Fish Finder Spoking trout

[RandyOfLaramie]

Has anyone seen a study or noticed or tried to see if fish finders spook trout? My friend fishes without a finder and I fish with one and he sees more and catches more fish even though we fish the same areas the same way.  I can use the finder n when things slow down don't see any fish looking down the hole or with the finder.  He sees them.  I have a Marcum finder and we fish in 5 to 12 feet of water.  Anyone have any thoughts?  I am going to try without the finder and see if it makes any difference.

[wyotoach]

Have the buddy fish with the finder to see if that slows him down and then your variable is the finder.... not fishermen.

[wyoutdoors]

I've never done any blind testing, but I've consistently out produced a friend while fishing over the past three seasons that he now owns a Vexilar FL-20. I've even given my father-in-law one before the season began.

[Matt R.]

Absolutely . In less than 10 fow , dead sticking for trout, no fish finder! And stay back from the hole.

[Dirty P]

sometimes i believe its the "hot hole" that is the difference. if the fish had found your hole first then you would have said the sonar gave you the egde. I've seen this happen often. i can tell you this my catch rate has increased since i got sonar, but sometimes everyone else catches fish and not you.

[Moosedog]

I don't know about finders spooking fish but trout don't like cameras.  It makes them super spooky.  When I put my transducer in my sled to move it clicks but I don't think that effects anything I remember a science project where you put a clicker in a waterproof container and it was supposed to call fish in.  I know the Vexilars are noisy.  I got a buddy that out fishes me every time we go out and I have friends that I out fish every time?  Who knows?

[fishall30]

I use Lowrance and Eagle finders in as little as 5 feet for Trout with great success. The only thing that scares the fish I catch is when I pull them out of the hole and they see my ugly mug.

[Kinkyline]

   Presentation,jigging cadence and location.

[yotepounder]

I have watched fish on camera swim into the sonar cone and get spooked when the sonar is detected on their lateral line. This was in very shallow water 5-10 ft deep. Seemed to affect larger fish more.

[_colorado]

I agree 100% with yotepounder and Matt. 

I originally had a Vex FL-8 then upgraded to an FL-22 when it came out a while back.  The FL-22 had a low power mode that I liked because I often fish very shallow at 11 Mile. Near the end of the day I drilled a hole close to shore in 5-6FOW and kept seeing flashes and marks around my jig - but no bites.  I laid down on the ice and put a cover over my head so I could see what was going on (my hut was anchored and quite a bit away).  I saw a bunch of 6-8" trout coming in hard on the jig only to turn away when they got within inches of it.  After laying there and watching this for five minutes and seeing ten trout do this I turned off the Vex and continued to watch.  The little fish came in and slammed my jig.  I caught a few and since that day have not used my vex in shallow water situations.  Seeing is believing. 

With that said, I can also understand large fish on the feed would not care/notice the acoustic pulse and would still move on the bait.  What I am saying is that if you have spooky fish in shallow water turn off the sonar. 

From a technical point of view the power falls off as a function of the distance squared (1/R^2).  This means the power at 2 feet is approximately 1/4th that of one foot (ignoring near field effects).  The power at 3 feet is 1/9th what it is one foot, etc.

[bretthar]

Great Info.  I'll have to do some tests as well.