any thoughts on the affect of way too many people fishing one large area. could it or does it make the bite slower or push the fish out deeper than they were before the immense fishin pressure set in. I know there are hundreds of thousands of crappie in the lake but when theres a thousand lines in the water do they become hesitant or skiddish. thoughts or comments welcomed.

I would think it is not so much the lines in the water, but more of the noise and commotion a lot of fishermen make on the surface. Last year, I was catching fish good, a guy pulled up, rolled his 20lb rock for an anchor out of his aluminum boat, right on top of my marker buoy. Rummaged around in his boat, then cast out his rig with a bobber as big as an apple, then wondered why the fish weren't biting.

Tarponfly has a great write up about barometric pressure

Oh [##{{*] miss rear the title

Noise attracts some types of ocean fish to strike. I know as I have used popping corks around other fishermen using popping corks to turn on speckled trout and redfish, to name two.

I have read some threads in this forum that indicate the same thing for certain types of fresh water fish. The treads talked about banging on your boat to attract fish to the area.

I can't remember which forum I have read it in.

But I know when they are at the fishing barges and feeding, the number of lines in the water nor the noise being made affects the bite.

And if they are not there or in a feeding mode, nothing seems to impact the bite. So I don't believe it makes much difference, either way.

Bigger freshwater fish (striper is one) are usually loners or in small pods and tend to shy away and leave whereas schools of smaller game fish will compete with one another and be attracted by sounds.

For many years I've believed lone wolf (big) stripers in Texoma hang out at the dam and may venture out during low light conditions. I've never been able to fish the dam in perfect conditions specifically for big stripers but I would almost bet you the bigger stripers in Texoma hang out in the deeper waters near the dam and any familiar noises they hear makes them very wary/put more distance between them and the noise.