Originally posted by Jack_Flash1949:
I have pond of about � acre in size & about 7' at the deepest. The pond is 12 years old.
I stocked Bass, bluegills, hybrid bluegills, shell crackers and channel catfish.
I started feeding the fish. The cats grew at an amazing rate. The fish got so use to being fed that when I came out the door of the house I could see wakes coming to the bridge that I fed them from.
After about 5 years I decided to have a fish fry and have some friends over. I put out a trot line. Surprisingly I had 6 on it before I got it all baited. I took those fish off and re baited the hooks. The next morning there were 7-8 fish on the trot line.
After cleaning those fish I got a bucket of feed and threw some out on the water. There was not ONE fish that came up to the fish food. It was nearly 2 weeks before they were back to normal in eating the feed.
I really didn't believe what I had seen. We had been catching cat with night crawlers. All of a sudden you couldn't buy a bite on a night crawler.
One day I was looking through the refrigerator and found some hot dogs that needed to be thrown away. I grabbed a rod and went down to the pond and baited up with a hot dog.
The hot dog & bobber hit the water and there were wakes headed to the bobber and then it went under. For about 2 weeks you could catch them as fast as you could bait the hook. Then all of a sudden they quit hitting the hot dogs. To this day I can't get a bite on a hot dog. Again after catching several of them they would quit coming to the feed.
Has anyone else noticed this kind of behavior in their fish?
I am no expert by any means. And I don't want any one to think I don't respect them, as I do respect alll on this board. BUT.......
I think you are all thinking to hard on this subject. As I also have a small pond, 1/4 acre, I have seen several changes in behavior of my fish just since it was built in 2002. I think alot of the time the weather has more to do with the cycle of feeding then presure. I fished my pond hard last summer, everyday, I caught many CC and released them again, the fishing remained high all summer. The winter we had was colder for a longer period of time, and this spring was a rather unusual one also. I have seen my fish respond to weather more this year then last.
They came to the feed ealry this spring in April then we had a cold snap, and they quit coming to feed. After the weather warmed I expected them to return, however they really haven't eaten like thy did last year, I don't use pellets as bait so therefore they shouldn't fear the food.
Now our weather has been cooler this year then last at the same time and we have had several small showers, even tho the pond is still very low. Which I think causes the fish not to bite as well, concerving energy? Who knows? My simple view on fishing is.... "If I went fishing just to catch fish, I would never go." We all have had good and bad days fishing, I say, give it a few days it will change.
No DISRESPCT intened and I hope no one thinks less of me for my thoughts on this, and I am sure there is truth in the statement that fish do get hook shy, I just can't beleave they have that long of a memory. Otherwise we couldn't catch any fish in our ponds.
Just my humble opinion
