I was fishing my local river today when i got to a pool and a couple of ducks got up and made some commotion and normaly this is a little effective pool but i didnt even get a touch today ?
So do fish know the difference between a stone being thrown in and a bird making a commotion ?
I welcome your answers

shoot the ducks!
sorry out of season!
If small pool surface disturbance will always make trout wary for a while.
Maybe you shouldve waited a hal;f hour or so before starting.
Conversley, when salmon fishing, surface disturbance can make salmon more active!
regards
bert

A bit of surface disturbance is not the same as a stone being thrown in.
Saying that though, if the water is low and clear that can be enough to put the fish down.

I use to fish a lake in Kent-not for trout- but bream and tench.
We fished were the mallards were dapling or the cutes were diving-
thats were you would catch the fish.

Is this a reason for 'dogging' a pool? (Obviously not to be confused with the more modern meaning associated with premiership footballers and guest on the Jeremy Kyle show...)
I'm pretty sure that waterfowl splashing off when disturbed do put trout down. Inevitably they'll fly upstream and re-settle only to repeat the whole process as you fish up.

Andy

__________________
GAIC Single Handed Casting Instructor

http://www.andygreyfishing.com/

I am not saying this is the same all over, but I have watched browns and rainbows in the gin clear waters of the Wye working nymphs just under the surface. with a load of ducks splashing around above them. so close you would swear they where giving the fish the occasional kick in the head.
I guess here they had just got used to the disturbance, gawd help them if the cormorants find out.

various replies and thanks for the input
funnily enough the ducks had flown down stream
perhaps its just my inabilty to catch fish haa

It has a profound effect on behaviour of the fish and the habitat they use. Close to my homw waters, are two big accumulation lakes. They became home of common mersanger. As population grew they started to appear on rivers and streams nearby, let`s say some 5 years ago, the population started to go up. Nowdays places (on wild water) which were commonly occupied by fish are empty as they are too exposed to avian predators. There are still fish of course, but behaviour is diffrent. Plus they have become extremely bird shy. Perheaps you have seen some of my movies in which i am crawling on the ground. It is very important to stay out of the eyesight or if it does see you, to be close to the ground, becouse anything higher is interpreted as a bird and couses panic.

About a week ago i was watching one trout on teh surface picking flies. I was some 30 meters behind it and some 10m higher, behind some branches so no possible chance that a fish would detect me. Suddenly it went into a panic run under the nearest rock. At first i was condused, but realised a bit later, that a crow flew over it some 5-10m above it. As said, they have become extremely shy of anything bird like.

BlueOne

exactly where the expresssion came from.
In salmon pools where the fish have been in for a day or two, and are getting stale, the keeper would put his dogs across pool a couple of times to "stir the fish up a bit" it works, hence the expression!
regards
bert

they're a bloody unpredictable fish. as far as being spooked, i've had a few surprising catches. i used to fish lake vyrnwy a lot, and i recall a few times when i was cruising out on full power (electric motor), i'd let my line out to straighten it out before i get started. a couple of times i had a wild brownie less than 5 metres from the boat, right in the wake.

one time, the wind was so bad, and since all the fish on vyrnwy are within a few metres of the bank. i powered up the motor in reverse to keep me away from the bank, i drifted down perfectly along the bank with the motor keeping my away from the trees, and i had 4 wild brownies by the end of the drift.

considering wild brownies are usually easily spooked, i was really surprised.