What happens when calendar looks awful?

I never stopped to wonder what happens to fish when calendars and forecasts project a "bad fishing week". This can happend based on the moon/tides/winds, the effect is less successful fishing, but what are fish doing
?
Are fish more scattered? Feeding less? I assume tey need to eat no matter what, and I speculate maybe they are just less aggressive at specific times, or have moved further out. But they sure can't go on a diet.
What is the consensus?

Calendar?
I'm going fishing regardless.
Fish eat 51 weeks a year. Not always in the same spot. Part of the fun of chasing them around the bay is learning what moves them around and what they do.

I'll tell you one thing that's a slap in the face to a expert in the magazine, when big trout start getting a lot of boat traffic and pressure they don't go deep, they head shallow.

Some folks swear by the Solunar calendar. I'm not sure what I think of them. I think fish are a lot like us. They are motivated by the availability of food, by comfort, by sex, by safety. They like a good meal, don't want to get too hot or cold, like to get it on every once in a while, and to stay out of dangerous neighborhoods.

They are free to go anywhere that jives with their DNA. We, predators that we are, get to use whatever tools, observations and resources we can to find them. I think fishing can be "off" to where the need to eat is being overshadowed by the other needs, safety, comfort, sex. The sun and even more the moon drive the tides and current and that sets up opportunities for the fish to get an easy meal, and probably figure into the other needs. So the sun and moon are certainly linked to when fish feed. But is it timed like in the calendar? IDK.

They are cold blooded. They don't know what hot or cold is.
They spend their entire life eating stuff smaller than them and trying to not get eaten by something larger. A grown trout or red knows they are too big to get scarfed by a pelican so only a porpoise or shark can get them and they are laying out in the depths.

They follow their food around. Deep, shallow, muddy or clear.

Cold blooded or not, every type fish has a preference for water temperatures. They absolutely sense what they prefer and need and will suffer and even die if the water gets too far outside their species specific range. The temperature preferences and tolerances vary for each species. They have preferences and tolerances for salinity too.

I've seen plenty of big sharks in shallow water, like 2 feet or less. Lots of porpoises, too. Who hasn't had a bite shut down temporarily in the surf or bay by a pod of dolphin moving in.

Finding food might be the primary motivation for a fish, but I'll stick to the belief that any other need can at times trump or influence the behavior of a fish beyond just the need to find food.

The calendars and tide charts aren't always right.

You gotta go fishin' to figure that out and also "what's up" with Mother Nature.

Big trout, med sized trout, and little 15 inch trout are all different. As soon as one thinks they know everything they'll turn around and learn something new. Many big trout do stay shallow and so do a lot of small trout. The Big trout are eating big mullet and and small trout. They'll also snack on small stuff. Also, what Big, med, and small means to one angler is different for each angler but, generally, big trout will be 25 inches and larger, mid range trout are 18-24, and small trout are 14 - 17. Hard rules are always meant to be broken.

What do the fish do when it's poor fishing forecast... they eat when the water is moving. Most of the 'fishing forecast' are written for when there will be more water movement in the daytime. Many times, when there is poor daytime water movement, there will be good water movement at night and thats when the fish are primarily feeding during those times. Sure, they'll feed a little during the day if they can find some water movement (hint hint) and it could come close to a solunar time (this is due to multiple factors.. mainly due to the fact that the moon and sun move the water anyway). Yes, many times in larger bay systems there will be a time delay of when the water will move due to distance from a pass ect. For example, in Corpus Christi Bay complex Nueces bay will have a completely different water movement schedule compared to California hole due to how far those two locations are from the pass or the source of the moving water. Should we expect solunar times to be dead on? Some species tend to be slightly more in line with Solunar feed times and others, like redfish, it doesn't seem to matter as much. Find a redfish and more than likely if you put a bait in front of his nose he'll eat. There are times when that won't happen, but it's rare. If you put a fly in front of their nose those times become even more minimal.

What to do.. learn how water moves in the bays. It moves with sun and moon, wind, and even barges and ships. learn your tide time differential (the time delay for tide movement in your chosen fishing spots). Know that water is almost alsways moving somewhere in the bay system and learn where that should be happening so you can find it consistently. Weather can affect water movement through wind and barometer and sometimes those can be negative aspects making what was foretasted as a good day and making it a bad day. Learn how to read the water and how to see the small things that people overlook as signs of bait. Fish structure with moving water of some sort with bait or signs of forage or fish on it and the odds go up drastically. Match the hatch and learn to fish seasonally. Always keep an open.

Redfish in a back lake has really no clue what the tide is doing.

That's for sure Pat.

At times the only moving water in some of that back country is runoff from rains flushing the bait out of the grass lines.

And some areas or structure "turn on" on a high tide and other locations "turn on" on a low tide.

Therefore areas that depend on moving water - it's not only fact that it's moving water - but which way the water is moving that will produce more productive fishing.

Yeah I should have been more detailed.
I pay attention to the water in or out or slack. Out is the ends of reefs and bars in front of bays. In is grass lines and potholes. Slack is back lake sight fishing.

Not all days are going to be epic. Not all days are going to be busts either. What the really salty hands are trying to tell you is to fish the fish, never spots. Go do what the conditions are telling you, not where you caught them six months ago.

yep - just as I have been posting up 1st hand reports on the 'current' - as in more ways than one for that definition of 'current" ... tide situation here in the coastal bend .. todays report is much of the same.

Talking with quite a few of my guide over the last several days ... and I am talking about guides who fish the back bays to the surf over the last two days.

The report is still the same as my wade fishing reports.

Tides are behind schedule and best trout bite is around 10 am whether you are fishing the surf or the deep shell.

Wade anglers who are feet wet before 1st light are enjoying a decent - quality sized trout bite - then a scattered trout bite after sunrise.