Loud music and noise

[NewMNIceFisher]

I have seen people on the Duluth and URL pages talk about crowding, bad behavior, etc. Last night we were at Boulder and the crappies were hitting pretty good. What was annoying was that two parties had blaring tunes blasting in the darkness. When one left, he did his best to squeel out on the ice. I am new to ice fishing, and I am starting to wonder if a guy should just get as far away from everybody as possible? It's kind of hard to figure out what the expected behaviour is..??

Another question. When I have been searching for crappies I have found that the first drop of a line often gets a fish. So, does the auger really scare them away? If not, what kind of noise do people who have fished for a while think scares away the fish. Just wondering.

[JustinG]

I believe that first ice noise like that is much spookier on the fish than 30" of ice. I also believe that fishing in a crowd is unproductive no matter what time of year. I have never had luck fishing in a village. There is just too much going on in there that spook fish away- multiple augers running constantly, generators running, loud music, trucks driving around, the list goes on. When people get bored because the fish aren't biting, that is when the riff-raff starts. Instead of searching for actively biting fish, most people just sit there for what ever reason.

I don't honestly think that 1 or 2 augers running for 10 minutes then silence is going to scare the fish away. I have caught many Rainbows or other shallow biting fish 2 minutes after the auger has shut off. Most village areas of the lake have NON-STOP noise and I think the fish will avoid them for the most part.

Your always best to get away from anybody!

Hope this helps!

Justin

[Fish&Fowl]

I will pretty much tend to stay away from the crowds as much as possible. I just don't like the idea of setting up next to someone and hate being set up next to.

As far as noise, I think in areas with a lot of pressure noise is a negative thing. But as mentioned earlier, I too have had spots when fishing alone or in small groups where the first hole gets a fish. Also had spots when crappie fishing where each new hole drilled there was a fish caught. This was in 15-17 fow.

Mostly I would classify a lot of noise as a negative, but it's all going to depend on the lake and the fishing pressure.