Well, it's a parker question because it happened in a parker

[channel_surfer]

I posted the following elsewhere but was wondering if any of the great minds here have any insight......

Were out anchored in edge of a little channel last night, in great bay, about 1 mile or so from the little egg inlet. As the night wore on (fishing was quiet for a while) we noticed a fairly rapid ticking noise coming from the hull of the boat. It was a pretty fast tap, about 8-12 times per second, and just a little "tick" noise, which I originally thought was my fishfinder transducer since it sounded exactly what a transducer sounds like when it's fired in a bucket or out of the water.

So I shut down the fishfinder and the noise persisted.

So I shut down the GPS / Radar / Fan / everything in the wheelhouse, and it persisted.

So I started poking around the boat and it sounded like it was coming from under the floor. I opened the rear bilge hatch to check the bilge pump it that wasn't it.

Next I shut down all power to the boat with the battery switch, and the noise persisted.

Opened the other 2 hatches on the deck and it sounded like the noise was coming from under the floor.

My rear bilge hatch is about 12 X 16 or so, so I stuck my head way down in it. The noise was much more pronounced with my head in there. Definitely sounded like it could have been coming from the water.

We eventually gave up trying to find the source of the noise. Told my friend that someone was pinging us from a sub somewhere.

The noise persisted for about 2.5 hours until we left with it still present. Towerd the end of the night it seemed like you could hear two distinct sets of 'tapping', with them having a regular pattern of softer-louder-softer with about a 10 second cycle.

So................................

What the hell was that?

Really sounded exactly like a transducer sounds, just a bit louder. Definitely persisted for at least 2.5 hours. Had a definite repeating pattern to it.



Seriously, after about 2 hours of hearing this noise, all three of us on the boat were at a complete loss as to what the heck it was. We all just agreed we did not know, and we all agreed it seemed to be coming from the water.

There was no alcohol used for this experiment, by the way.......

 

[hakr]

When I lived in Florida, and fished with a buddy who had a flat-bottomed Carolina Skiff, we heard noises like that sometimes, and were told by a guy who should know that the sounds we heard were...shrimp.

But I doubt that's what you were hearing...

 

[Megabyte]

Squid? :?:

 

[JC]

channel_surfer
Your post has peaked my interest………. while docked for an overnight stay in Barnegat, I experienced the same scenario. A tapping noise with no apparent source.

 

[jeffnick]

We call them snapping shrimp.
More here

 

[Lucky John]

I get that "ticking" noise every now and then.I just thought as long as it's not from my engine and the boat is running fine leave it alone.It eventually goes away,had a person out Monday who asked what's that ticking,I said i have no clue............. :lol:

 

[Megabyte]

Could the prop be turning in the current?

 

[channel_surfer]

Thanks, what makes most sense is that it would be the prop spinning in the current. It was dead calm except for a fast current and I was anchored. That's one thing I didn't do, put the motor in gear which would have stopped the prop. If it happens again I'll check that.

 

[mojohalibut]

Here in North Carolina we have "pistol shrimp" that make the noise that you described. I have some in my aquarium and at night you can hear them throughout the house. In my Jon boat at night the noise can be incredibly loud.

Another possibility would be a pod of dolphins in the area. Sometimes they feed in one spot for a while. The sounds are somewhat similar.

 

[CMARSALA]

Maybe drum?

 

[CCparker]

I had the same experience last July when anchored in the Barnegat Bay one night. It kind of freaked me out. I turned off everything to the boat, even turned off the batteries. I lifted my motor out of the water so it was not the prop spinning. At the time, i thought maybe it was crabs tapping on the hull. Maybe it was those shrimp that others have mentioned. All I know is that it freaked me out, and to this day my fishing buddy who was with me still busts my chops about my "ticking" boat. I am really glad to hear that someone else experienced this.

 

[Lucky John]

I had the ticking today.It is not the prop...........at this point I really don't care as long as everything runs good.

 

[mx beach guy]

termites?
Found a rat in mine once :roll:

 

[Lucky John]

I had the ticking all day yesterday,it was flat calm out.I wonder if the fish finder is making this noise?

 

[bdgrbu]

Thats pretty interesting. Did you hear it at the dock or just in Great Bay?

This is a total far out guess but Rutgers tracks fish in the area using acoustic tags. The pulses they transmit are not audible to people but maybe they are hitting your boat and somehow your boat is amplifying the signal?? Sounds crazy but you never know.

 

[John_Madison CT]

Sounds just like a transducer "tick".

 

[Lucky John]

I was fishing out in the ocean,not Great Bay.I'm going to come to the conclusion it's my Furuno 620 fcv fishfinder that is creating the ticking.No other logical explanation. 8)

 

[channel_surfer]

The rutgers thing might hold water, since I was a mile or less from their research station at the time.

Like I said, I originally thought it was the fishfinder because it sounds EXACTLY like a transducer ticking. Exactly. However, I powered off the F/F, and then the entire boat, and it didn't stop the noise.

 

[bdgrbu]

The acoustic transmitters can operate at 76khz and 200khz. Your FF is 50khz and 200khz. So the ticking could be similar.

http://www.stripertracker.org/index.html

http://www.lotek.com/map_600.htm

If you ever solve this mystery let us know.