Thread: Sonar Ping

Originally Posted by brjohnson429

Fishing at Ky Lake this week and talked to a couple that was also fishing. They said that the guide they were with turned off his sonar when they got in shallow water and said that the noise of the ping would scare the fish away since they are such skittish fish. What’s your thoughts? Is there truth to this? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.


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I’ve read and heard about this for a lot of years and I’m not sure. I’ve tried it on some attractors that I knew were there and my motor would tick the top of as I went over when the lake was at winter pool. I never found a consistent bite either way. Make no mistake, electronics on our boats today isn’t an area that I pack any huge amount of wisdom. I can tell you there are times that I walk thru my kitchen and automatically open the refrigerator door, scan the the contents, then return to my recliner empty handed. Sometimes you need to try things and be self taught. My two cents.


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Personally, I don't think it makes all that much difference, but of course there are times it "might" spook the fish. However, how would you know if it was the "ping" doing the spooking or the presence of the boat, its shadow, trolling motor noise and/or prop wash, etc. ??

I say that I don't think it makes much difference, because I've caught Crappie (& Bass) in very shallow water (<5ft deep) ... with a depth finder turned on the whole time, and even prop washed the spot with the trolling motor in order to not run the boat into the bank, tree, or any other obstacle in the area. In these instances, my boat was the only "intruder" in that otherwise calm environment.
And that's all from the use of 2d depth finders, whose ping is directed straight down in a cone shape. So I have to ask ... why isn't DI, SI, 360, and Livescope/Livesight units "spooking" fish away from the boat, when their ping is directed in a much wider area ??

That's not to mention that I've seen pontoon boats (w/o a trolling motor) run right up on the bank or crash right into a stand of trees ... tie off and begin fishing, and catching fish. If that noise/disturbance doesn't always "spook" the fish and send them running to the far ends of the lake, then I don't see how the ping of a depth finder would.

I have pushed jigs 1 to 10 fow for years. I catch a lot of fish and never turn it off.

I would have argued it doesn't matter til I was blue in the face, after many years of catching fish and making all kinds of noise with kids in the boat. But after getting a livescope and watching them spook... The littlest thing will scare a whole school. Ive literally watched it.

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Not sure about the "ping" spooking fish. I have three depth finders running on my boat at all times, and I still catch a lot of shallow crappie. Not even sure that sound affects them that much. I've seen a guide in Florida who, when he gets to his spot, takes a boat paddle and vigorously swishes it back and forth in the water for several moments. Says it attracts crappie. I do not know about that, but he catches a lot of fish! Personally, I think fish are most easily spooked by what they see. A crappie can see in the water about 300 times better than a human (or so I've read). That means if I can see 3ft they can see 900 ft. I know some really good crappie fishermen who believe in the sight factor so much that they want their boat to have a dark bottom on it, not white or bright colored.