Question – How much does Outboard Motor Noise affect fishing?

[bobby b.]

I use a 1648 flat bottom Jon to fish up the rivers, over to Bull, etc. rather than pull my other boat from the slip down near the darn or drive on the water long distances.  I am in the market for a mud motor to use on this Jon boat for duck hunting as I am getting too old for my small layout boat.  Regarding the Mud Motor, I have two choices 1) get a long tail mud motor and exchange it seasonally with the outboard on the Jon or 2) trade the outboard in for a permanently installed shallow water drive Mud Motor.  As I get older, option No.1 will get harder due to the weight of these motors (even with a hoist in my garage).  In case you are not familiar with these mud motors, I’ve attached a pic of each.  The long tails are direct drive and thus have no reverse and would be useless for fishing while the shallow water drive does have reverse and could possibly work for fishing yet not really as good as a traditional outboard.  These are 25 hp air cooled motors producing noise similar to a lawn tractor.

The Question - So if I opt for No.2, how much do you think my fishing would be affected by the engine noise or might it even be better as there is no exhaust thru the lower unit?

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Bobby

 

[Guest]

i don't have a clue, but reverse is quite often nice to have.

bo

[bobby b.]

2 minutes ago, merc1997 said:

i don't have a clue, but reverse is quite often nice to have.

bo

Darn, I was counting on an answer from you.

Bobby

[Bill Babler]

Bobby the noise question is a good one.  On trout it does not seem to matter much on Taney as there is constant boat traffic.  You can however in some instances watch the trout move away from the boat and then after it has passed they seem to curl back into their previous location and will bite.

On bass, Bill Beck would never either run or idle down a shoreline and then fish it.  He always wanted to come in at the start or the finish without cruising it.  I asked him about it several times and he always said it was just more of a feeling to him that running down a bank with the motor on was not as good as fishing from a straight in approach on point A to point B without disturbing the water.

As far as deep fishing in the Summer I have had ladies swimming around the boat and their husbands catching fish up and down in 22' to 30' so splashing around in the water over deep fish does not seem to be a real problem.

I would however think if your fishing up a small river the wake alone not to mention the noise of that rig would be a factor.  I would probably want to fish the tail of the pool up rather than run over the area watering the entire bank with a wave headed up hill

Very interesting

[BilletHead]

           Bobby,

  I have a smaller mud motor 10 hp that I have ran in skinny water in a narrow river and immediately shut down and caught fish. But than again no telling what I may of done with a stealth approach. Here is another one for you. We all know how noisy jets are and I run one of those also. Same river but a bit wider farther downstream. Run the fire out of the jet and catch right away plus in big current do an anchor plus jet in gear to hold. Catch bass along bank ten yards away and hybrids all across the river. Go figure? 

  BilletHead

[Ham]

Hard to say in a simple answer. It matters when it matters. I’ve caught trout with the motor running (like yesterday) often. 

Ive caught White Bass and Hybrids when using the outboard to hold the boat in place to hit an eddy. 

Boat wakes and traffic can turn fish on BUT I’ve seen times when the boat motor noise from lots of boats seem to turn the fish off even if the boats are really close to the fish. 

I’d rather have it quiet if I can, but motor noise bothering the fish shouldn’t stop you from getting either motor. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

  I would probably want to fish the tail of the pool up rather than run over the area watering the entire bank with a wave headed up hill

That's my approach.  But I've been with buddies like to blow up river and fish back. 

[Quillback]

I remember a time, maybe 25 years ago, where the guides on the White below Bull would do doughnuts on deep holes that were holding browns, theory being the browns would get agitated, move around, and that would get them to bite.  

[fishinwrench]

Typical wisdom tells us to approach as quietly as possible.  

There are exceptions, like a school of summer time white bass that will turn on after a boat passes overhead.  Or a school of crappie that will go on the feed after pounding on the side of the boat.  

But I think the first approach should always be a quiet one.    You can always find ways to make more noise if you want to, so it's probably best to have a rig that will operate quietly.

[Dutch]

I used to fish with a guy who would go roaring down a bank pull up and fish back.  He said that it would wake them up.