Larry L wrote:

"Tim G" wrote


Any thoughts?


I think the fish care and that loud wading and loud thumping up and down the
bank ... bare minimum ... alert the fish to possible danger and make them
more careful in feeding.

I also think that the fish can hear the studs on the rocks. However, I'm
glad to have them when I fish bigger and/or heavier water where I think
the effect is much less. When I was younger I was a maniac wader and
didn't care about falling or getting dunked. Don't like it anymore.

In most of the popular places that we fish, the fish "see" people quite
frequently whether they are anglers or hikers or ??? If they spooked
from the presence of people, they'd starve to death or become strictly night
feeders. Most fish adapt to this and continue to feed in the presence of
people. However, like you say, they do still become alerted and make
changes in their behavior. Once they are alerted, although they still
continue to feed, they are much more difficult to fool. In places where
fish have little contact with man, and especially in smaller back
country streams, they will usually easily spook and in these places the
studs are a bad idea, IMO.

Willi