Fyfer, it's certainly possible that the browns, being more wary than rainbows, are avoiding your disturbance on the ice surface. Many years ago I stocked several browns and rainbows together in our pond. Although I caught many of the rainbows over the years, I never caught a brown. Those fish are long gone now.
Another possibility is the browns, being very piscivorous, may be filling up on those (unwanted) small bass and are just not hungry for something dangling from a scary hole in the ice.
Thanks for your reply. Both are definitely possibilities. Browns in ponds are hard to catch in my experience, especially through the ice.
