Does depth finders have an effect on fish hitting your bait?

[QUOTE=Duayne;576360] Could be the next day they were more in the mood for some Elvis, or moody blues, or god forbid Country?
[/QUOTE]

I'd say anything with a nice bass line

Below is based on trolling and vertical fishing water 10' to 100' deep:

I have heard that it does and it doesn't. Tried to test it a few times buts that is kind of a hard thing to do. If it is on and shows fish you know that the fish are or aren't biting with fish near and the fish finder on. If you turn it off you don't know there are fish down there so all you know is you are or are not catching fish with the graph off or vice versa. The previous is not the most well written logical statement and possibly an invalid one but maybe you get the idea.

Try testing it sometime. It is hard to not turn the fish finder back on. So, after briefly testing a couple nights it became very apparent that I would rather see if there are fish near the boat than hope there fish near the boat and know when to stay put, slow down or speed up.

You could find fish and then turn the transducer off but I don't know if that is a fair test if you think about it.

This would be a good question for Dr Sonar. Look him up and give him an ask. If yo do let us know what he said.

My Answer: I don't know.

Good question. I would also like to know yes or no.

[QUOTE=peter;578567]Below is based on trolling and vertical fishing water 10' to 100' deep:

I have heard that it does and it doesn't. Tried to test it a few times buts that is kind of a hard thing to do. If it is on and shows fish you know that the fish are or aren't biting with fish near and the fish finder on. If you turn it off you don't know there are fish down there so all you know is you are or are not catching fish with the graph off or vice versa. The previous is not the most well written logical statement and possibly an invalid one but maybe you get the idea.

Try testing it sometime. It is hard to not turn the fish finder back on. So, after briefly testing a couple nights it became very apparent that I would rather see if there are fish near the boat than hope there fish near the boat and know when to stay put, slow down or speed up.

You could find fish and then turn the transducer off but I don't know if that is a fair test if you think about it.

This would be a good question for Dr Sonar. Look him up and give him an ask. If yo do let us know what he said.

My Answer: I don't know.

Good question. I would also like to know yes or no.[/QUOTE]

Another monkey wrench in the equation is ..... is it the depth finder noise, close presence of the boat, or just the current mood of the fish ?? Livescope tells me that "they ain't skeerd", even when you run right over top of them ... then there's days when you cough too loud and they get lockjaw !! LOL !!!

[QUOTE=crappiepappy;578572]Another monkey wrench in the equation is ..... is it the depth finder noise, close presence of the boat, or just the current mood of the fish ?? Livescope tells me that "they ain't skeerd", even when you run right over top of them ... then there's days when you cough too loud and they get lockjaw !! LOL !!![/QUOTE]

OK I am going with Pappies logic. Fish don'tcare.

Another topic.
I apologized from my boat one day as I approached a boat ramp to some guys that were fishing there at the waters edge as I thought I was ruining their fishing. They said oh no, we like it when people come in. It stirs the fish up and we catch more.

Don't post much here, but thought I'd weigh in my take...… It depends.

The yes it does matter, my opinion, is in quiet and still conditions when fishing for old and pressured fish. At Dale Hollow for example, if I pull into a cut/cove that is still and I know the depth and structure locations, know that it's holding bait and I'm hunting that one really big smally, I go into stealth mode. That means shutting all electronics off, pumps/aerators off, troller on lowest setting, stalk my way in, and use a bait that doesn't plop, rattle, vibrate, or make noise.

I don't want that smally to know I'm there, she's been caught before, stuck in the face while hearing that click, click, click transducer signal. If she's there, and willing to eat, she's far more likely to do so if not threatened in any way.

The no it doesn't matter? When there's a breeze, everything is moving, lots of noise, lots of boats, highly active and feeding fish, schooling fish above/below water etc. Or, when I'm hunting fish and don't know what's going on (depth, contours, bait and fish present, etc) I'm better off with the electronics ticking.

My $0.02.

Slimy

You can go to U-tube and watch the guy use a Lorance Elite unit in his fish tank without any reaction when the trans is activated.