Highly Variable bites in the summer ?

Most spots in the summer here in Texas have fish that bite rather light . Lots of anglers go to minnows to ensure fish that will hold on to the hook .
Some of the lightest little pecks are real nice crappie . It often seems a good hard bite is a small fish .
So this brings me to this question .....
I wonder why the deeper water fish I find bite the lightest and the short water fish hit it like a spring fling fish ?
Is it because the deeper water fish are in resting mode and not as aggressive maybe ?
The shorter water fish are maybe in more of a feed mode and aggression runs higher ?
I suppose water clarity might come into play as shorter waters here are often more turbid with less visibility and the fish have less time to look it over ?
What say yawl , lets here a few ideas
and let the discussion begin :cheers2
p.s. the fish in 8 foot of water yesterday about 9 30 am were just hitting jigs like you could only wish for ....way past thumps , more like a white bass on the run thing ....go figure:dono

What kind of line are you running? More line means the energy of the bite has to distribute to a longer length of line before making it to the rod tip. SO, the bite looks/feels lighter. Some line is better than others, but the concept won't ever change. My braid is much better at transmitting light bites than my Suffix.

Almost always mono thank goodness or I would still be in the ER from the way they were biting :Rofl

The fish I've been on are plum full and the prey is easy for them which equals none aggressive bites.....
However on this one pile I fished the fish were thumping fire from my jig..... Same couple jig combos I used elsewhere.....

You never know....Until you throw...then you listen to the Fish....then KABOOM! End of Discussion.

In vertical fishing they nip the bait and move ahead (up) towards you. Unless you do a slow lift and see if your rod loads up you'd never know a fish had your bait. It's just mind blowing how that little nudge turns into a big ol' slab. I think the difference between the thump days and the nip days are how well the fish have been feeding.

i would agree with the post that mentioned braid bites and how they feel harder in some cases , but even so to a person who drops jigs fairly often ,there is a definitive difference lately in some spots that i wish i understood better .
its possible in some cases when there is a crowd its a competitive type of thing , me first deal .
but most likely it has more to do with feed mode and rest mode best i can tell .