Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Where are the fish?

My pond is 3 years old and I have HBG, CBG, RE, and Bass. Up until about a month ago I could go out on any given day and catch fish all day long. My pond got muddy about a year ago, but I could still catch fish. I recently added Alum to clear it up and it seems like the clearer water would help the fishing, but it hasn't. I can fish for hours now without even a bite on live worms or crickets. I have never seen any dead fish, so I know they are not dead, but they sure are not eating much. Even when I throw some commercial food for them, they are slow to eat. Could they be in a little shock from the Alum or could it be that it is 100 degrees here in TX. Fishing was getting pretty poor before the Alum, so I don't think it is that.I haven't put so much fishing pressure on them that they got wise, so I don't know what happened. I fish maybe 3 hours a week, but it is usually for perch with live bait. Please someone tell me whats the deal.

dbw1968, the amount of natural food available to your fish is peaking right now, there are lots of invertabrates and young of the year fry that you are competing with when you go fishing. Right now I would try and fish overcast days or in the early morning or evening hours, low light conditions seem to be when the predators in our pond are most active right now.

How deep is your pond? I don't think the HBG, CBG and RE will go deep in the summer, but Bass will go deeper when it get's hot out. You can find them shallow in the morning and at night when they come shallow to feed. Throw a texas rigged worm out deep and see if that works. You might even try drop shotting a finesse worm in deeper water when it is hot out.