Yea, been thinking bout that. Since the vast majority of what little fishing over the years has been for BG and CC, with an occasional guy or gal trying for bass buy having no idea what they were doing ( AKA...ME ) they have received so very little pressure while I guess it is possible, it seems unlikely that a species that is very seldom even hooked and lost would become hook shy. Now I may be way off base here, my expertise lies in hunting, not fishing, and I am thinking how animals act for the most part. I have found that most living things have to be conditioned to either do or stay away from things, and it just doesn't seem the bass population getting near enough exposure to fishing for that to happen.
When the one guy that could catch them ( and his wife ) spend a couple of hours, they caught about ( I have completely forgot how many exactly....meds wipe my memory every few days it seems ) approx 12-15 keepers in 3 hours of hard fishing, casting lure after lure in every square inch of the pond. Every single bass was the exact same size ( much like the one in the photo, perhaps a bit larger, but just as slender ) with the exception of the occasion 6" spawn, nearly the size of the lure they were fishing with.
For what it is worth, they have been catching bass their entire lives, probably could be semi pro, fish all over MO and AK, and they used only certain colors of lures when fishing. When I asked them why they did not try some of the others during lull periods, they remarked that the water was so very thick/green/murky, they had to get a rattle trap lure close to the bass in this mess, also why they thought they had to make so many casts, they had to almost drop the lure on the bass's head to ensure a lock on the lure. Like you, they felt there were plenty of bass in the ponds, but as they noticed that there were plenty of small and medium size BG and FHM all over ( they had to pull off medium size BG off their big bass lures often ) they were also of the opinion that the bass had more than enough to eat and the terrible visibility issues was the only explanation they could come up with for the skinny bass all of the same size. They were not able to catch a single bass even an inch larger than another. All about 14-15".
In the end, it was their opinion that the pond held ample numbers of bass, that the bass were somewhat difficult to catch due to the water condition ( very green / visibility ) and that when they used rattle trap lures that made enough noise for the bass to home in on the lure, they had high success. When they tried a variety of dull colored / dark lures, they had no strikes at all. They claimed to have had this happen before in muddy ponds, not really green ponds, rather muddy, but same principal they believed, bass were unable to find the lures unless dropped very near to them in such poor clarity water. Well, that was their opinion anyway, and with one bass to my credit in 7 years, as you can imagine , I was in NO position to dispute ANYTHING they said
I don't know what to make of it. I have always thought you were right, the pond LOOKS like it should be holding a big bass in there....somewhere. They have been left alone, have lots to eat,( I believe anyway ) etc and I have always wondered about that. As I write this I have a call into the bass guy, I am trying everything to get him back down to have a go at the pond and see what happens when he tries to hit them hard again. Even ONE big bass would be encouraging. I have a concern that with only one planting of only 100 small fish many years ago that the pond may still be bass light, but I am unable to explain each year the large number of bass spawns all over the pond, they apparently are not only doing fine without any aid from me, they may have produced to may by themselves.
And, yet, even so, they still have plenty of grub on the table. IF..they can catch it. I am still reluctant to dismiss al the PB articles over the years regarding low bass weights and pond clarity.
This may illustrate best of all what I am talking about. On Monday, when I went into the MDOC, I picked up all the printed literature available on ponds, water, etc. Listen to this, printed on "Pond Management Series"
"For example, bass 28 months old in five experimental CLEAR ponds weighed almost FIVE TIMES as much as bass of the same age in the five MUDDY ponds" They explained they kept the rest of the conditions the same, temp, food available, etc.
This would seem to support those articles I have read over the years. I am confused ( I think you can see how that can happen ) and am still trying to sort out what to do.
Thanks so much for the help, I would most certainly be wandering around in the dark without it!
