Spooking Fish - Tactics/Techniques to Avoid It

[tomitrout]

uhmm, no, sorry pcray, I am talking about spooking fish....false casts over risers from downstream will spook fish, lining a fish from downstream will spook a fish. Change up the presentation, and you just might spook less fish.

At the footbridge on the upper Letort for example, there's often a trout holding in a feeding position near the piling on the 81 side. Lot's of folks, joggers, dog walkers, etc use the path and that fish will spook easily when approached from the 81 side of the bridge...but approach him from the quarry side and you can usually sneak a few casts before he's onto you. They're also in tune to your footsteps there, I can often slowly pedal my bike right onto the bridge, rest against the railing and gaze down on him as he feeds, but as soon as you step on the bridge...gone.

The fish in these high pressure areas become accustomed to people entering the water at existing access points, they hear or feel your footsteps and bolt from the lie that's near that access. Change up your approach and sneak up to them from a different angle than they expect and you'll have a better chance of not spooking them...

 

[pcray1231]

ok, my mistake, I misunderstood you then.

Interesting. Saying that fish watch certain areas more than others. Never heard anyone say that before, but seems at least possible.

FWIW, talking about the "spook" as in run for cover like a dart, I can't say I've EVER done it with a presentation, meaning line, leader, or fly. Once I'm in position and I make that final forward power stroke, the danger period is over, at least until I pick up for the next cast, at which point I'm waving a stick around like a lunatic again.

That's why I misunderstood you I suppose.

Yeah, I've noticed lots of situations like you describe. Where a fish remains unspooked until you step HERE. But I never thought of it as the fish watching that spot because thats where he expects to see people, but rather, just that the particular spot happens to be in his line of vision, or transmits vibrations better, etc. Refraction at the water's surface is a funny thing, they can be blind in one area and another seemingly similar area will look to the fish like your right on top of him. But you could be right, they might set up in lies which typically give them that early warning.

 

[Chaz]

FWIW, Troutbert and I were fishing a NC stream, or should I say intecded to fish an NC stream on evening up in NC PA WB Big Run I think, We were coming down the last bit of the trail into the creek and off in the distance, over 100 feet away, we saw a brookie dart for cover. With no one else around it had to be us.
It goes to show how spooky they can be.

 

[Chaz]

I'd like to see the person that can consistently catch browns on the Le Tort by approaching from upstream. 1 your shadow will be on the water and that's a no no. 2 you want the trout looking into the sun, but with your body being Silhouetted against the sun, and trout will see that instantly, though they may not spook they WILL see you.
Know here the sun is all the time and it will be your friend.

 

[pete41]

One thing people tend to forget is the fish can see you before you can see them.
Read up on the cone of vision of a fish-I forgot the technical words.
Whatever the refraction [?]bends the light so the fish can see you even if you are unable to see its position in the water.T he deeper the water the truer it is.
so we are usually kidding ourselves about staying out of the fishes cone of vision.They know we are there but as long as we aren't hovering over them we aren't a danger.
Sending out bad vibrations are a big danger signal as they pick them up with their lateral line.Amazing how sensitive they are but they can
key in on objects in dark and dirty water .

 

[JackM]

I think pete's assertions are false. You can see fish when they can't see you, but you have to approach appropriately. The advantage that we have is that we know exactly (almost) what they are, yet they have no idea what we are. So in this regard, you can identify the fish as a fish before it can identify you as danger, even if you are within any part of its cone of vision. Generally, the cone points in a forward direction and, depending upon the trout's level of concentration, may be very focused in a forward direction. Not even trout have eyes in back of their head.

 

[pcray1231]

They are somewhat false, yeah. But the cone of vision is larger than you'd think. With refraction, the trout's cone of vision opens up. But there is still a blind area close to the water where total reflection occurs. Snell's Law. n1*sin(theta1) = n2*sin(theta2). You can do the math if you want. n of air is 1, n of water is 1.33. But I don't know what the trout's cone of vision is, so I can't solve it.

I've always heard that the blind area, on a flat water surface, is approx 10 degrees to the surface of the water. No clue if that's accurate or not. But if you know that angle, then you can calculate how far away you need to be to stand upright and not be seen, or how low you have to stay based on distance.

Tan (angle) = your height/distance from fish

So, if 10 degrees were accurate, I'm 68" tall, so if I'm standing upright I'd need to be 386" (a little more than 30 feet) away from the fish in order for it not to be able to see me. If I crouch to 45", then I can get as close as 21 feet before it can see me. And of course, those heights are from the surface of the water. If you're wading, your shorter (good!). If you're up on a bank, then you're taller (bad). And don't forget about your rod.

That said, stuff at the edge of that cone of vision is going to appear tiny and insignificant to the trout, nomatter how close it actually is. As you get higher in it's cone of vision, you become magnified.

Stay low to the waters surface. Now you see why standing on a bridge is so scary to them!!!!!

Along the same lines, for us, a trout appears shallower and farther away than it actually is. That's why, if your sight fishing to fish and not to rings on the surface, you always start by casting closer than you think you should and work out to the proper distance.

 

[tomitrout]

also, don't forget that the depth of the fish in the water affects the size of their above water cone. A fish close to the surface is peering thru a much smaller window into our realm than one holding on the bottom...


and Chaz, your blanket statements often make me chuckle. Pretty easy to approach a fish from up, down & all around and keep your shadow off the water, especially if you stay out of the stream. If I'm resting the water and see a rise downstream on the Letort, you can bet I'm gonna approach to within casting distance from upstream rather than back off, hustle to get below and then work back into a position from downstream. Chances are I've already been past that fish as I generally work the meadows upstream, and if that trout is comfortable enough to go back on the feed after I've been by, then he's probably comfortable with my presence there on the bank...granted I miss a lot of takes because it is a more difficult hookset from upstream, but just foolin' them on that water can be enough some days.

Thinking about this, I guess we should all be amazed that anybody even caught trouts back in the day when swinging a brace of wets was the name of the game...

 

[quillfly]

personally if fishing ever gets to the point im wearing a gilly suit and belly crawling to the stream there may be a fire sale on gear. is it awsome to catch some of those wary letort fish yea and its really rewarding . but so is bashing a fish over the head with a nymph for half an hour till it finally takes and breaks you off in the current. the only tactic i use at the letort is heavy sculpin drag bottom and repeat . is it the most effective no tactic ever devised no .do the guys doing the commando stalk catch more fish then i do probably. but for me that type of extremly technical fishing is not enjoyable . so i drag and scare and evently catch a few fish anyway .

 

[Chaz]

The trouts cone of vision is roughly 60° + or -. So they can see you when you are too close, even though they may not know what you are their instinct tells them to hide. The deep they are in the water the more they can see. And they respond to colors, especially white, so don't wear a white tee shirt.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Here's a diagram showing a trout's field of vision...

 

[nealfish]

ive casted kneeling down from 20 feet away to a brookie ina lil creek. casted to the riffle above and drifeted down. if your not on the creek it works wonders.

 

[JackM]

H-A, I will just note that the diagram shows what it is posssible for a trout to see. However, when they are concentrating on the drift of succulent mayflies, the "cone of concentration" is much smaller than the cone of potential vision. Trust me. I was a trout in a former life.

 

[jdaddy]

Heritage-Angler wrote:
Here's a diagram showing a trout's field of vision...

correct. i was trying to teach this the other day.

 

[Squaretail]

Hard to add much else.
If color didnt matter, then why have different colored flies? Why would they make a difference? For the best fish, leave the pretty shirts at home.
As far as the Letort goes, when a particular fish has snubbed you on numerous trips, approach from the least diserable access point you see. Thick muck, heavy branches, whatever, while still employing the other tactics described. Its tough and you dont always get more than one or two shots but when you do, theres fish there that JayL moved all the way to Montana to catch.

 

[jdaddy]

Squaretail wrote:
Hard to add much else.
If color didnt matter, then why have different colored flies? Why would they make a difference? For the best fish, leave the pretty shirts at home.
As far as the Letort goes, when a particular fish has snubbed you on numerous trips, approach from the least diserable access point you see. Thick muck, heavy branches, whatever, while still employing the other tactics described. Its tough and you dont always get more than one or two shots but when you do, theres fish there that JayL moved all the way to Montana to catch.

doing good to get one shot imo. never got two shots.

i am happy with my little ones there. place is magic.