Stream trout can be spooked by shiny rod blank just as wild turkeys can by a shiny gun barrel or eyeglasses. Wow, I disagreed with my buds! Lol Anyone able to provide definitive documented proof that my statements are false may provide such, and I will rescind my previous comments. Lol

The term for a small, bright reflection in a photograph is “specular highlight”. It is fairly synonymous with what would hit a fish’es eye. It’s logical that a gloss finished rod is more likely to create a specular highlight than a raw carbon one. The question is, “what is the magnitude of this difference?”. I would be surprised from my own fishing experiences, and logic, if it is a significant difference. Surface ripples both create and break-up reflections. Things like sunglasses and GoPro lenses would also create them. PG over painted carbon isn’t a great mirror and it is on a very small cylinder which makes it a poor reflective body. I found that when I made a great cast to bonefish, while making no other mistakes, that I caught them readily on a gloss finished rod. Anything short of virtual perfection was bonefish spooked. That didn’t differ with a friend using a sanded carbon G. Loomis. I wouldn’t argue that a glossier rod wouldn’t cost an angler a fish every ‘nth’ fishing day. I just can’t imagine that it is at a measurable level with so many other controlling variables in-play..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2022 01:21AM by Kendall Cikanek.

Presumably the rod is in the hand of an angler weighing 120 - 220 pounds who is waving his arms and moving his body. There would be little reason for a fish to fixate on the movement of a 10 ounce rod?

Lynn, you're right, we are buds. And as buds, we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. lol

Lynn and David, maybe we should just agree that fish can be spooked by anglers and game can be spooked by hunters. I'd imagine a lot of superstition is involved. It is only natural to blame it on what "we think we did wrong" on a given day.

Consider the following cut and paste. I could include another that shows some fish can discern one human's face from another.

"Trevally fish, which live in the ocean, eat birds that skim or fly above the surface of the ocean. To do this, they must spot the bird—again, compensating for the way light bends in the water and distorts distance and images—and figure out how high and how fast the bird is going. It’s an incredible feat that puts to rest the stereotype that fish are dumb creatures, says Balcombe. It’s also a testament to the fish’s eyesight."

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Oh Russ, I am just giving Lynn the business lol But yes, I definitely agree that we can spook fish and game animals. And at times, it takes less to spook them, than it does at other times.Fish get used to human activity just like game animals do.

A few years ago my dad and I were fishing a bass tournament at one of the area lakes that has a lot of docks. He and I were fishing down a line of docks and one of them had a bunch of people on. They were loading their boat to go out for a day on the water. And they weren't doing it quietly. As we neared their dock, one of the women asked how we were doing and then apologized for making so much noise. We laughed and said no problem and as we got along side their dock I pitched my bait to the outer post on the dock. The bait sank for about 2 seconds when I felt a tick. I set the hook into close to a 4 lb bass.

As far as the Trevally fish you mentioned, YES !!! I have seen that on a couple of TV shows. It's some crazy stuff. And I had a buddy who had fish. If I walked up to the aquarium the fish pretty much just went about their business. When he walked up they'd all come up to the glass. I don't think fish are as smart as we sometimes give them credit for being, but I also know they aren't as dumb as we think are, either.

Stripper tears will improve blanks that are rolled on the thighs of virgins.

This one got good! Love it!

I have this true story to pass on about spooking fish. I was fishing an old underwater road bed on my Reservoir, which was quite close to a common gathering spot for socializing pontoon boats. I was was fishing before the boat stated to gather. I had no luck was getting ready to leave when a pontoon boat whizzed closely by me. As I was cussing him out under my breathe, I noticed the bass schooling in his wake. I caught several bass out of that school. Then the fishing slowed down. A few minutes later another boat passed by and the bass schooled again. I was absolutely amazed, rather than spooking the bass it caused them to actively begin feeding on the frenzied Shad stirred up by passing boats.
Norm

Norman, your experience is similar to one I had in Saginaw Bay with smallmouths. We were fishing the channels that are dredged from marinas through the long shallow water along the west shore, and while we didn't catch a lot of fish, we were catching them with regularity after boats passed through, and it slowed down when there had been no boats for a while.

Regarding glossy blanks, a Bahamas bonefish guide told me that he thought bones were at times spooked by glossy fly rod blanks. My son and I both use glossy blanks and neither of us have noticed this. Spooked by overhead line, spooked by flies hitting the water, spooked by just about everything else.

Michael Danek Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Regarding glossy blanks, a Bahamas bonefish guide
> told me that he thought bones were at times
> spooked by glossy fly rod blanks. My son and I
> both use glossy blanks and neither of us have
> noticed this. Spooked by overhead line, spooked
> by flies hitting the water, spooked by just about
> everything else.

I have run into this or similar as well here in Florida as a lot of my buddies use clear line leaders and I ask them sometimes why do you do that? And the answer is always the same because they truly believe braid line scares fish.

So one day I am fishing in a spring fed crystal clear lake and as my braid line moved through the water small baby bass 6 to 12 inches in size were swimming right up to my braid line and pecking at it to test it to see if it were edible. I showed my buddy who was using clear line leaders and still it makes no difference.

So one day while on St. Johns River he is flipping into heavy cover and feels the tap, tap, tap of a big bass and he goes to set the hook and his leader snapped losing a large bass and pricey lure. He was furious, and he turns around to me saying "I know, I know I shouldn't be using a leader!" as I am trying hard to conceal my reaction to it biting my tongue and lip at the same time. The water we were fishing in was darker than coffee and in heavy cover where the fish cannot possibly see the braid line even if sun was directly overhead.

I learned long ago leaders are useless nonsense- to me- and I now go straight braid and never looked back and still catch as many fish, and lose even less because of it. Sometimes a practice is so ingrained that it stays with us no matter what the facts and fish show us to be true. And honestly we see the same in custom rod building and I will leave it right there...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2022 10:21AM by Kent Griffith.

Not taking a side on what fish see above water from underwater and how it might affect them, however, I saw an interesting series made by a fellow who filmed in clear streams with an underwater camera. I forgot the exact name of the series, but it was something like "How Trout See". Three parts, I recall. It was interesting, if nothing else. The fact that the underside of the surface has mirror-like qualities as well as the top side was something I never considered.

(One other fascinating thing was that fish may not see the BODY of the mayfly from below, but they see the pattern of where the FEET touch the surface and dimple the mirror.)

Is a camera lens the same as a fish's eye? No. There are other books I recall that study how fish (trout) eyes work and see based on their physiology. It is different than the human eye, of course. Fascinating stuff to me.

And relevant to the discussion of a shiny rod flashing in the sun, the underwater camera showed it was visible; as well as a fisherman standing on the bank. Whether or not this spooks fish is another question.

Camo color for your rod? I always thought this was just for decoration myself, and had minimal, if any, effect.

Norman, what you described is something I count on during the summer months, on two of the lakes I regularly fish tournaments on. In fact, I have several spots that I won't head out to, until the boat traffic starts to get busy.

A story semi related to boat traffic, but not about it spooking fish ..... I used to fish quite a few tournaments on the Ohio River. When a barge would come along, my dad and I would run ahead of the barges and set up at the mouth of small back channels and wait for the barge to come along. If anyone is familiar with the wake and prop wash made by a large tug pushing multiple barges, then you know how much water is being moved. Especially if they are pushing up river. And if you aren't, it's about 2' high swells that trail the barge. Anyhow ..... that moving water would get the fish going. We won a tournament on the Hannibal Pool, on fish we caught running that pattern, and finished pretty high in others, doing the same thing.

lol I remember the first time my dad and I fished on the Ohio River. We were running down river and saw a tug pushing barges coming up the river. Expecting a big wake right near the end of the barges I slowed down. Well, there was barely a wake at the front of the barges so I hit the throttle. We're back up and running and I am looking over at the barges and tug as we passed it. First time ever seeing such a thing. That's when we hit the first swell trailing the tug. Boat goes airborne, motor revs, boat slams down on the water, tackle bouncing all around the boat. That's the last time we ever did that LOL We were actually lucky we didn't get seriously injured.

Kent, I am one that believes that visible line can spook fish. I won't say it is an all the time thing, because it isn't. I've had experiences where it makes a difference though. I used to use high vis line when fishing Senkos, because a lot of times you don't feel a bite on a Senko, you just see the line start moving off to the side, and the high vis line makes it easy to see that happen. One day I couldn't get bit, even though I knew there were fish in the places I was pitching to. I ran about a 100 yard section of shoreline cover without a bite and I was like no way there aren't fish in there. I turned the boat around and picked up another rod with fluorocarbon line. cut the bait off I had on it, and tied on the Senko. I went back down the same section pitching to the same spots, and put 6 fish in the boat. Environmental conditions had not changed, everything was the same, expect for the line I was using. From that moment on I stopped using high vis line.

Does it make a difference all the time? No, certainly not, but it made a difference that day, so I go by the philosophy, if it can make a difference sometimes, why not just gear up like every day is going to be one of those days.

I first hunted carp with a homemade bow, homemade barbed arrowhead, cedar arrow stave, angel-food cake tin bow reel, and nylon parachute cord. Since then I have observed the slightest movement or vibration will spook a carp. I have little doubt a rod with a flat finish and flat black guides is indicated for carp fishing in clear and/or shallow water.