# Thumping on the boat to attract whites and stripers



## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

After the "epic" trip Saturday with Lake Livingston adventures, I decided to do some research on all the thumping you hear on the south end of the lake. 

When we saw fish on the screen, Mike would start thumping. We limited in under 90 minutes but since we were drifting, we could have been moving over larger schools instead of fish showing up because of the thumping. I like peace and quit when I fish so I didn't want to thump if I didn't have to....

As I researched the topic, I came across articles, underwater recordings, misinformation etc. There isn't one right answer but the general feeling is that sound can attract fish. We have all heard the sound a black drum makes or a catfish when we catch them and have heard the rattle noise shad make when they run up in shallow water. If you fish in an aluminum boat, you also can hear the sound of a rattle trap as you retrieve it quickly.

Even though most believe sound can attract fish, it falls apart from there. Some believe it is in the 50 - 100 Hz range, while others think it is in the 100 - 1000 Hz range. For $.99 you can get an app for the iPhone that simulates bait fish noise and for another $39 you can buy the underwater speaker.

One thing I did read from academic publications (and tend to believe) is that it isn't so much the sound but the vibration. The anatomy of fish is very different from ours; then don't have the inner ear system we have to convert typical waves to an audible sound but possibly rely more on feeling vibrations with their body. They could interpret these vibrations as a fish struggling, which can turn on the feeding frenzy. If it is truly vibrations, this lends some credit to thumping the boat. It also supports the lower frequency range for attracting fish since the thump is probably around 100 Hz (if I had to guess) plus the boat is acting like a huge speaker that is directing that sound down and outward. The papers suggest that fish from 100 yds out could be attracted to the right noise. It also make me skeptical of the $39 speaker system because it is targeting sound and isn't big enough to produce the vibration.

So now what? I plan to experiment. I luckily have many hobbies and some don't involve fishing. 10 years ago (or so) I starting playing guitar and then learned to play piano, harmonica and drums. I also got bored with just playing and wanted to record my music so I set up a recording studio in my house. I also have a swimming pool in the back yard. You see where this is going and before you jump on board and subscribe to the thread, this project could take a year. I plan to build an underwater speaker system that maximizes vibration, then make recordings from my drums. First will be the bass drum, then the snare, followed by toms, etc to get noises in different frequency ranges and test it in the pool. My recording software will also show the frequency range so maybe I can record the thumping and try to break that down. At the end of the day I hope to have a speaker that can be placed overboard to produce vibrations without have to hear the thump. I know you can buy systems to do this but I want to invent my own wheel, so to speak.

In the mean time, I do notice I seem to catch more fish when AC/DC is playing on my boat stereo and less when something slower and lighter is playing.

I also bought a thump pole this weekend........


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## nikki (Apr 14, 2011)

Thumping is ?? to me but I have often over the years whipping my rod on surface or letting troll motor spin the surface for schooling whites. They often resume breaking surface once it was tried. Was the noise the reason they did? Can't prove it but I still do it after 30+ years


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## GT11 (Jan 1, 2013)

I was fishing whites by dove island one day and the whites stopped biting. I cranked the motor (little 40hp Merc 2 stroke) to leave and the fish blew up out of the water. I went back to catching, when they stopped biting again, I cranked to leave again and the same thing happen....this went on for three or four more cycles until it started getting dark on me. I thought is was strange at the time but as I research, it is making more sense.

I also read about whipping the rod on the surface in figure 8's to stir them up and people say it works.


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