I'm not much of an angler, so take that fact in consideration when reading this. This stuff may be old hat to guys who fish a lot.
Have had a few good days where BG would be biting good, for a short time. But a lot of the time seems like the catches were far and few between. At least what I was accustomed to the little fishing we did last summer. Keep in mind my BG were stocked as fingerling's only in March of 2013, so they were not all that big last summer.
Been catching some to stock daughters pond and needed a few more before the stocking was complete for BG. Wanted six or eight more 5-6". Should not be a problem. Fished for an hour using jigs with and without live bait. Same thing we had been using earlier on with success. Only caught one hybrid in an hours time and only a couple other weak bites.
Got frustrated and changed the game up. Put on a teeny tiny hook (threw away the package so don't know size) overall length about a half inch. Put a teeny tiny bit of Slim Jim on it. No split shot, no swivel, no nothing. Just this teeny tiny hook with a bit of bait about the size of a green pea. Tossed it over the dock. It was so light it floated for 5 seconds before finally starting to sink. Fish on. In the next 30 minutes I caught 11 fish, everything from an adult FHM (fair and square, by the mouth, not snagged) to a 6" BG. Several 4-6" BG. One 3" BG that completely swallowed the hook to give you an indication of how small the hook was.
My point of this post is not to show everyone the prowess of my angeling. Cause I don't have any (picture of FHM caught on small hook below to prove it
).
The point is my BG did not want the size food I was offering them. For whatever reason, the lures and bait I had been offering and had been working quit working. But offer them a tiny morsel, and it was fish on. Why? Don't have a clue. But catching a 6", well fed, nice looking BG on a hook that looked like it was made for minnows was quite surprising to me. And I gut hooked none of the fish except for the one 3" BG. All nicely in the mouth. Really weird, at least to me. Maybe old hat to you all.
So my lesson was, fish sometimes prefer different size food at different times. For reasons unknown to me but probably makes perfect sense to the fish. Maybe they were only hungry for a snack instead of a meal. Maybe they just did not want the little fish to get it. Who knows?
Maybe try feeding some smaller sized pellets than what a person normally uses when fish are not feeding like expected????
Description: Caught perfectly in the lip. Holding fish by the line above the hook.
Description: Only fish that swallowed the hook. Very small hook.