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I don't think it is just barges that trigger them but smaller boats as well. I think lots of fish come up and get an easy meal from passing boats.
Seagulls follow my boat all the time and dive behind it at shad that are hit and I am sure fish clue on to this to. I think this is one reason trolling for white bass is so effective. Most times you can catch them when trolling but if you stop in the same place and cast for them you won't get a bite but just as soon as you start trolling again you start picking up fish instantly. I don't know how many times I have had that happen to me as soon as I am on them I shut the motor down and start casting and get nothing. Then start the motor back up and as soon as I get the lures behind the boat I pick up fish.
Blues are school fish just like many other species of fish and that is why when one rod gets hit you can just about count on getting bites on the other rods while you are reeling in the fish you hooked. I have sat there for 30 minutes and not got a bite and then had all the rods start getting hits at nearly the same time. Then it may shut down till the next school comes along and the same thing will happen again.
 
i have heard the barge bite is as simple as the blues moving out of the main channel,getting away from the barge and in turn swimming closer to your bait where you are fishing.
 
I have experienced the same on lake travis here in tx. just small ski boats but you could count on a bite on just about every pole while a boat was heading at you. once the boat got past everything would stop. Interesting replies.
 
I have seen the same action from barges passen on the MO river. But get this. We have a train crossing on the gasconade 1/4 mile from the mouth of the MO, when a train rumbles over the fish bite like crazy sometimes for 30 min after. You can feel the train shake the ground and it pops bubbles all over the area around the bridge. I wonder if the low freq soundwaves disorient the bait fish like a sonic blast from a wale or somthing with its echo location. But cats being the tough suckers they are ant all that affected and learn easy pickens are to be had from slightly stunned bait fish. Just a though mabe one of you young guys goen to college could present that in a paper for a class and get a marine bioligest looking into it.:smile2:
 
I have seen the same action from barges passen on the MO river. But get this. We have a train crossing on the gasconade 1/4 mile from the mouth of the MO, when a train rumbles over the fish bite like crazy sometimes for 30 min after. You can feel the train shake the ground and it pops bubbles all over the area around the bridge. I wonder if the low freq soundwaves disorient the bait fish like a sonic blast from a wale or somthing with its echo location. But cats being the tough suckers they are ant all that affected and learn easy pickens are to be had from slightly stunned bait fish. Just a though mabe one of you young guys goen to college could present that in a paper for a class and get a marine bioligest looking into it.:smile2:
There was a lake we used to fish when I was a kid that had a railroad trestle at the end of the lake with just a road between it and the water.A train came by about every hour and shook the ground and about scared the crap out of us because it was almost overhead.But we learned to stay right there and fish because they always bit like crazy right after.
 
Speaking of marine biologist,its what I majored in during college..Of course I never completed college but learned a lot about fish biology and I also worked at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans..Of course all fish have a lateral line that picks up movement and vibrations in the water..Some fish use it differently than others,like fish that school use it to keep from bumping into each other,and predatory fish of course use it to pick up erratic vibrations made by wounded baitfish or bugs on the surface..Some fish also send out a sort of "fear scent" which may be caused by loud sounds of barges or trains and cars crossing a bridges or such..Those predatory fish are reacting to that scent..You know how you were always told not to tap on the glass of a fish tank,thats why, it scares the fish..Also in catfish just like in sharks they have a keen sense of smell also and catfish like sharks will go nuts when it smells blood..It is the amino acids in the blood that causes this reaction..Hense the reason why cut bait and liver works so well cause of course it is bloody..
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
That makes alot of sense and kinda backs up my theory.
"I knew I knowed somethin" LOL :smile2:

Speaking of marine biologist,its what I majored in during college..Of course I never completed college but learned a lot about fish biology and I also worked at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans..Of course all fish have a lateral line that picks up movement and vibrations in the water..Some fish use it differently than others,like fish that school use it to keep from bumping into each other,and predatory fish of course use it to pick up erratic vibrations made by wounded baitfish or bugs on the surface..Some fish also send out a sort of "fear scent" which may be caused by loud sounds of barges or trains and cars crossing a bridges or such..Those predatory fish are reacting to that scent..You know how you were always told not to tap on the glass of a fish tank,thats why, it scares the fish..Also in catfish just like in sharks they have a keen sense of smell also and catfish like sharks will go nuts when it smells blood..It is the amino acids in the blood that causes this reaction..Hense the reason why cut bait and liver works so well cause of course it is bloody..
 
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