Why? Newb question

[facarelli]

I've fished all my life. But never been serious, really. When I was a kid, we went for bluegills and whatever we could get in the local lakes out east. Moved to Colorado and got interested in trout fishing (and eating YUM). Now we're back in Wisconsin, been here for 20 years... there are lots of fishermen around, but other than a few times off and on, I've never really got into it here.

This winter my neighbor who likes to ice fish and I set up on a pond nearby and got a nice batch of big bluegills in no time at all. Now the ice has melted and we went over there on Sat. and didn't get a nibble.

Here's my question, and I bet somebody here knows the answer: How come the fish were biting like crazy when there was ice, but all of a sudden they aren't when the ice melts? There has to be a reason? More natural food? Does the hole in the ice attract fish because there is more light there??? But I mean we didn't get a nibble. Under the ice, the biggest prob. was keeping the bait away from the little guys. In this pond, that's the way it is in summer too. You get a bite every time you cast. But not yesterday!

[crappiencali]

There are a lot of reasons why. Anything from light, barometric pressure, moon phase heck there cold possibly a hundred more out there. They may be deep or shallow or suspended and just don't feel like eating. Don't get to discouraged you'll figure them out soon enough.

[Roberta]

Weather influences the bite in open water ,while the ice pretty much keeps that from happening. Once the weather settles a little and the water warms up, things will improve. - Roberta

[b_a_s_s_101]

Were you in a boat on that Saturday? If so, I think one of the reasons that you can ice fish one day, then go out a little while later and not get a bite is that when you were on the ice, you were verticle fishing them. Being able to keep your bait in the stike zone for as long as possible is key to getting those fish to bite. I fish from shore and I am not able to get a lot of crappies during the time I get to fish, because I mostly fish in the summer when the crappies and most of the big bass are deep. If you fish from shore, try a slip bobber and change the depths until you can find the fish at the particular depth. I hope this helped you, even a little.

[facarelli]

These are good thoughts. We do know there are crappie in this pond! But under the ice, we were getting bluegills like crazy, and I've caught lots in the summer too. So I was just wondering... the weather must be the thing, but it still seem weird. Another thing could be that we just got a lot of rain, and since we went on ice this pond might be 16 in deeper!!! So we'll keep trying and maybe somebody else has some other theories to add in the meantime