I stumbled across this and thought I would share it. No need to whisper while fishing!
i waves from the air do not penetrate into water, and sound waves in water do not penetrate into the air. The two media are acoustically separate. This may be of interest to anglers, who can feel free to talk while they fish.[/i]
Of course, most of you probably already knew this. 
Sorry, I donāt buy it. Sound waves are indeed transferred into water quite inefficiently however some gets absorbed ā¦thatās why we have a middle ear.
Have to call horsefeathers on this one. I can hear people when they yell above water when I am submerged a few inches in a poolā¦yes the sound becomes negligible if one gets down below that, though.
This is a major setback to my plan of training the fish in local waters to come to the sound of my voice! 
Thatās easy, submerge your face and yell while throwing floating fish food. They will respond to one of those sounds.
I think the bass fisherman researched this to death many years ago, you have to yell really loud to penetrate the surface with sound waves. Dropping anything in an aluminum boat on the other hand sends out sound waves that everyone in the water hears.
This tale was obviously perpetrated long ago by a husband that was forced to fish with his wife.
I think it depends on what you say to them.
When I was a young boy that was the ploy used by my Dad and my uncle to keep me quiet!
OK, what if you are standing in the water wading and the sound waves are traveling down your body into the water?
Sorry,
I just had to add 2cents worthā¦
There are differences between vibrations directly transmitted to the water such as walking and sound waves from the air transmitted to the water. I agree with the poster that talking does not spook fish.
It is not enough to say that if you were under water and and someone shouted above you, you can hear the shout. First of all, you are selectively listening for that specific noise and your ear is tuned for human speech. The fish are not.
Fish detect vibrations mainly through their lateral lines and they do have an inner ear for higher vibrations. However to hear human speech, these two methods of hearing must be able to detect the frequency of human speech. They are not very sensitive to the frequency range of human speech. Plus even if they heard a whisper of noise, they would not easily recognize it as danger amongst the other noises of running water
ā1) Trout cannot hear human voices as we speak at a range outside of their hearing frequency so it?s ok to have the stream-side conversationā
http://www.hooked-on-flies.com/trout_basics.htm
āTrout Hearing. Trouts hear through frequency receptors and movement receptors so they can find food in all types of water. Fish cannot hear voices outside the water if you talk.ā
http://www.troutfishingtip.com/flyfishingtips.html
āFirst, trout canāt hear human voices outside of the water. Thus, having a loud conversation about something along the bank of a river will not spook the trout.ā
http://www.fishtheoutdoors.com/articles/three-main-trout-senses-21.html
My Grandfather would say āBe quiet, you will scare the fish.ā My Dad would say āBe quiet, you will scare the fish.ā My grandfather and dad both caught lots of fish. Who am I to question their wisdom.
fishbum
I for one am on the side of talking spooks fish !! Iāve BEEN THERE !!! I donāt believe it is the sound of human voices, but it is the sound of something unfamiliar to them.
And I really like it quite out there, and just listen to the water, wind, birds, squirrels, etc.
So maybe itās me !!! LOL LOL
When fishing in the company of a youngster there is a lot more to āBeing quietā than not talking. There no throwing rocks, sticks, sweet gum balls, cow chips, whatever can be thrown in the water and all the other things a kid can do to make noise. I was probably at least a regional champion at asking questions also, I may have been the best in the state (or at least thatās what I have been told.)
No, it just bugs me 
Unless, of course, Iām talking to myself, which I find very soothing at times, yet alarmingly annoying at othersā¦
Kelly.
I wonāt tell your wife, if you wonāt tell mine. lol
I thought my grandfather made this up when I was 8
I think fish get used to things and respond to things out of the normal. I along with my three kids once stood on a bridge over a small river in Yellowstone and watched a trout feeding just below me, He was used to people and movement on the bridge so my being there didnāt spook him, I suspect that if I had been on a log in the boonies over the same size river looking down on him with my three grade schoolers he would have disappeared in about 1/10th of a second. I believe that noise (talking) is the same way, if your fishing in a park that has people around at all times then talk. if your in a back woods environment then be quiet.
Eric
I think if youāre talking politics, the world economy, or religionā¦yes!
Bob
my dad used to tell me that all the timeā¦ butā¦ my sonseems to onlycatch fish when heās gabbing away a mile a minute and not paying any or attention at all. I donāt know what it isā¦ but they like to hear him talk.
Anybody that plays poker knows that excessive talking can scare the fish at the table;)
Tim