I can see inactive fish - none that will bite

I visited a few ponds and watched fish in the shallows. In my own pond I watched fish suspended near the surface or gliding along without a care in the world - including not attacking my lures. Same for 1 and 2 year old bass, maximum length around 7". Made me wonder about fish activity in water about 55 degrees in early spring. Maybe nature is telling fish to relax until things happen: the completed early spawns of other species such as perch; prespawn of crappie which is next; weed growth (most warm water weeds are absent), frog spawn/ tadpoles, and insects hatches. The wind was calm on a bright sunny sky, barely rippling the water and the water was semi-clear down 3'.


At one local lake that gets down to 14', the story is different :
crappie and sunfish are schooled near humps way out from shore - mostly suspended in deeper water but bit hard when I found them! Water temperature is the same 55 degrees and the bite is morning until afternoon if you move around. Zero in the shallows.


Just another mystery nature confounds us with.

Fish have their basic patterns throughout the year that they usually follow. However each water body also has it's characteristics most of them different than other water bodies. I see this all the time. In one creek the fish are on fire and in another creek not that far away you can't buy a bite. I also see this on the Guadalupe River Lakes. Mcqueeney will be great and Dunlap will be slow. It's like that on all six of those lakes. Best bet is to stick with the basic fish patterns and then try to figure out the fish patterns on each water body. There are some days that no matter what you do the fish are just not going to bite!

They will start getting active soon.

Saw a lot of fish this past week that would not bite. Hard to figure out. I did however managed to catch a few nice ones. Keep fishing and good things will happen.

They probably saw you or sensed your presence. Some people look at me like I’m nuts, but I often wear camo to some of my fishing spots when I know the fishing will be tight quarters or if I know the fish will be on the surface. If they don’t bite, I make a mental note of where they are and move on. When I come back I stay way out of sight and make as long and accurate casts as I can. That normally does the trick for at least a few fish.

Deeper fish are less likely to see or sense you and don’t get near the fishing pressure so they bite unabashedly. Some of the best trips I’ve had was on underwater humps, deep weededges and and places where the river went from 1’-2’ deep to 6’-8’deep in a 10’ span. If you find a hump or ridge in 8’-10’ of water, you’ll probably have a good day. Stake rows as well.