Thread: Warmer water - no pattern discovered / fish scattered under a cloudless sky

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

I only time I'm tempted to use a live grub is when ice fishing, otherwise live bait is off the table.

Well, this attitude is why you don't catch fish. No minners, no fish. I got the pros on my side on this issue.

I got out for a few hours this morning under bluebird skies and water temps of 66-67° and couldn't buy a bite. Spawn is over and they have
scattered! I went spur of the moment and didn't have minnows. Fished Road Runners and jigs under floats. Cane Pole is right about the minnows!

Ever since I caught my first fish on a lure, the challenge changed to finding the best lures that work under the toughest conditions or a majority of the time. I learned as much as I could over the years about fish biology - especially vision and vibration/ motion detection - as well as environmental factors that contribute to fish location and the bite. Just me I guess, but even if live bait always works once fish are found, I still wouldn't use it.

For me, the biggest part of fishing is the ongoing mystery of what they'll bite, why they bit it more often than other lure designs and how the other pieces of the puzzle fit together. Aside from that is the pleasure of disproving many of the experts and the fishing wisdom that many have swallowed over the years without asking questions, leading to the creation of my own truths based on many years of many different experiences.

If crossword puzzles were the same day after day, no way would I bother doing them. For me using live bait comes close to that.

At this time of year as the temp is fluctuating and yet to stabilize the fish will move quite a bit but usually stay generally close to where they will eventually spawn. The key to me would be the clear skies and not so much the water temp. Even if I was catching them shallow a few days earlier on a Blue bird day I would move out to the first big edge toward deeper water. The edge could be mud to sand, steep dropoff, shallow weeds where they end nearer deeper water. I would also fish close to the bottom, slow my retrieve and stop any extra action like jigging. All these things including a smaller bait will help.

Last time on the water had similar conditions. A buddy was fishing another spot when I got on fish. I called him over and he anchored close by. He was using nice minnows and i was using 1 inch plastics with straight tails. I caught 10 - 15 crappie in a half hour out of the two guys in that boat they caught 1. I told them to try a small jig, they stuck with minnows and had very little luck. Fish small and slow near an edge and I bet you will get on them good.

Fish small and slow near an edge and I bet you will get on them good.

That would be my first thought, but failing to get bit there, I'd switch to the narrow flats either adjacent to faster drops or on flats with tree stumps or weed edges.

As was mentioned in many posts, plastics cover more water and can be worked using different presentations - big advantages over using live bait. Plus, I C&R 100 % of the time and rarely are my hooks in deep, allowing for a far lower mortality rate. Maybe not good for waters that have an overpopulation of smaller fish, but I'm not in any position to determine whether culling the population is the answer. Plus, the majority of undersized fish are illegal to keep anyway with trophy fish in a small minority in many waters.

The main reason I catch less fish on any given day I believe apply to most anglers:
1. unwillingness to move to and survey more areas or staying in one part of the lake, ignoring other areas
2. moving too much and not staying long enough in an area to use different lures and presentations ( I know of a few anglers that never carry or use anchors)
3. in regards to #2, not casting 360 degrees around the boat or 180 degrees from shore. Many fish I've caught were in shallow and adjacent deeper water and many times schooled in deeper water vs shallow.
4. staying with the same lures and presentations that haven't caught much or any fish which includes fishing lures too dang fast
5. not adjusting to a higher wind velocity usually results in always casting with the wind and missing out on surveying a maximal amount of water

Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Ever since I caught my first fish on a lure, the challenge changed to finding the best lures that work under the toughest conditions or a majority of the time. I learned as much as I could over the years about fish biology - especially vision and vibration/ motion detection - as well as environmental factors that contribute to fish location and the bite. Just me I guess, but even if live bait always works once fish are found, I still wouldn't use it.

For me, the biggest part of fishing is the ongoing mystery of what they'll bite, why they bit it more often than other lure designs and how the other pieces of the puzzle fit together. Aside from that is the pleasure of disproving many of the experts and the fishing wisdom that many have swallowed over the years without asking questions, leading to the creation of my own truths based on many years of many different experiences.

If crossword puzzles were the same day after day, no way would I bother doing them. For me using live bait comes close to that.

Tunnel vision is you problem. Like I said, the National Champs aren't National Champs because of tunnel vision issues.

Good thing I never aspired to being a national anything much less a fishing champ. I'll take a 50 plus fish outing any day! It would be a rare day in h*** that I couldn't keep up with someone using live bait much less blow them away. One thing minner dunkers seem to always ignore : fish strike lures because lures are unnatural and much of the time provoke strikes having nothing to do feeding. But then again this is a discussion we've been having year after year, neither changing our opinions.

Your use of the term tunnel vision seems to apply to anglers that aren't versatile on any given day or ever, present company included. Claiming fish bite for any reason is sheer conjecture but consistently catching fish is supportive of any opinion regardless of bias.

Didn't get back in time to add to the last statement so here goes:
I've never insisted that my ideas should be taken as dogma or the last word - to each his own. My ideas stem from fishing successes and should be considered based on their own merit. If any angler finds those ideas helped improve their catch rate, my efforts were not in vain and the existence of one more open mind is evident, opening up even more doors. To ridicule one's position without any proof supporting an opposite position truly indicates a closed mind and a suspension from reality.