I will often search with my sonar, but only mark spots on the chart and continue without fishing that spot; then double back a short time later to fish it.  

When approaching an intended fishing spot I approach from upwind with no sonar, no outboard motor within 100 yards, no trolling motor within 50 yards and float to where I want to very quietly lower (not drop) anchor.  If I must use the trolling motor to position my boat I keep it at a very low power.  I fish alone, no radio or phone conversions and usually do not use the raised front deck to cast from keeping a lower profile.  I prefer fishing without shoes on and keep all tackle and tools on top of the deck so I won't need to make noise banging compartment lids.

 

What measures, if any, do you take to minimize your presence to the bass you're stalking?

 

... Didn't think to mention all of my fishing shirts are solid pale blue or white and my Tilley hat is beige. 

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by OkobojiEagle
poor memory

I’d say it depends - when I’m really hunting a big fish that I’m confident is there - it’s a very big part.  When I’m scouting or doing opportunistic recon - chuck n’ winding - I care a little less about it.  If I’m fishing a lily pad flat on a pressured lake mid day in the summer time I won’t even bother fishing it if I’m not feeling up to the task of being stealthy.

 

sometimes I’m on the water to hang with my dog and my wife and my son and enjoy the weather and fish are just a bonus.  Sometimes I’ve got my warpaint on.

Minimal. I’m of the opinion that bass are nowhere near as easily spooked as they’re made out to be. I very frequently catch bass within my sight that I know can see me. I dont try to make extra noise or wear loudly colored clothing, but I also don’t think about it too much. Bass aren’t very spooky. 

I think bass are very spooky.  I have caught them within feet of the boat too.  My strategy is almost the same as you describe.  It's just a good way to fish.

I fish clear water. I stay back and make longer cast to known bass hangouts. I avoid all boat noise, and try not to cast shadows over fish. Downsizing baits and casting with a quiet bait entry can help too.

I can't really form an opinion here. I fish a lot of saltwater, relatively deep - up to say 100' (I'm mostly in 30' - 80') - and I watch a lot of video of the same type of fishing. I watched a recent video and the angler showed underwater footage at 65' deep. You heard the sonar and surrounding boat traffic but those fish didn't spook. I realize that they are not freshwater bass but it just gives you an idea that the 3 or 4 different species - fluke, blackfish, black sea bass and I think the other was bluefish, had no care in the world as to what was going on above.

I paddle a wooden carpeted canoe, wear subdued colors, and usually use a mono or floro leader. Try to fish when there is a little breeze, shade, before the sun comes up, or light rain. Most of the ponds I fish are crystal clear where I can see through the weeds.

55 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

What measures, if any, do you take to minimize your presence to the bass you're stalking? 

If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me.

Let's just say that I am pretty sure I'm on the farthest end of the 'Extreme' category.

Probably just a huge waste of time & effort, though.

A-Jay

It doesn’t. I power in blow the place up catch fish “hopefully” and on to the next. If I keep catching fish I stay. If not on to the next. 

I think a lot of it depends on the type of waters you fish. Bass in a lake that don't see much boat traffic will spook much easier, so you need to be stealthy to catch them. Bass in waters with lots of boat traffic are more use to noise / disturbance, and generally don't spook that easily. Case in point- I caught my PB in a lake with lots of boat traffic. I had the sonar pinging, trolling motor going. I caught it five feet from the boat in five feet of water. The bass could see and hear the boat, and it still took my spinnerbait.

The most stealth I will use on a fishing day is getting out of bed, and out of the house without waking my wife up.  After that it depends on conditions, and what techniques I'm using.  If the water is muddy, and I'm punching and flipping, then not to much stealth involved.  When I approach a lone piece of cover on a large flat, I approach with as much stealth as possible.  Make an extremely long cast, and wait to get the lure off of the cover I snagged until I hang up the other three presentations I have rigged.  Four long distance casts, four snagged lures, 10 minutes untangling the mess, 5 minutes of loud swearing, and 15 minutes of stealthy quiet while I retie all of my lures I just lost.  Then I go to the next place, and come back an hour later, hoping the bass have forgotten I'm there or at least have quit laughing.

My stealth ends where the water meets the ramp.  Where I fish there is boat noise all day long so they are used to it.  I don’t try to sneak up on them.

I definitely try to be stealthy but the biggest bass of my life by far was caught with the trolling motor on 7 right near the boat. The second biggest was a very similar situation. 

as a kayaker, I dont have a non-stealth option.  

 

I love the long casts to distant fish.   I think they have no idea I am coming for them.

Assuming @A-Jay and @Swamp Girl are a 10 on the overall stealth scale, I’m probably a 2… maybe 2-1/2. I watch my shadows, try not to be overly drunk and disorderly in the boat when I move around, and will try and shut down early around known spots, but the engine stays running half the time, the depthfinders never get turned off, and I sometimes find trolling a bait right over their heads is the best option.

Fish Rivers a lot . I try to be , But probably not as much as I should. Really pay attention to bait,wind and current 

1 hour ago, jbmaine said:

I think a lot of it depends on the type of waters you fish. Bass in a lake that don't see much boat traffic will spook much easier, so you need to be stealthy to catch them. Bass in waters with lots of boat traffic are more use to noise / disturbance, and generally don't spook that easily. 

I have the exact opposite opinion, especially if we are targeting larger, many year's old bass that have been fished for and caught; possibly many time over it's lifetime.  That bass is keenly aware of it's surroundings and is most likely very cognizant of the boat traffic, but is wary of eating throughout that chaos and may well have changed it's life cycle to feeding nocturnally.

On 12/21/2025 at 9:49 AM, jbmaine said:

Bass in a lake that don't see much boat traffic will spook much easier, so you need to be stealthy to catch them.

 

This is also my experience. I've fished in the middle of flotillas on the Mississippi River and other places and caught many fish, but on the lightly fished ponds I fish, if you're not quiet, you're not catching. An example is one time I was sitting in the middle of a thick lily pad field and I bumped my canoe. There were four or five swirls within feet of my canoe as the bass fled. This happened again last fall when I was paddling through thick weeds and bumped my boat. Bass bolted.

 

So, like @padlin, I pad my canoe, wear soft shoes, make long casts, alight my lures on the water, etc.

This is going to be situational.  In clear water with high pressure, I take it very seriously.  I creep in slowly and make long casts.  Shut off the main outboard a significant distance away from the target.

 

In less pressured waters, and the water is murky or stained, it probably doesn't as matter as much.  But it's a variable I can control, so I am going to control it.  I don't walk into my deer stand, turkey blind, or pheasant field stomping around like a clydesdale either.

 

In-Fisherman posted the results of a study this past summer in one of their monthly editions and that study revealed that bass in certain environments are more tolerant of noise than others depending on where they reside.  Bass in open water were much spookier to noise than bass in shallow water around cover.  Bass that hung around docks were the most tolerable to noise.

 

I try to stay stealthy but dont gp to the lengths as  @OkobojiEagle

I try to at least slightly exceed the bass' level of caring about my presence in that moment. 

 

Sometimes they seem very sensitive to my presence. Other times, I have literally been swimming with them boiling all around me. Most of time, it's closer to the middle of the spectrum. I'm not opposed to turning off the pinging, using as low a speed as possible. My boat is small, low, and army drab green. I also have a 1/2" rubber mat on the floor of my boat and I don't play music.

 

 

The one thing I learned is being stealthy or quite doesn’t shut off a bite and noisy can.

Tom

I don't do anything special to be stealthy or quite. My Reservoir has a lot of boat traffic and is always a little muddy or stained. Having said that, I am normally pretty quite quite fishing since I fish by myself the majority of the time.

I fish a spring run in FL that, if the fish see you they're gone.  It's clear and long casts are necessary to catch a fish.  Otherwise on lakes or rivers with a lot of traffic and stained water IMO it doesn't matter that much.