What do you do ?

When there are pan fish showing up like crazy on the flasher but they just will not bite. Both yesterday and today had tons of fish showing up on the flasher but had a hard time getting them to bite. They would either rush up to the bait or come up slowly and just sit right on it. I tried to jig agressively, tried to hold it still, down sized, up sized, changed color, change baits, changed spots, everything I could. I did manage a few fish ( enough for a nice meal tomorrow ) but worked much harder than I’ve had to to get them. Any idea what make fish act this way? Is it a weather front, change in pressure, Full from some type of hatch? What do all of you usually do when panfish react this way. This is not the 1st time this has happened but maybe the worst. It usually happens more in mid to late winter.Oh we’ll I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.

Had the same experience yesterday. I even tried lifting the jig and making them chase it and they would…only to swim away after I stopped. It was fun seeing fish on the Vex but it was a little frustrating when they wouldn’t eat. I’ll be interested to see what others have to say.

Rootski

Not sure what lake your fishing and it’s visibility…BUT..this is where the underwater cameras excel.

I would bet you a quarter those fish are going up to the bait, sucking it in just a bit, then spitting it back out faster then you can say….O.

Usually it’s a little later in the year when this happens though.

One of the tricks I used pre camera was a size 20 or 18 fly hook. They are very small as 3 pound test won’t fit through the eye. Cover that with half a waxie and you’ll have a better chance at those little buggers.

Been happening a lot down here on pool 9 for me too. Yesterday I was fishing in about 8 feet of water and was having trouble getting my jig to go down. Looked over at the Vexilar and there was a big mark at 5 feet. Came up with a 12 inch perch. What is more frustrating is to have been catching and marking a lot of fish the past few days and then the last 2 almost no marks or fish. Where did they go?

Yep, happening a lot to me also. I’ve found if they are coming up fast to keep shaking the lure, dont stop. If they are coming up slow and just sitting on it I’ll open the bail and let it free fall to the bottom right past them. They will go down slowly and look at it. I let it sit for 5 or 6 seconds then lift about an inch and hold still, they usually hit. A lot of mouthers and not many takers.

This happened to me today as well. However holding still when the fish was on the bait triggered bites. Thanks to the TUC noodle rod to detect the slight bite or even the up bite of the crappie.

Keep moving holes as well, there will be some aggressive fish near. If your sitting still in a shack some panfish will just hang around your bait…almost like they are sleeping or just resting. We did have a small front move through and fish should start to eat hard soon.

Good luck this week….should be fun. After all this is fishing

This is very common, and I agree with a couple others here. This weekend I did a lot of pan fishing and I must have went through my whole takle box changing colers and types of bait. Thats just what it takes some days, but doing this is going to help very little if you cant see the bite. Even with the most sensitive rod sometimes it is imposible to feel a bite! This is why I use a noodle rod with a very touchy and visible tip, even the slightest of nibbles show up on these types of rods, you just have to know when to stop looking at your flasher and look at your rod tip! A spring bobber is another trick to noticing these bites. Also remember most jigs will start to spin when you stop jiging them, the fish dont like this… so when they come up to the bait keep a very slight jiggle in the rod! Hope this helps.

Happy Fishing

I agree with Rick underwater cameras are awesome for this, when I was on Mille Lacs me and the GF were keeping busy by catching little perch and I would never have caught them without that camera..Its just cool seeing how they react to what jigging motion you do..Thanks Marcum

I try to keep my rod tip inside the silouette of the flasher, trying to find that sweet spot where my eye can see both the flasher and rod tip… Can’t do it all the time expecially when you are trying to get fish to commit by chasing up.

As for the fish not biting, Dave Genz says move til you find biters!!!

Mark

When that happens, I usually start yelling at the fish, blame the democrats, blame George Bush, accuse the fish of being communists conspiring against me, and then open a beer.

Sometimes it works.

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When that happens, I usually start yelling at the fish, blame the democrats, blame George Bush, accuse the fish of being communists conspiring against me, and then open a beer.

Sometimes it works.

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Wow i thought I was the only one!

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When that happens, I usually start yelling at the fish, blame the democrats, blame George Bush, accuse the fish of being communists conspiring against me, and then open a beer.

Sometimes it works.

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I tried that – Did not work. Even after a few times of trying it.

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When that happens, I usually start yelling at the fish, blame the democrats, blame George Bush, accuse the fish of being communists conspiring against me, and then open a beer.

Sometimes it works.

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I tried that – Did not work. Even after a few times of trying it.

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You probably didn’t rant loud enough or long enough. You really have to let loose.

Are you guys still having that problem? Fished a lake today where every fish that came on the screen came up and smacked it, sometimes multiple times. I caught a keeper perch that hit it 5 times before I got him. Was nice to have fish hit it for a change.

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When there are pan fish showing up like crazy on the flasher but they just will not bite. Both yesterday and today had tons of fish showing up on the flasher but had a hard time getting them to bite. They would either rush up to the bait or come up slowly and just sit right on it.

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Happens to me a lot. I thought I was just bad at ice fishing. Saturday I drilled a hole in 13 ft off a point and had a school of fish right there. They bit steady for a couple hours on the silver glitter Mooska tipped with red spikes. Then they just stopped biting. So I switched to a red Impulse tapeworm and they bit well for another hour. Then they stopped again but there were sure a lot of lookers. I switched through all my bait, and several styles and colors of jigs with little success.
The rest of the day was really tough but I was able to coax some by raising the jig way high then lowering slowly to the bottom. The gills tended to grab them on the way down.
When they got bored with that, I’d hold the tungsten jig about a foot or foot-and-a-half off the bottom, drop it hard to the bottom, then slowly lift back where I started. Sometimes they’d hit it on the way back up. The tungsten jig works best for pounding the bottom cause it drops fast and I assume it stirs things up.
Maybe one day I’ll afford a camera so I could study more scientifically.

John S.