Scaring off Walleyes with tent?

7finn · #1 01-15-2018, 11:40 AM

This is just something i noticed and thought i would share. I was on CV North/west yesterday and after poking about 20 + holes i finally found some small cobble stones 13fow and we hooked up on a few walleyes right away. We decided set up our tent. "Its a big 8-10 person hub tent"
Once we were all set up "15 min max" it was nothing but pike all day, lots of them but nothing over 5 lbs. Usually about every 10-15 min all day.
We had seen 3 other eyes on the camera and landed one in the tent all day.
But If we walked over to the previous drilled holes 10-15 feet away from the tent we would catch one or 2 eyes per a hole, giving each hole at least a 30 min break in between?

The same thing happened on the south/east side last weekend. we poked a bunch of holes and finally found a hot spot 23fow , we set the big hub tent again and then nothing again !!
The tip ups and me hole hoping around with a spoon out fished the tent all day. And this was only 5-15 feet away from the tent at most. We landed maybe 3 eyes in the tent and had seen maybe five eyes on the camera all day.

And 2 weekends ago exact same spot 23fow, we were using our small 2 person pull over tent and We were landing eyes all day long in it, with the tip ups producing okish. We did really good on this day as we could see lots of fish on the camera and we could give them what they wanted.

Im starting to think that the eyes are really spooked by the dark shadow produced by my hut . Its a black double hub popup tent .

I guess bigger isn't always better !!

EZM · #2 01-15-2018, 11:48 AM

I can't say I've ever noticed that - but certainly, if you are casting a dark shadow maybe something looks "off" to them. If fish are in that sensitive mood, anything out of the ordinary can have an effect I guess.

I know sometimes if fishing is slow - shoveling off the area right around the tent seems to get more light down there and we have noticed more activity. We discovered this through sheer boredom ..... have been doing it ever since.

The other really weird one - if fishing slows down - sometimes drilling a few holes brings fish in to have a look at what all the racket is about. I have noticed this with perch in particular.

As a result, sometimes, while sitting in the tent, if it's dead, I splash the water in the hole around and make some racket. Seems to also attract fish quite often.

NSR Fisher · #3 01-15-2018, 12:06 PM

If you are in less than 20 feet of water, sometimes the noise of setting up a tent and everything involved with that is enough to spook them, not just the shadow it casts.

Also depending on the lake Walleye like to roam wide areas so setting up in 1 spot unless its a golden piece of structure like a sunken rock pile is never really a good idea. Hole hopping is generally a solid way to target Walleye through the ice IMO, even if its just smaller micro-moves within a confined grid you have marked.

Most guys who chase giant green backs on Lake Winnipeg don't even pack a large tent, rather they take the portable otters that you can quickly flip up and drive off with in order to stay mobile.

Food for thought.

NSR Fisher · #4 01-15-2018, 12:12 PM

Haha, that's funny EZM I've found the opposite with regards to noise!

The only noise I find brings walleye in is the clicking/clacking of rattle raps and the vibration given off from blade baits.

Interesting that we've had opposite experiences with surface noise. I've had Walleye marked on my sonar, shouted for my buddy to check out this huge mark and as he comes tromping over the mark disengages. I have seen the same thing with underwater cameras, shouting for a friend to come check out this fish and just as they come up the fish spooks off from the stomping of ice cleats haha.

muzzy · #5 01-15-2018, 01:46 PM

I have had no issues with my ice tent or my ice shack in regards to spooking walleye. Like others mentioned I have noticed them take off on my underwater camera when you shout to a buddy or get up suddenly. Ive scuba dived under ice and used two trucks as marker as to where the hole was. The trucks do cast a dark spot on the ice but the shadow did not extend down to the bottom ( we were in 15-18 feet crystal clear water in northern manitoba) and being the dark shadow did not move it had not scaring effect on the fish at all. I would think the fish would actually prefer a darker spot for better camoflage .
Gord

7finn · #6 01-15-2018, 09:27 PM

Some great feed back here thank You guys . Generally we are pretty quite in the tent and usally when i go hole hoping i have to break some ice making noise and then drop down the spoon and bang fish on, 10 feet away from the hut. I just find it really strange that i locate and catch 2 fish then set up and they are gone from that hole for the rest of the day, but if i walk 10 feet away from the tent in other direction i can catch fish. But as im typing this i can also remeber a few times when we have spooked a fish that was on the screen just by using the door zipper or moving a chair around or just moving around in the hut. And i guess if the eyes are a little spooky, on going little noises might keep them at a distance.

Time for ninja mode i guess

Alberta Bigbore · #7 01-15-2018, 09:50 PM

I notice i catch more fish away from the shadow of a truck or tent

PlayDoh · #8 01-16-2018, 12:04 PM

I’ve found the eyes cruise in and out from structure throughout the day. In to feed, out to rest and they move slowly. I find the smaller ones are first to move more often, yet it could be there more inclined to investigate and bite than more mature fish.
The length of the cycle depends on how active they are. Sometimes 20 mins, others 2 or more hours. It’s helpful to remember fish don’t eat constantly. And often just finding the fish doesn’t mean they’ll start biting. You can try to think like your targeting bait fish areas.
I recall from one of the Linder’’s books, was to think of fish as land animals, that’ just happen to be underwater. They relate to the land (lake bottom) just as land animals do.
Just like Deer will move throughout the day, at times feeding, other times moving from shelter to and from feeding areas.
IMO what attracts fish one day, will spook them tomorrow. I remember as kids we were on the boat just about to move to another spot, when my uncle took a whizz off the back. Our jigs were in 6” inches of water and all 3 of us were catching pike one after the other, seconds after.
Maybe your shadow was effecting bait fish? Eye’s target bait fish when it’s dark enough that they see much better than the bait.
Yet personally I think it was just coincidence. Especially when you consider there was a few inches of snow on the ice the effect your tent made has to be minuscule in more than 3-4’ of water. But who knows. As soon as you think you have everything figured out, the game changes and your sitting there wondering where all the fish went, lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cube · #9 01-16-2018, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7finn

This is just something i noticed and thought i would share. I was on CV North/west yesterday and after poking about 20 + holes i finally found some small cobble stones 13fow and we hooked up on a few walleyes right away. We decided set up our tent. "Its a big 8-10 person hub tent"
Once we were all set up "15 min max" it was nothing but pike all day, lots of them but nothing over 5 lbs. Usually about every 10-15 min all day.
We had seen 3 other eyes on the camera and landed one in the tent all day.
But If we walked over to the previous drilled holes 10-15 feet away from the tent we would catch one or 2 eyes per a hole, giving each hole at least a 30 min break in between?

The same thing happened on the south/east side last weekend. we poked a bunch of holes and finally found a hot spot 23fow , we set the big hub tent again and then nothing again !!
The tip ups and me hole hoping around with a spoon out fished the tent all day. And this was only 5-15 feet away from the tent at most. We landed maybe 3 eyes in the tent and had seen maybe five eyes on the camera all day.

And 2 weekends ago exact same spot 23fow, we were using our small 2 person pull over tent and We were landing eyes all day long in it, with the tip ups producing okish. We did really good on this day as we could see lots of fish on the camera and we could give them what they wanted.

Im starting to think that the eyes are really spooked by the dark shadow produced by my hut . Its a black double hub popup tent .

I guess bigger isn't always better !!

I can believe it. While drift jigging in the summer I have noticed those fishermen on the shadow side of the boat will not catch nearly as much as those on the proximal sun side. Though I have found this effect is some what variable in that it does not allways happen. When the bite is good it does not seem to matter but if the bite is slower I certainly have seen this effect.