not keep a rod in the water!  Fishing eight rods, he had at least four fish on all the time!

 I knew what he was fishing with, because I had given him the bait.  When I got close he yelled "anchor right beside me, I'm tired!".

 He continued to catch fish, while we only caught a couple.  Then he said "turn your unit off."  About three minutes after I did -- Every
rod on my boat went down!  Thats 12 rods!  We caught over six hundred pounds of catfish in the next few hours.

 Prior to this day I had caught lots of fish with my unit on.  Do fish hear sonar?  I do not know.  Will I fish at anchor with my unit running -- ABSOLUTELY NOT.

 Tad


Offline mike fish

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2014, 11:19:13 AM »
Do fish hear sonar?  Great question.  Supposedly not but we've experienced the same thing ice fishing that you just did. But I will also say it's difficult to fish blind since getting a flasher knowing that for the most part it helps to put more fish on the ice.
Maybe someone else can shed some light on this phenomenon.

Offline Rotus623

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2014, 02:11:20 PM »
We hear about this all the time. Does the gas motor scare fish, trolling motor, depth finder?? IMO,YES. I think it all just adds to fishing "pressure." Of course the fish are going to start to associate all of these things with traffic. And the question about fish hearing the depth finder, I can hear mind when I'm swimming around the boat. Shoot, the Lowrance transducers can even be heard out of the water!!

When catfishing, I find the hole I want to fish and then turn off the graph. But, when striper fishing, I have to leave the graph on because the school is so active you have to stay on them!! I wonder if CHIRP makes the same sound. I know that the "RP" in CHIRP stands for radar pulse so I am not sure if it is audible.

Offline sfw1960

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2014, 06:25:32 PM »
"Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse"
A new catch phrase for broad-band SONAR which is never going to be RADAR.

SOund Navigation And Ranging
Is ultra-sonic sound waves in the Kilohertz range.

RAdio Detecting And ARranging
Is microwave frequecies in the Gigahertz range.

Can we all say "ConsumerFISH" ??
LOL!


Offline Rotus623

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2014, 07:07:29 PM »
Dammit Robert!!!!

Offline sfw1960

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2014, 12:28:42 PM »
Dammit Robert!!!!

LOL LOL!!!!!     >:D    ;D

Offline freezerfiller

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2014, 09:46:04 AM »
I will turn mine off if I'm anchored and not targeting suspended fish.  I've noticed better action with catfish without the sonar on.  Makes sense that a fish that feels with whiskers would be more sensitive to vibration....

Offline Bob B

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Re: Sonar effects on catfish
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2014, 06:24:37 PM »
They all have a lateral line that can detect vibrations better than you and I can even imagine.

How much the sonar affects their activity could be heavily debated.
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