PRINT ADS

This wet cool spring has been great for the growth of dandelions.

My lawn, in May, started to look as much yellow as green. So, I took out my new mulching lawn mower to shred the yellow heads into tiny bits of pulp. Around the lawn I moved in steady rhythm to the purring motor. Then I noticed the tall yellow head of a dandelion just to my right where I had been mowing a minute ago.

That dandelion was standing tall and proud. I stopped and took a second look and observed that it was squarely in the middle of my last pass. I reasoned, "It must have felt the ground vibrate as I approached, and then it ducked as the mower passed over. Just like trout, they feel the vibrations and know you're coming." Then I made a step fake to the left and with a quick turn pushed the mower to the right, the dandelion was demolished before it had a chance to duck.

On a dark overcast day my lawn looks fine. But as soon as the sun appears they open their yellow heads and seem to jump up and smile. This, I thought, is unlike trout which are active when the sky is overcast and seek shelter when the sun appears.

My first inclination was to dig out all the dandelions in my yard by the roots. However, I read where that technique will only make them respond by growing faster. The problem is that their tap root is deep and unless you remove it completely it will regenerate. So, when you break off a piece of the root the dandelion wins.

Two days after mowing my lawn the yellow returned because the dandelions were growing four times faster than the grass. And it has always bothered me that some dandelions stand tall right after I mow the lawn. I know about trout and how they feel vibrations, but the dandelions, that will probably always puzzle me.

Trout, like all fish, have a lateral line they use to sense vibrations in the water. Although, it's difficult for you to see the lateral line on a trout, you can feel it. The lateral line runs near the middle along each side of the fish from head to tail. Hundreds of small nerve endings come out through a row of scales, and you can feel that row which has been raised up just a tiny bit.

Many anglers don't fully understand the importance of sound when fishing from a boat, from the ice, or from land. When you walk on ice it sends vibrations down to the fish which would sound to you like someone walking on the roof of your house. And if you don't have a carpet in your boat to absorb vibrations, when you open or close your tackle box, you send fish scattering in all directions. It was found, in one research study, that trout could identify an angler walking on a spongy bank from 100 feet away.

When I'm approaching a pool that I think might hold a large trout I am extra careful not to make vibrations. Usually, if the water isn't too deep, I will wade cautiously upstream. And I try to wade like a deer by putting my boot foot in the water toe first so as not to make a wave. Also, I purchase waders which have a felt boot sole to help prevent vibrations when I'm walking on rocks.

I have watched the greatest angler of all wade a trout stream and that angler doesn't fish from the bank where it could make vibrations. It wades upstream slowly, deliberately, and quietly, in the blind spot of the trout, without making a vibration. And that angler, a great blue heron, can approach within two feet of an unsuspecting trout. A few years ago a dead great blue heron was found along a trout stream by a DNR employee. Upon opening the bird it was found to contain approximately 50 small trout.

Sound travels five times faster through water than it does through air and it travels farther in water, too. Also, through vibrations reaching their lateral line, fish can identify lower frequencies than humans. And the vibrations of lures anglers find effective are in the lower range that fish can distinguish.

You may have noticed trout in crystal clear water seem to spook easily when you're wading upstream. The reason is because vibrations travel better in the clear shallow water than in deep turbid water. Therefore, I prefer to fish a stream with some turbidity where my lure disappears in water over three feet deep.

The best flies, spinners, and lures, trout anglers use are those designed to make low frequency vibrations. Also, it seems trout, and other fish, too, are attracted to lures that vary in their vibrations — that are not constant. And that is probably the reason I often have success when casting across current, which allows the lure to run deep and vary in speed.

I know my lawn is uneven, kind of bumpy, so the mower is making vibrations. Maybe I should look at a dandelion stem under a microscope to see if it has a lateral line like trout?