Never seen anything like it!

I’m fishing off boat docks over gin clear water. I can see bluegills swimming around, but they have become extremely hard to catch. I chummed yesterday with kneaded, firm mashed potatoes (something bluegills love) and had them in a feeding frenzy, but they would swim up close to my baited hook and back away. They even backed away from the hook baited with a piece of nightcrawler. I finally used a tiny bait keeper hook, similar to a fly-tying hook, in a size 10, and covered the entire hook with a tiny ball of mashed potatoes and caught a couple that way while chumming, but the potatoes fall off the hook in a few seconds, so it is not a good way to fish.

Watching them swim up, examine, and back away is enough to drive me nuts. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. Any comments and suggestions short of dynamite would be appreciated.

what size line are u using? the hard part of fishing in clear water is that the fish can also see u and your line

I would try a small Panther Martin inline spinner and/or a Beetle Spin on a long cast and retrieved quickly back through the areas holding fish. I don't know that this will solve the problem but trying for a reaction bite is worth a shot.

Plus #1. They also just don't want to bite!

Ive always found that if any part of the point is showing they will NOT bite,...

Use fluorocarbon line (or leader). Use the small hook and the bit of worm ALONE, no sinker, etc. Let the bait float gently down to them. They can find this irresistible.

Am using 4# Fluoro. Appreciate the comments. I know the tiny hook helped when it was covered with the mashed potatoes, and will continue using it and try to cover it completely with other baits that will stay on it. Also, I like the suggestion to not use any weight. Look forward to my next trip. Thanks again.

1/32 oz hair jigs have worked pretty much anywhere and for more than one type fish:



Various small plastics grubs rigged on the same jig head sometimes do better than live bait:


Bass Assassin Grub or other spike tails:

Crappie or Trout Magnet Grubs also get bit when the bite is tough.


Ice fishing maggots such as mousies or mealworms hooked on a 1/64 oz jig head may get one to bite and then more to follow.
Sometimes they just won't bite.

This!

All of the above is good info! I fish clear water also and you have to be stealthy. Get into sneak mode dont let them see you and try to be as quiet as possible. When on the dock walk as lightly as you can they can feel the vibration from your footsteps. If they are heavily fished they get smart and like Chuck said above sometimes they just dont want to bite.

I remember one time we were staying at a camping park and there were tons of sunfish around the dock. Reason being is people fed them. We threw some bread ourselves and I told my boy we would get our rods later and catch some for fun. Later we went back with bread and rods in hand. I figured this would be some of the easiest fishing I have ever done. We went simple, small hook, tiny split shot weight and bread. I rigged him up and get mine in the water. To our surprise we could see the fish swim up to our bait, look at it and swim off. I was dumbfounded. After a while of this my boy made the observation..."Dad they seem to eat it when it is first thrown in and floating on the surface. Once it starts sinking they ignore it". I thought wait he is right!! So I took off the split shot weight and put a bigger chunk of bread on the hook so it wouldn't sink very quickly (and to fully hide the hook). Sure enough we started catching them one after another. Those things are smarter then you may think. I'm sure I am not they only one that fished for them like we initially did. I guess they learned that if it sank quickly (or saw the weight), they knew there was a hook with it.

Good example of fish not wanting to bite just happened to me yesterday while fishing a creek. I had just arrived at my spot and right off the bat I saw several very nice Rios suspended in about one foot of water. They were not spooking at all. I baited my hook with a piece of nice fat night crawler thinking this is going to be a cake walk. Boy was I WRONG! Right when the worm hit the water and started to sink towards the bottom the Rios started swimming towards it. I left the worm there thinking I would feel a quick bite. WRONG, No bite. I worked the worm and then retrieved the worm and made another cast. Nothing. I saw other very nice fish including some BIG Redear and again could not get any bites. I tried throwing weightless with no results. Usually during the fall feeding month those fish would have hit. I fished that spot for two hours and had only caught one Rio in the 9" range. The week before this Myself and Rick aka Catyakker fished that same spot and caught about 20 trophy Rios all in the 9 to 10 inch range. Like I say sometimes they bite and other times they just simply don't!

Plus 1. Sometimes the fish win.

Yup

The almost exact same thing happened to me yesterday also, Chuck! Like a week before my friend and I were catching them hand over fist. Yesterday I may have caught 5 in three hours! Fishing has a way of humbling us every once in a while. Keeps things interesting I suppose.