Does speaking actually scare off the fish?

Some people think so, noises and sounds will impact the fishing.

Kinda sounds like BS to me. Yelling, maybe talking highly doubtful. I’ll scream at my aquarium a bit when I get home to test it out for ya.

I can’t say for sure, but I do think they’re more sensitive to sounds than you’d think. We have two koi ponds in our yard and the fish do come closer if they hear people talking. Now, these are fish that get fed when there are people standing near the pond, but it seems plausible that wild fish might be slightly started by chatter, but I doubt that it would be enough for them to stay away for long.

Certainly does not apply to deep sea murder fishing.
I’m guessing it’s a guy thing to keep things quiet.

In the spring in Wisconsin, those in the know will boat full throttle into lake bays to shake things up and get the attention of trophy Northerns. You did not hear this from me…:)

I have a fish pond and feed my fish every day during the summer. I walk up to the pond and talk. I even say, “Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!” They come to the side where I am standing and eat the food as I sprinkle it in the water. Fun.

They also come when I don’t speak so I figure it is my movement or the sound I make on the gravel while I walk up to the edge

If I remember from high school biology class correctly, fish don’t “hear” – that is, they don’t have ears – but they feel vibrations in their body via a sort of nerve that runs down their side from head to tail. If your voice is sufficiently loud, it’ll affect the ambient noise of the water, and change the vibrations they’re feeling.

Fish are made up almost entirely of instinct. They don’t have cognitive thought, so any vibration you add to the water has to belong there, in their brain. If it doesn’t, they’ll bolt. Will they come back? Maybe. Even probably.

But then you add in fishing superstition, and you have a hard and fast rule that there’s no speaking on the lake until the 6-pack is gone and we forget it’s a rule.

I think they can ‘hear’ us. I lived by a large pond once, and sometimes it would spill over after a good rain, and trap fish in a nearby ditch. When I would drive up on my four wheeler,or walk up they would come to the surface and watch me. If I made sudden movement,or shouted at them they reacted.

It also depends on the type of fishing you’re doing. When I ‘beat the banks’ fishing for Bream ,I’m within feet of the fish. Usually in a canoe. Very quiet. Although I’m also trying not to attract gators. Large predators are inquisitive.

If you’re fishing on the bottom, I doubt there is any effect.

Certainly vibration, as @Seek mentioned, affects them. If I drop something in my boat, I can see the fish scatter.

Some lures, and bobbers have built in rattling mechanisms. I don’t know if the fish ‘hear’ them, or feel them though. But ambush predators, like bass, are attracted to the ‘sounds.’

Probably it’s the vibration in the water created by sound, not the sound itself—and it probably travels far and deep, depending on the type of noise. I’d be amazed if that doesn’t affect little fishies.

Yes, what @Pachy said, and, fish also have good eyesight, they can detect movement and shadows.. We have about 8 large Koi in the pond here and they either come to the edge of the pond or scatter depending on the source of noise/movement.Tthey scatter when the dogs run around the pond and put their paws in the water.
Koi fun fact.

Did you know Koi LOVE regular Cheerios and they are a good food treat for them too!