Vehicles on Ice affect fish?

[WVBoy]

What are ya'lls opinion? Does driving vehicles on ice affect the bite in any way? I am somewhat undecisive.Cause Some days when there are many vehicles on the ice fish just dont seem to bite.ANd other days it seems like driving my rig around my tipups gives me some flags.Whats your thoughts?

[big walleye]

Good question. I have found for perch it does not really matter. I do the same thing as when it is open water season. I stay away from the noise. Seems to always work for me.

[billditrite]

im gonna say IMO that most times it has little to no effect on the fish. as you said there are days when the sleda are ripping back and forth and thats all you hear.but the fish keep coming, then there are days you could hear the flag pop!, but it wont. of course it all depends on the size of the lake and depth of the water, i think the fish hear it all the time and are probably somewhat used to it. even so i dont like it too close to my setup

[FishDaddy09]

I don't believe that anything with wheels bothers the fish. Snowmobiles however are another matter. 2 years ago I was fishing a favorite spot there was 6 shanty's in a line along a weed edge spaced out 30-50 ft between. A snowmoblie went across the ice behind us approx. 100yrds. There was a damn stamped of fish rushing away from the snowmobile that lasted for a good 1 1/2 mins. As you looked down the hole you could see the fish rush away. We all came out of our shanty's and said to each other "did you see that?" Most of us just packed up and went home it was already a tough bite and after the snowmobile scared the crap out of the fish we knew it wasn't going to improve. I think it has something to do with the vibration of the tracs on the ice.

[dwaytkus]

friday I was fishing lake george and had many fish on the vexilar and every time this 4-wheeler drove by me they would disappear on my screen.  Fished saturday and the bay was loaded with people, 4-wheelers, snowmobiles and power augers and fish were scarce.

[bigredonice]

anywhere there is heavy activity, the fish can get scared - i like to fish the edge of the heavy activity. As for a single four wheeler, i can't tell you how many times doing a few loops around the area we were jigging has resulted in a few laker hookups

[adkRoy]

I definitely have seen where 4-wheelers and snowmobiles have scared the fish away. The best example happened on lake george last year. 3 guys with 4 wheelers were crusin around stopping every few minutes to jig. When they stopped next to me they left their quads running and the fish just stopped biting. after 10 minutes they moved on and the fish started biting again. I asked them while they were near me how they were doing and they said they haven't been catching any fish. I wonder why

[twodoggs]

yes it will in my opinion.  noise travels well in water.  the depth will effect this however and the fish usually come right back.  I use the vehicle noise the heard the fish towards my tip ups.

[2 dogs]

I go with fishdaddy in that pickups driving do not seem to have much effect but a snowmobile roaring by seems to quiet things down for a bit. Maybe the track sends vibes through the ice or whatever?

[pike4some]

I go both ways on this. I've had luck with people driving around a lot. and I've had it where only the furthest tip-up would be the one going up all day.But i do think noise affects northerns to a point

[Pasquatch]

Does a bear Sh*t in the woods?

[pike4some]

Only if you witness it

[TGF]

Does a bear Sh*t in the woods?

Good answer.
For burbot fishing, if I fart, I scare them away for a bit. Even the hum of the vex keeps them away. I don't fish around other snowmachines. I also steer clear of other machines (1/2 mile). If any come close I wave the shotgun in the air and then make like I'm shooting at the stars.

[icechip]

I think I will be staying away from you TGF.

[bib brother]

trucks aren't bad because they usually drive to a spot and stop.  i've never had a good day when snowmobiles were running within 200yds of my stuff.  i fish shallow ponds and lakes mostly

[kingfshr16]

 I agree with Bigred, on champlain we used to do a couple of laps around the tip-ups and hte action seemed to pick up, maybe it stirred up baitfish? That's my figuring.

[WVBoy]

I do the same thing thing fishin Champlain. When things are slow I take a drive around the flags. My thinking was that the bait gets wigglin a little more.Or, it just makes me feel like it does

[fishinworms]

it only makes sense that any noise would spook the fish, obvisously some more than others.....what about an auger, anyone ever tell a difference as somebody is drilling a new hole?