Scare Tactics for Barra

[black_sheep]

Has anyone noticed that whenever you trying to do the ‘stealth’ thing and some tosser decides to either blowfly you or motors right up into your spot and while cursing the bastards you all of a sudden hook up! This has happened to us all too often and is frustrating as it immediately gives up your ‘secret’ location. I have also noticed that sometimes you find an awesome looking spot and on the very first cast, you snag up to it and spoil it as you have to go right into the snag to retrieve the lure but as you backing out of the snag, someone will have a cast in there anyway and they hook up. This has happened to us several times both fresh and saltwater.

I’ve heard of blokes who have bashed the water with sticks and rocks to fire up Murray Cod.

Monduran trip a few months ago proved this once again when we were tied off to a tree trying to be stealthy and some guy motors within 5 mtrs of us on petrol to ask for directions and whilst cursing him (under our breath), Big Ren hooks up to a 90+cm.

Was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and has a theory on why these fish aren’t ‘spooked’ and to some degree are actually stirred up and become more inquisitive??

[Awoonga]

Sheep... Fishing Awoonga a few years ago... in a bay Stealth mode.....And along comes a small tinnie with a boom box on full noise..Wham thump.. bang...To me like bashing tincans together....This young guy is driving the boat and there is this bird up the front casting....Like you couldnt hear yourself think..it was that loud.....l thought to myself thats the end of that....Fisheee all spooked now....Next thing she hooks up.....115....So did the fish like the song ? or the girl....

[Big_Ren]

Navi

It may have a lot to do with the "sub conscious" (as opposed to semi-conscious ) pause that is invoked when blow flies bear down upon us from the hills....banjo in hand.....(ahhhh visions of Deliverance ).

We deliberately stop or stutter our retrieve cadence so as "not" to provoke a strike and keep our "secret" retrieve a secret from the intruders.

In doing so, we may have paused for longer than usual, slowing our presentations long enough to become irresistable to any barra within swooping range.

Perhaps the arrival of Red Neck & Co is a double edged sword that can sometimes work in our favour.

You may remember that a similar thing happened to us up at Awoonga one year.....to the point where we would deliberately troll off in no man's land for half an hour to get the dogs off the scent.

Cheers
Paul

[Roo]

Harro's latest book "Barra" has a section on the gear required. One item mentioned was a plumbers sink plunger. imitates the boofing sound of barra feeding and supposed to trigger other fish into switching into a more favourably attentive state. Also have seen plenty of mentions of strikes with pausing a lure to float it over a branch or rock that it has just crashed into. another one I've heard is when one angler downs tools and fires up the engine to move spots while second angle is still reeling in last cast.....and gets walloped.
stranger things have happened.

[Big_Ren]

Was also going to mention that a sure fire way to draw a strike is to put your rod down for half a second to grab a soft drink That gets a bit expensive though.

[Roo]

Was also going to mention that a sure fire way to draw a strike is to put your rod down for half a second to grab a soft drink That gets a bit expensive though.

Been there, done that, will forever have the emotional scars.

[Peter4]

I remember a comment by Steve B last year that he believes that often the barra a made 'more alert' by a commotion and will therefore act more aggressively to a well presented lure. He even relates getting a hook-up on the first cast of a diving lure after throwing a popper continuously at the same snag for some time. He believed the popper woke the fish up..........

Last October there were 20+ boats within a 300m radius in area B and no chance of any stealth at all....but the fish were 'on'. We witnessed dozens of hook-ups including our own over a period of hours with boats coming and going all the time.

It was magic!

Regs

Pete

[Steve B]

Yes peter, I was in that bay on the odd occasion at that time as were you. The depth was no more than 6-8 feet with a few dropoffs to about 12 max. there was boats trolling everywhere...and hookups everywhere.....some boat props would have nearly cut the fish in half they were trolling and hooking up is such shallow water. It was quite amazing...

The jury is still out for me as to stealth vs noise in winter...so far stealth has been producing...I think stealth is always good, but I have caught plenty with a bit of commotion too...I have recognised many hookups during the immediate quiet period after a boat has cruised by...maybe I just start concentrating more, rather than stickybeaking at the boat going past!!

Bass and noise...I remember a ski boat doing laps around us at somerset and we were catching fish..I also remember fishing with Jason Erlich one day at BP and he cast a plastic right under the bum of a girl skier waiting to be towed away...he hooked a big bass!!! the look on her face was pricesless!!

Steve

[Peter4]

Just realised that the same thing happened to us on our last trip in March.

We didn't get any fish but Kyle scored a brief but violent hook-up in a timbered bay in area D shortly after a couple of boats roared by in the main river about 75m away.

Now I'm confused - should I be quiet or noisy!!

[BARRAkid]

interesting topic
Well about 7 weeks ago i was a borumba with a good mate and all the reports where not many fish getting caught said all the locals first hour of fishing i had two bass and i was thinking if we keep going like this we will clean up after 4 days after that second fish we didnt get anything for a hour and it was back to camp.That night i was thinking what i did to catch those two bass then it came to me i smashed my spinnerbait against both of those casts.
Next day i decided to give it a go ,on the water about 9 after a late night found a good bunch to sticks and started aiming for the actual tree instead of the water near the tree and in 20 minutes it was 4 - 0 to me.
So i let my mate into the little secret and we both ended up going quite well for the day and the next and the next it was a matter waking the fish up i recon.
We caught all the fish in the sticks that way during the middle of the day and a some on poppers early norning and avo.We bent a few spinnerbaits but just bent the blades back into shape

I also have been fishing for barra with a mate and he was throwing a big fizzer around for ages then i came along and casted rite next to him and waited for his lure to pass and when it was back at the bank i started working my tango dance and first twitch i was on an my lure was sitting on the water for a minute or two.
Same thing only a few days later he was using the fizzer for close to a hour and i through in a b52 and first wind i was on this was over a weed bed 2ft deep so after 3 or 4 winds the b52 is in the weed anyways.

cheers BK

[Roo]

make all the noise you want, so long as you can do it quietly.

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

Quiet wins!
For every story you are going to hear about a fish being caught when there is noise about, which will always add to statistics in that favour because you won't ever have any points in the statistic box when zero fish were caught in noisy situations.
Hard to follow, well you have nothing to compare it too for the number of fish you actually spook and could have caught. Eg if you were nosiy and landed 8 fish you say well what a load of crappity smack is the noise issue, but if you or the neighbours were dead silent you may have landed 14 fish. If you catch barra when it is noisy it doesn't mean that all fish stayed. Maybe Mrs 125cm and her two smart and wise girlfriends did a runner? Ever wondered that? You wander through the bush, you talk loud, you see pigs and you shoot two young sows, but unbeknown to you Mr 130kg Boar did the runner when he first heard you talk. You never see him. Wise animal.
Barra that stick about in noisy conditions are usually in a mode where they are more tolerant to that noise and are willing to stay and feed. On the days where they are not tolerant, they will move on or not respond. A barra focused 100% on feeding will cross the line and almost forget where and who he/she is.
In lakes in their early days if you made any unnatural noise barra would shoot off like missiles. As years and experience rolls on fish do become conditioned to boating activity but never to the point where you should go out and make lots of noise. That is a no no. If fish have heavy cover like a massive thick weed bank they can be harder to spook than barra on an open featureless bank.
Commotion from lures like poppers or lures cast onto branches that can provoke interest from barra is the wrong type of noise that we talk about when we use the term spooking fish. Lures are more subtle commotions apart from those casts that land directly on a fish and spook the daylight out of it. Dropping pliers, stomping on the deck, rattling anchor chains and banging esky lids and so on are the bad noises, so too is a barra that kicks and shakes on the deck. The calmer it is, the worse the effect. The rougher it is, the louder the water column becomes and the more noise you can get away with- to a point.
Shallow flats in winter require a stealth mode for best result, but this is where statistics need to be laid over each other to get a better idea.
An average angler might land 4 barra in a session and go home thinking that was super success, but a quiet angler in those same circumstances might land 9 fish. It's those extra 5 that shy away that angler one never knows about. Too noisy!!
By hooking fish and having them jump and splash will undoubtedly kill a session eventually. When a big Awoonga barra jumps and splashes and kicks up the sand and tears through the weeds it will spook more fish on the average day and it is then time to move on and maybe return when things settle, but the initial strike and commotion from the first barra might promote other fish to become keen until spooking takes over. In time to come barra may attune better to boat noise and capitalise on the effects that sound has on bait behaviour, but for us all to run around and make noise trying to improve catch rates is a lesson for disaster. Just because a barra or two get landed when it is noisy doesn't mean that is wise to employ. If anglers adopted noisy tactics on a lake, I'd pack my bags.
Fishing is hunting; hunting experienced animals and cunning fish requires special attention and tactics. A big Groper at the Swain reefs hears the sound of a distant boat generator. To him that means free food.
To a barra, hearing a noisy boat means humans are present, negative experiences abound and it's time to think twice. Fish that might bite when things are nosiy could easily be fish that have not yet got the message about fake food items and sharp hooks. A drop to the deck or 6 mins out of the water might make that fish are more cunning adversary for next time.
Food for thought!!
Johnny

[NAGG]

No doubt that fish get used to noise ( boat traffic)
& it is common to see fish move towards the source of a lure / bait splashdown.
I even nicknamed a big 6" storm SP .... the "Depthcharge" because of the splash/thump on landing ( it seems to attract barra) ......... but it sounds like a boof!
With all that said ...... I've seen too many fish break from cover when you come within casting distance ...... even on the leccy! & most of the barra that I have hooked & caught ..... have been on maxed out casts

So .... I'm still thinking that stealth is the going to remain as my game plan

Nagg

[Steve B]

Quiet wins!
For every story you are going to hear about a fish being caught when there is noise about, which will always add to statistics in that favour because you won't ever have any points in the statistic box when zero fish were caught in noisy situations.
Hard to follow, well you have nothing to compare it too for the number of fish you actually spook and could have caught. Eg if you were nosiy and landed 8 fish you say well what a load of crappity smack is the noise issue, but if you or the neighbours were dead silent you may have landed 14 fish. If you catch barra when it is noisy it doesn't mean that all fish stayed. Maybe Mrs 125cm and her two smart and wise girlfriends did a runner? Ever wondered that? You wander through the bush, you talk loud, you see pigs and you shoot two young sows, but unbeknown to you Mr 130kg Boar did the runner when he first heard you talk. You never see him. Wise animal.
Barra that stick about in noisy conditions are usually in a mode where they are more tolerant to that noise and are willing to stay and feed. On the days where they are not tolerant, they will move on or not respond. A barra focused 100% on feeding will cross the line and almost forget where and who he/she is.
In lakes in their early days if you made any unnatural noise barra would shoot off like missiles. As years and experience rolls on fish do become conditioned to boating activity but never to the point where you should go out and make lots of noise. That is a no no. If fish have heavy cover like a massive thick weed bank they can be harder to spook than barra on an open featureless bank.
Commotion from lures like poppers or lures cast onto branches that can provoke interest from barra is the wrong type of noise that we talk about when we use the term spooking fish. Lures are more subtle commotions apart from those casts that land directly on a fish and spook the daylight out of it. Dropping pliers, stomping on the deck, rattling anchor chains and banging esky lids and so on are the bad noises, so too is a barra that kicks and shakes on the deck. The calmer it is, the worse the effect. The rougher it is, the louder the water column becomes and the more noise you can get away with- to a point.
Shallow flats in winter require a stealth mode for best result, but this is where statistics need to be laid over each other to get a better idea.
An average angler might land 4 barra in a session and go home thinking that was super success, but a quiet angler in those same circumstances might land 9 fish. It's those extra 5 that shy away that angler one never knows about. Too noisy!!
By hooking fish and having them jump and splash will undoubtedly kill a session eventually. When a big Awoonga barra jumps and splashes and kicks up the sand and tears through the weeds it will spook more fish on the average day and it is then time to move on and maybe return when things settle, but the initial strike and commotion from the first barra might promote other fish to become keen until spooking takes over. In time to come barra may attune better to boat noise and capitalise on the effects that sound has on bait behaviour, but for us all to run around and make noise trying to improve catch rates is a lesson for disaster. Just because a barra or two get landed when it is noisy doesn't mean that is wise to employ. If anglers adopted noisy tactics on a lake, I'd pack my bags.
Fishing is hunting; hunting experienced animals and cunning fish requires special attention and tactics. A big Groper at the Swain reefs hears the sound of a distant boat generator. To him that means free food.
To a barra, hearing a noisy boat means humans are present, negative experiences abound and it's time to think twice. Fish that might bite when things are nosiy could easily be fish that have not yet got the message about fake food items and sharp hooks. A drop to the deck or 6 mins out of the water might make that fish are more cunning adversary for next time.
Food for thought!!
Johnny

Thanks Johnny, common sense has prevailed. Fishing is hunting and stalking. amonst other things, I have been concentrating on stealth this year.....I noticed I seem to get more fish by myself too...being quiet. After reading peters post about my thoughts last year...how things change and learning continues!!!

I remember Jas turning his boat with the electric JUST as he was about to cast. It spooked a big fish in the zone his lure landed...he wasn't happy with himself. It opened my eyes.
thanks mate, Just read all of your articles on sweetwater too, very good read. thanks for the link Roo.
Steve

[chewy01]

Ran into some old blokes at seaforth a couple years ago and they were running the tinny into the tre/snag they wanted to fish.18/20 ft water.Their theory was the barra (coming out of winter)would be stirred up and move away then after a period of time move back.they fished livies and got a few.in saying that it was a fair depth of water so if they were layin deep as the ones we got a bit further down were maybe the level of disturbance wasnt that great.ie not the same as a snag in 3 ft of water.they got a few so i guess whatever rocks ur boat.not for me but they got some.
on a different note speaking of stealth in winter,i learnt a valuable lesson last year stealthing in on a bay full of barra.While using the m/kota to sneak in i thought i was super sneaky with barra with thier backs out of the water and driving virtually over the top of some they were quite happy till i changed direction.i may as well have started the petrol. so next w/end ill be setting the boat up to drift/motor straight into point i want to fish.i didnt think the servo motor wood have had that effect but you learn something new everyday.(if your prepared to listen)