Well, does rod flash on sunny days scare fish?

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Ryan,

I know it's a bit of a hobby horse with you but I don't think so.

All my river rods have a gloss finish and I seem to catch my reasonable share of fish.

My biggest problem is forgetting about the rod, approaching the river with great stealth and sticking it out over the river in front of me...see them bolt!!!!

Mind you, I do very little casting..I tend to be a flicker and roll caster.

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Roy

I wonder, is it a confidence thing?

I can see the flash on guys rods on our lake on sunny days from half a mile away.

Surely the fish aren't that stupid?

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I am not convinced it does scare fish. I tend to fish upstream anyway so any "flash" i would hope is behind the fish.
Fishing in a cloudless sky is something i dont suffer much from living in Scotland and if it is blazing the fish dont play the game anyway.
Another thought is if its lake /Loch fishing surley the waves and moving water seen from below are just a series of flashes and light anyway.
Maybe some of the comp guys could comment, they look for every edge they can?

I'd certainly never give it a thought on still waters..I use XPs which are pretty bright.

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Roy

Well I think they do and all my rods are dull. If you are able to get a copy (beg, borrow or steal) of Clarke & Goddards book where they went into this in great detail, I am sure you would be convinced that rod flash does have some impact on fish.

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I doubt it. I'm happy to fish with a gloss varnished rod. I have caught too many fish, including some big and ultra spooky Bonefish on high gloss varnished rods on very sunny cloudless days for it to be proven to be a problem. No doubt many will disagree.

What I do find a real fish scarer is flashy gloss leader material. I have seen Trout and Bonefish bolt when a leader has flashed when false cast over them. I de-flash all my leaders and tippet material before use these days. The old Cortland 444 in that glossy peach colour was a real fish scarer of a line too. I have read G & C's book. Much of it is heavily "borrowed" from Vincent Marinaro's earlier works. I would take issue with a lot of the content. Including the section where they or a guy with a snorkel lie on the river bed. A trout just does not see the world above the surface like a human does, nor does it have the capacity to reason like a human being does.

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My answer would be along the lines of "possibly, but it depends".

Keep in mind, like a signal mirror, the trout would only see the rod flash if the light source is reflected back toward them. Just because your seeing rod flash from across the lake doesn't mean the fish are also seeing it.

But they could be.

The thing is, I think like debating line color or clothing color, there are many, many factors that are more likely to spook the fish long before rod flash ever becomes an issue.

Only the fish know for sure and they aren't talking.

Grouse

[QUOTE=D-Flex;401793]
I have seen Trout and Bonefish bolt when a leader has flashed when false cast over them.QUOTE]

Sure it wasn't the false casting / rod flash / fly line that scared them?

Although there are better ways to scare fish (like bad wading technique), I am quite sure that rod flash does sometimes scare fish. They usually spook at the first sign of any un-natural or sudden movement, why should rod flash be any different?

Alex

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It's hard to know, there's no way of being able to find out if it does or not.

I fish the rods as they are made as I used to have a quick turn around rate on the latest models and rods in factory condition are easier to sell on. I don't think it matters for the fishing that I do, as I still seem to be able to catch them!

Brennan

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