Watched a video yesterday of fish feeding in a lake.

 A fanatical angler had lowered a camera into the water and was recording everything that happened near his bait…the action was fascinating.

What was really interesting was how the fish reacted differently to the food around the bait…they ate it like they’d never been fed before…but they wouldn’t touch the bait itself!

The angler kept throwing in berley and this kept the fish feeding in the area…they were very hungry.

When they came to the bait, most didn’t even touch it….it was like they knew there was something wrong with it.

You can learn a lot from this experience….how many times have you thought there’s no fish around when there may be plenty there…they just wont touch your hook bait…

….or worse still, you can’t catch but someone else is hauling in truck-loads!

 What the video was showing was how the fish located the berley, You could see them using their sense of smell to hone in on the small pieces of food on the bottom and gobble it up.

When they came to the bait, which was quite large, they either completely avoided it or tasted it and spat it out…the fish were testing it and it failed the test.

Fish have no fingers so the only way they can tell if something is food is through taste…so they have to put it in their mouth to find out if they should swallow.  They do use sight and smell but this only tells them if they should investigate  it…that’s why they chase lures.

If a fish gets close and the bait doesn’t feel right – it might not look like the other food, it might be too big, it might not move in the water like other food, it might smell wrong…there can be many reasons –  but if it’s not right they won’t touch it unless they are young, dumb or really hungry.

The fish in the video were mature fish so they’d been around, and maybe even felt a hook before. They swam all around the bait and hardly ever touched it!

If the camera hadn’t been filming the angler would never have known there were so many fish. He would also never have known that his bait wasn’t doing its job.

The hardest job in fishing is locating or attracting the fish. The next hardest job is hooking them and the third hardest job is landing them…

…this angler had done the hardest job and couldn’t profit from it…

What should he do?

Change something!

So what can you change?

Well, lets start with a short list:

Bait size, bait type, add flavour, combine baits, hook size, hook type, distance from hook to sinker, diameter of line tied to hook, number of hooks on the line….or just scream and go home(only kidding!)

 These are some of the things that can be changed…and there are more advanced changes but this list shows that you always have a few options.

If you fish at a popular spot that gets plenty of fishing activity the fish get pretty wise. They wont commit suicide by just swallowing your bait and are pretty wary about anything in the water that doesn’t look safe…or worse, has caused some pain in the past…

 …this has been proven in fishing spots overseas on “catch and release” fisheries where anglers must return all fish they catch back to the water. Any fish that’s been hooked a few times gets very , very hard to hook again.

So…as a minimum, if you aren’t getting bites, change to a smaller hook and smaller piece of the same bait. Sometimes a smaller bait will entice because it looks more like other food in the water.

If this doesn’t work change to another bait…the number of times a change of bait has made a difference is unbelievable….but believe me it’s true. You just have to find out what the fish want to eat.

Another thing you can do is flavour your bait.

You might be using pippies and getting nowhere…try dipping them in garlic powder or tuna oil…the change of scent and taste can turn the fish in the bite.

The thing to remember is that experimenting with your fishing sometimes has outstanding results….

…I have changed baits at times and totally cashed in on the trip…where I’d got nothing, or very little a new bait changed things and  started getting regular bites and hook-ups.

If this doesn’t work try casting some distance either side of where you have been casting. It just could be that something…like a big fish, has swum through and scared the fish away.

Cast away from your target area and you might just find a fish waiting till it feels safe….

…This has happened to me a number of times. One time I was fishing at Apollo bay in a sheltered area near a boat ramp. I’d caught one fish then the bites stopped. I tried everything but couldn’t get another fish…then it happened, a seal surfaced and swam around for a while.

All the fish in my target zone had been scared off…no wonder I’d got not bites.

I decided to cast well away from where the seal had been and after 20 minutes was into the fish again…so it worked.

(A little later the seal started chasing the fish I was reeling in so the “party was over”. I packed up and left….but at least I caught a few before I went)

So before you go home empty handed try changing a few things…you might just turn a disaster into a VICTORY!