Can one fish really SPOOK an entire school of fish away?

Otto

Senior Member
In a recent ESA show fish were caught and placed into some pools that were between the rocks. I think it was Raycat or Lloyd that said, if that fish was released back into the water that it would swim back to the school it came from and the entire school would spook and move off. How accurate is such a statement and have you experienced this? 
 

Fanie

Sealiner
Nee man daai ou lieg deur sy tanne. Die ander vis sal hulle nie eens aan die een ou verdwaalde enetjie wat terugkom steur nie.
 

BigBen

Sealiner
Otto wrote:
In a recent ESA show fish were caught and placed into some pools that were between the rocks. I think it was Raycat or Lloyd that said, if that fish was released back into the water that it would swim back to the school it came from and the entire school would spook and move off. How accurate is such a statement and have you experienced this? 
Interesting!...I read somewhere that a released injured fish spooks the school. I have experienced this with Galjoen behind the poola @ Monwa. Relased a baby and after that not one bite. Moved to the Preekstoel and landed some fish there.
 

DJP

Sealiner
Jinne Fanie mens se darm nie 'n man lieg sommer net so nie.

I find it to be true, especially for fish like galjoen, as soon as you put a tagged fish back, the school seems to scatter, but 30min or so later, the fish move back to the spot again.
 

kopstamp

Sealiner
same with geelbek, If you drop one on the way up, gone is the bites at least for 15min, then they start to feed again, if they feed slowly then the will be gone completely
 

BigBen

Sealiner
kopstamp wrote:
same with geelbek, If you drop one on the way up, gone is the bites at least for 15min, then they start to feed again, if they feed slowly then the will be gone completely
The only fish that stay in an area according to my experience are Kob and Shad.
 

Breads

Senior Member
BigBen wrote:
kopstamp wrote:
same with geelbek, If you drop one on the way up, gone is the bites at least for 15min, then they start to feed again, if they feed slowly then the will be gone completely
The only fish that stay in an area according to my experience are Kob and Shad.
I wonder if there is a connection to whether it is a predatory species or not - i.e. sharks, snoek, shad etc. (the hunters) don't move off when a fish is released, but those that are normally prey (galjoen, bream, etc) spook more easily. 
 

Mike Smith

Sealiner
Entirely true! Just experienced it for the upteenth time this past weekend. We got to Box 57 this past Saturday three hours before high tide and as we were rigging up, we saw to the left and right of us the guys were landing Kob cast for cast! Then the guy on the right let his kid bring in one fish when he had a double and the kid lost the fish in the shallows just 15 metres out.

 

Immediately all was quite for at least three quarters of an hour before they came back on the bite and not so furiously either! This I have witnessed on many occasions and the only fish to actually stick around is when the Elf are in a feeding frenzy. Fish are generally gregarious by nature and when they see one fleeing a spot, their natural survival instinct takes over and they will flee as well as if there was a seal sighted.
 

TOE 007

Sealiner
could be posible , theres just too many varibles , tides , the glass ect .


We have experianced , fishing from boats , for Kob , that if you drop your anchor to hard they dissapear !
yet again i think is more of a superstision an believe matter than fact .
my 2 c
 

ferrars

New member
In die verlede voor ons hengelaars so erg oor bewaaring was toe ons nog als dood gemaak het, het jy byvoorbeeld sakke en sakke vol Jan bruin gevang maar nou dat ons hul tydens kompetiesies terug sit vang jy nooit meer regtig sooo baie nie ek dink hulle word gespook deur die wat heeltyd terug gesit word, Kabeljou dieselfde vernam die groot vis sodra jy een verloor vlug die hele skool, maar ek dink daar is wel gevalle bywoorbeeld ek het in Mosambiek by die locals gehoor as jy Natal snoek vang dat jy die eerste een nie in die boot sit nie maar vas maak aan die boot en hom so paar meter onder die boot laat swem dit bring en hou dan die skool om die boot, ek weet nie hoe waar dit is nie maar het dit uit meer as een mond gehoor...
 

Press On

New member
TRUE . while i was spinning by myself i raised a shoal of fish and managed to catch and land one. i raised a second shoal but this time had a buddy close by, the fish were chasing my spinner but as soon as he lifted his rod to cast the fish were gone. this has happened more than once and also to others
 

marinello599

Senior Member
could be true,yet i think it varies with species....alcock's dvd,the segment where they fishing for bronze bream,all went in the pool and the cob on the other hand went back one after the other and still continued biting but that was at the swartkops and not the surf.could be a differance in feeding patterns????as for the esa program Ray an Lloyd did mention about releasing the cobbies and them spooking the rest,but cant remember so lekker....they did mention something about "shoaling cob".
But like Toe007 said....to many variables to be conclusive.

my 5bop.
 

Cor-Jo

Senior Member
Van die boot af is kabeljou baie lief om te verdwyn as jy n vis of 2 verloor of kleintjies terug sit.
 

hjfr

Senior Member
had the same experience with galjoen.when you move off a few metres they again go on the bite
 

Lead Head

New member
Mmmmm...... I don't buy it. I think your mind plays games with you and then you start believing that the shoal moves off when you loose a fish.

I can think of lots of cases that this didn't happen. Two of us once tagged and released 9 bronze bream in one small gully. I have caught and released up to 10 kob at the same spot. I have also had the wonderful experience of fishing with the research team in the De Hoop marine reserve. These chaps regularly catch, tag and release up to 30 galjoen in one shoal! I have also witnessed a really bizarre case where my fishing partner caught a big blacktail in a gully and after tagging it, released it in the neighbouring gulley. On his very next cast he caught the same blacktail that quickly swam back to its home gully!

I think an important issue here might be 'fish handling' because it is possible that an injured or seriously stressed fish may spook others (of the same species) in the area.  Perhaps something to consider?
 
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