Stealth

b) STEALTH

A sound as loud as a clap of thunder, a rumbling barrage of noise and wave vibrations – that is what a striper hears when an anchor chain is dropped onto the floor of a boat.

Sound carries under water and stripers hate noise, especially the sound of motors, large or small.

Slam a couple of ice locker lids, kick an empty bucket out of the way, drop a couple of lead sinkers on the floor, and the chances of your catching anything decent is history.

Stealth is not a theory – it’s an absolute requirement for quality fishing. Countless times I’ve been sitting around a bridge somewhere and the sound of a motor approaches, back and forth, round and round, finally the anchor is thrown and the line catches something and it sounds like a bucket full of large nuts and bolts hitting the floor. The motor is finally shut off and I am pissed off again. The chances of catching a striper has been shut off as well.

I pull my anchor and go home or go somewhere else. That boat and it’s unthinkable crew have just ruined a day or night of fishing for themselves and everybody around them. If you want to catch bass around bridges at night especially, either quiet proof your boat and attitude or go do something else, like disco dancing.

Absolutely nothing can ruin everybody’s day more than some moron, uneducated, nothing more than a complete jerk with some bizarre desire to catch a striper. It’s no wonder that ten percent of the angling public catches 90% of the fish.

Stripers hate noise. This includes boat motors (though excluding trolling motors).

Wanna do a test?

Put your ear to the floor of the boat while the engine’s running. A striper can hear the same noise through a couple hundred feet of water.

Drop a penny on the floor, same result.

Stripes have excellent hearing, at least a hundred times better than ours. If you’re as serious about catching bass as I am, you have no choice other than to sound proof your whole act.

Start with your brain. Tell your brain to think ahead. Tell your brain to keep your Whole Act Quiet.

The three big noises are: motor’s running, anchor’s clinging and dropping junk on the floor of the boat.

Here are some others: beer cans rolling around the boat and slapping eels on the boat.

One solution is to place a half inch foam rubber pad on the floor of your boat that will absorb a lot of the extra noise and they are washable.

Extra caution is needed in handling anchors and chairs. Before you leave the dock, pull out your anchor, chain and line. The line goes on the bottom and the anchor goes on top. No slamming of lids, no slamming of hatches, and nothing clanking if you use this procedure.

Stealth yourself a favor and others by having a plan before you go. Pick a primary spot, with a couple of alternatives if the primary spot is busy. If the primary spot is open, get in as quickly and QUIETLY as possible. Shut your engine off as soon as the anchor catches and KEEP QUIET!

Shut up and fish.