boat traffic

[ikeslayer]

Tis the season for everyone and their mother and uncle and cousin, and cousins cousin 9 times removed to be on the water. i personally don't care either if there is lots of rec traffic but i am just wondering if any of you have found that it places fish in specific places or what effects it has on them. Was out today and there was little wind but lots of waves from 20 different directions and i just wondered how it positioned the fish. ike

[Slyster]

I find the traffic on weekends and holidays really [PoorWordUsage]s on fishing. I just don't go anymore. The fish seemed spooked. Better to go out after work on a weekday for a shorter time than to go out on a weekend for a long day. (Although I am a teacher so I don't worry about it!)

[lotsofish]

Fish aren't going to be active out in the open water, middle of the lake areas where there are boats flying over their heads the whole day. I agree they will be spooked. BUT, you can find some decent fishing if you can either find a small tucked away spot that the water skiers can't get into, or you can work the slop areas. For the most part, the recreational boaters aren't going to be tearing up the weeds too much, so you should be good to fish inside the weed lines. Bass will hang out inside those weedy areas anyway for cover. Go Texas rigged or something like a weedless frog.

[rangerforme]

Depends on the lake, lakes where the fish are used to that sound it doesn't bother them one bit, i.e. Minnetonka.

[sicheneder]

i believe it depends on how to fish. if you like using horizontal moving baits then i may. but if you want to go back and fish for them in cover it probally does not. i have not noticed a difference only because i am not a big horiz. fisherman. it happens all the times with docks and cover that there is fish there even with activity going on around them. or like on the miss. river in st.cloud that they fish move under cover in shallow water even with boat waves pounding on the shoreline.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Im a little undecided on this topic. I have caught alot a bass both big and small when boat traffic was high. My guess is bass become somewhat accustomed to the traffic on busy lakes. I believe the fish just stay closer to their cover but are still willing to attack a lure/prey that gets too close.