Pond visit & Zombie Fish .

First I’d like to discuss Zombie fish .
Every year in small waters , about this time of year , as the weather is warming , so is the water ; I see fish , bass and sometimes bluegills, in shallow water just stationary usually in groups . They don’t move , they won’t bite .
If I cast into them , sometimes they’ll scatter , but then gather back up .
It’s like they are in shock .
I’ve witnessed this with big bass in large reservoirs, later in the year , usually around May .
I don’t know what’s going on with them, they seem like Zombies to me .

Now my strange pond trip today .
I got to the pond at 11:24 , caught a small bass at 11:33 , then I didn’t get another bite until 1:03 after changing up things.
I was about to give up and go home , but I swapped rods , I swapped lures to a green pumpkin Z-Man WormZ on a .8g jighead , hoping to salvage the day with a few green fish .
In the next 48 minutes I caught four bass , three Bluegills and a shellcracker.
All on the WormZ .
I was surprised I caught the gills on the bigger bait on a size 8 hook .
I’m not sure if it was the bait change or they just became active.
The rod combo used was a 5’4”St Croix Panfish original series paired with a Shimano Soare bb 500spg and Daiwa J-braid . A fun and very sensitive rod . A couple of times I could feel something nibble at the tail of the WormZ .

Last night my plan was to take the boat back to Lake Kedron, but got to thinking about the three shellcracker I caught the other day and thought with almost a week of warm 70 degree weather , I’d tear up the gills today .
Guess you never know .
I saw a couple nice Zombie bass today around 3-5# estimate.

Probably just the cold water has them inactive. Good catches

I can’t remember ever seeing them like that but my water here is like iced tea. Those in the pics look good to me. Glad you found the magic bullet for the day. I haven’t tried the wormz yet, still working through the hundreds of others I already have. LOL
Good trip and way to figure em out.

Every year, at the pond , next to the walk path bridge , hundreds of panfish gather just under the surface . They just sit there barely moving .
It’s weird .
Like I said before , I’ve seen bass do this . Saw a group of three small bass today, as well as a couple of bigger ones . They’re not cruising.or bedding . Just swimming in place .
With the pond being fairly shallow I was wondering about oxygen content. I bet with the roller coaster of temps in the late winter and early spring , that pond turns over several times .
I’ll check on the water next to the bridge and if I can catch them bunched up , I’ll try to get a picture of them .

I think they are taking advantage of the warmer surface temps to prepare for the spawn in the months ahead since it's still cold in the deeper water. Seen it happen on a couple lakes here on sunny days this time of year. Just more comfortable water for them.