Tough pan fish bite – Prior Lake

I had a friend Down this weekend from up North to do some Fishing and Poker playing. The bite on both Sat. and Sun was rather tough. Marked lots of fish in almost every hole we fished. The fish would race up off the bottom to meet the falling Jig and then would just sit on it and not bite. They would follow it up and down and still not bite. I have never had fish react this aggressive to the bait without biteing it. I changed lure sizes and colors several time and still struggled to get them to bite. We did end up with a decent amount of fish for him to take home but really had to work for them. it seemed like if you could get one to bite you could catch a few and then they would stop biting again. A Diamond jig in red glow seem to work the best. I also tried several sizes and colors of the Gill Pill but ended up going back to the Red Glow diamond jig. This was the senond weekend in a row they acted this way. Did anyone else run into this lately? If so were you able to figure out something to get more to bite? I did notice that most of the fish caught looked rather well fed. That may explain some of it.

glowred gill pill with a waxie was the ticket for me on saturday. i was smacking some huge gills for the couple hours i was there.

i know it isnt the way its ‘sposed’ to work, but i was targeting fish on the bottom of the water column. i usually go for the one closest to the surface thinking they are the most active… but i experimented a little.

Been finding alot of those types of fish in the north metro also. Sometimes a simple lure or presentation chnge will get them going. More often its best to move off and go look for more active fish.

Fished with Dave barber on saturday and he was able to get some of those fish to go with a jigging spoon and a few waxes on it. It surprised me to see those fish hit a larger lure while being in such a neutral mood.

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It surprised me to see those fish hit a larger lure while being in such a neutral mood.

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Weather pattern, solunar relations, and fishing pressure are obviously three pieces of the pie that drive fish into the January blues or the neutral mood you describe…

I do have a theory on why bigger presentations can sometimes trigger some hits during these periods. Is it possible that certain species feel more threaten rather than hungry by the larger presentation when they are in that described “neutral mood” – hence the bite. Sort of like the aggression a Timber Rattlesnake will display when shedding…

Curious as to what other IDO’ers think?

You got me on this one.

yeah, i know nothing about timber rattlers either…

ive never really had good luck with larger presentations with pannies. ive stuck to the ‘less is more’ principle this year and have been content to sort through the babies.

I have a house on the north end been catching alot of panfish from 3:30 to 6:30pm and early mourning. Get away from the crowds you’ll have better luck.