When to go home when the bite is slow - you never know!

[Spoonminnow]

Yesterday it started out cloudy with a slight breeze - perfect for this particular pond I fish for different species. By midday the bite started getting a bit slow as the sun started to come out, so I figured I might pack it in and visit another water. Good thing I stayed! Total amount caught - 67 fish / 5 species from 9:30am-3:30pm.

Usually this shallow pond is dynamite under cloudy skies threatening rain, so I don't fish there when the skies are clear. But the water temperature has been going down, signalling fall, making fish behavior change. Granted, I caught as many fish when the water was over 80 degrees but usually under cloudy skies. Yesterday the bite changed and fish were again caught after 1:30pm. Crappie that weren't biting in the am were biting in the afternoon along with gills, bass and pickerel that bit all day.

Now I know not to give up too easily when the bite stalls.

[DaveB40]

Good job!!! Sometimes you have to stick with it or just make a
quick adjustment. Now you've got a note for the fishing diary.
Tight Lines - Dave

[Spoonminnow]

Now you've got a note for the fishing diary.

So true, which is the reason I took a picture of my watch reading 3:30pm and added it to the photo log.
Of course yesterday putting up with a constant cold wind (10 mph) under an overcast sky, I gave up at 1pm after only catching 18 fish - mostly small bass and a few huge gills. I hate fishing a weedy lake, with a cold wind dragging anchor and not having fish to show for.

[Cane Pole]

You must have a "Library of Fish" there Spoonie. Next time out, take a picture of all them fish at one time. We wanna see all of them in a basket you make claims about.

My neighbor is a fisherman too. He can't catch a bus.

[Spoonminnow]

We wanna see all of them in a basket you make claims about.

First off, I don't keep fish. Second, I don't need to prove any claim of catching large numbers in a day and to take photos of every fish I catch is pointless. Friends I fish with know how many we catch together from my boat and have no difficulty believing how well I do solo based on my experience and knowledge of the lakes we fish. I don't exaggerate size or numbers -( have a click counter and a digital scale for that ) - because I want my logs to be as accurate as possible. Catching over 50 fish in a day is like hitting the jackpot, especially when lunkers of any species are recorded.

[snakeeater]

Who really cares how many fish other people catch, or say they catch? I'm more concerned with how many I catch, and if someone says they catch a bunch, I'll try to learn from what they do. Worrying about other people fishing is what happens in "tourneyments"...which is why I don't fish "tourneyments". I got a lot more to do in my life than worrying about another man's catch...thank the Lord.

[Spoonminnow]

Same here! My passion is lure craft & design. My challenge is finding everything I can about the waters I routinely fish and passing on my observations for everyone on crappie.com to read and consider.

Some knowledge is universal at times for most freshwater species and you can't have too much of that. Sure, numbers of fish caught is a goal, but not the only goal - discovering the norms and exceptions of catching fish is for me the ultimate goal. You could say it's the unexpected surprises that keep me coming back for more. I wouldn't bother if fishing was always predictable, but as with anything that is predictable, catching large numbers isn't one of them.