01-01-2006, 02:01 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Acey, my friend, are you sure you don't want me to provide the key to world peace as well? Or, aren't you sure you would like the ability to understand, women, kids and computers? All those might be easier than coming up with a universal answer for why fish won't bite when you can see them on sonar. I always see more than I catch. Anyone who claims to do better will lie about other stuff too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That's why we always take just about everything we own when we go fishing. We never know what it is going to take to get the fishies. Some days almost anything works. Other days, the smell of skunk hangs heavy in the air. Been there, done that.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]You did not mention whether there were any fish higher or lower in the water column. If the fish were almost all suspended in one fairly narrow zone, it usually means one of several potential things. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]First, that there is a "thermocline" or temperature break that they prefer to whatever is higher or lower. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Second could be that there is a water chemistry factor, with poor oxygen levels or pH changes at (usually) lower levels. This early in the ice season, that is less likely.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Third might be a feeding situation. Fish tend to hang out where the groceries are. And, if they are feeding on zooplankton, and the zooplankton are massed at that level, that's why the fish are there. If that is what the fish were subsisting on, then it would also partially explain the slow fishing. It is hard to imitate a cloud of zooplankton with jigs. The fish feed by swimming through those clouds with open mouths and then filtering out the edible stuff with gill rakers. They do not key in on individual tidbits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The last scenario is fish "mode". Fish can be active, inactive or neutral. Active fish will usually be seen at several levels in the water column. Some will be scrounging near the bottom for their food, while others may be anywhere between the bottom and just beneath the ice. Active fish move through the sonar cone fairly quickly, but if you are at the right depth when they do, you have a good chance of getting bit.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Inactive fish are just that. Whether they are full, from feeding during another time of the day...or whether they are responding to barometric changes or disturbances to their environment by noise or whatever...they have lockjaw and cannot be teased into biting. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Neutral fish are not actively feeding, but can sometimes be "triggered" into biting. Flashy lures, bright colors, sexy baits...all can sometimes help. Sounds like that is what you encountered. The fish were slow, but some of them were open to playing.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are no universal keys to creating "reaction" bites with neutral fish. However, bassers and troutaholics have both found that when the fish are more tentative you can stimulate them by going either one of two ways. Either bomb them with something big and noisy...or seduce them with a tasty little tidbit that requires little effort to yawn and slurp in. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When ice fishing, and the fish are not hitting the larger stuff, you need to go small. Sounds like that is what it took to get some action for you. Sometimes just a tiny jig head, without any feathers or plastic, is all you can get by with to deliver your bait.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One trick I learned, early in my ice fishing career, in some of the lakes of California's Sierra Nevadas, is to fish finicky fish just like you would in a stream...or open water in a lake. That is to use light line and put on the smallest split shot you can use and still get the bait to sink to the right depth. Put it a couple of feet above a small bait hook. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Use a single red salmon egg, a small piece of crawler, a single waxworm, small meal worm, a gob of Power Bait or even a small ball of Velveeta hackle and send it down. In the olden days, we did not have sonar. Our technique was to drop to the bottom and then bring up the sinker to place the bait either on the bottom or close to it. If we did not get bit, we would bring it up a foot or so, and then soak it there for awhile. We kept track of how many reel turns off the bottom it took to finally get a fish, and then duplicated that.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With sonar, you have it easier, to at least know what level the fish are. As a general rule, it is better to fish slightly above them than below them. Fish are more likely to swim up to a bait than to look down and move down to get it. But, with a good real time sonar, you have a better shot at keeping your offering in "the zone".[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Neutral fish are not hard biters. You need a strike indicator or slip bobber to see the bite. However, fishing with just the baited hook, some of the fish will slurp it and get hooked, even if you are slow on the uptake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you work through your whole fishing "database", and try your whole arsenal of lures and baits, and the fish visible on your sonar are still not biting, you have several potential excuses:[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]1. Nothing but suspended carp.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]2. Moon phase is wrong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]3. Danged personal watercraft.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]4. Holding my mouth wrong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]5. Shoulda brung my Banjo Minnows.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]6. Defective sonar.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]7. (Add your own favorite excuse)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That's why we always take just about everything we own when we go fishing. We never know what it is going to take to get the fishies. Some days almost anything works. Other days, the smell of skunk hangs heavy in the air. Been there, done that.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]You did not mention whether there were any fish higher or lower in the water column. If the fish were almost all suspended in one fairly narrow zone, it usually means one of several potential things. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]First, that there is a "thermocline" or temperature break that they prefer to whatever is higher or lower. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Second could be that there is a water chemistry factor, with poor oxygen levels or pH changes at (usually) lower levels. This early in the ice season, that is less likely.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Third might be a feeding situation. Fish tend to hang out where the groceries are. And, if they are feeding on zooplankton, and the zooplankton are massed at that level, that's why the fish are there. If that is what the fish were subsisting on, then it would also partially explain the slow fishing. It is hard to imitate a cloud of zooplankton with jigs. The fish feed by swimming through those clouds with open mouths and then filtering out the edible stuff with gill rakers. They do not key in on individual tidbits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The last scenario is fish "mode". Fish can be active, inactive or neutral. Active fish will usually be seen at several levels in the water column. Some will be scrounging near the bottom for their food, while others may be anywhere between the bottom and just beneath the ice. Active fish move through the sonar cone fairly quickly, but if you are at the right depth when they do, you have a good chance of getting bit.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Inactive fish are just that. Whether they are full, from feeding during another time of the day...or whether they are responding to barometric changes or disturbances to their environment by noise or whatever...they have lockjaw and cannot be teased into biting. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Neutral fish are not actively feeding, but can sometimes be "triggered" into biting. Flashy lures, bright colors, sexy baits...all can sometimes help. Sounds like that is what you encountered. The fish were slow, but some of them were open to playing.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are no universal keys to creating "reaction" bites with neutral fish. However, bassers and troutaholics have both found that when the fish are more tentative you can stimulate them by going either one of two ways. Either bomb them with something big and noisy...or seduce them with a tasty little tidbit that requires little effort to yawn and slurp in. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When ice fishing, and the fish are not hitting the larger stuff, you need to go small. Sounds like that is what it took to get some action for you. Sometimes just a tiny jig head, without any feathers or plastic, is all you can get by with to deliver your bait.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One trick I learned, early in my ice fishing career, in some of the lakes of California's Sierra Nevadas, is to fish finicky fish just like you would in a stream...or open water in a lake. That is to use light line and put on the smallest split shot you can use and still get the bait to sink to the right depth. Put it a couple of feet above a small bait hook. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Use a single red salmon egg, a small piece of crawler, a single waxworm, small meal worm, a gob of Power Bait or even a small ball of Velveeta hackle and send it down. In the olden days, we did not have sonar. Our technique was to drop to the bottom and then bring up the sinker to place the bait either on the bottom or close to it. If we did not get bit, we would bring it up a foot or so, and then soak it there for awhile. We kept track of how many reel turns off the bottom it took to finally get a fish, and then duplicated that.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With sonar, you have it easier, to at least know what level the fish are. As a general rule, it is better to fish slightly above them than below them. Fish are more likely to swim up to a bait than to look down and move down to get it. But, with a good real time sonar, you have a better shot at keeping your offering in "the zone".[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Neutral fish are not hard biters. You need a strike indicator or slip bobber to see the bite. However, fishing with just the baited hook, some of the fish will slurp it and get hooked, even if you are slow on the uptake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you work through your whole fishing "database", and try your whole arsenal of lures and baits, and the fish visible on your sonar are still not biting, you have several potential excuses:[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]1. Nothing but suspended carp.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]2. Moon phase is wrong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]3. Danged personal watercraft.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]4. Holding my mouth wrong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]5. Shoulda brung my Banjo Minnows.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]6. Defective sonar.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]7. (Add your own favorite excuse)[/#0000ff]
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