Marking lots of fish but not committing

The last two days I was on Lake Rosseau and Lake Muskoka I was marking lots of fish but they just weren't committing. I was targeting lakers on Rosseau in 80 fow and hoping to target walleye on lake Muskoka in 35 fow. I was mostly using shiners and noticed on Rosseau as well as Muskoka the fish would come up to my bait and would swim back down. On Muskoka I was at least getting small bumps here and there but they still wouldn't commit. I went back and forth between jig head sizes and colours, I also tried to use the smallest minnows I had and small lures. I also used small jig heads with small gulps to present a smaller presentation, still no luck. I drove by different spots on the way home and spoke to a few people. Most people said it was slow but a couple said they caught a few small fish but nothing big. I know the barometric pressure was a little higher this weekend, I don't have to much knowledge on that topic so I'm not sure if that made an impact. If you have any advice that could help me on days like this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Tight Lines

We were on Ross on Fri with much the same results.

when you mark a fish,especially trout,real your line up,dont stop...it triggers their natural preditory response

It's the supermoon, shut the fishing down for the past week or so. Only the odd bite if you are very lucky. I've noticed it for sure. Been terrible this week. It has to be related. As I wss doing much better the week before.

Well, Im glad to hear I wasnt the only one. Im gonna blame the super blood moon coupled with a low pressure system and a side of blizzard for the shutdown. I did manage to coax 3 smaller trout up (kept 1 -16"er) but had many not committing. All the trout hit on the smallest pinheads I had on a small single hook.

It was tough. I posted a report.
This was my experience:

http://www.lakesimcoeoutdoors.com/forums/i...showtopic=34319

My buddy did that a lot. Maybe he reeled too slowly?

Friday I only caught 3 but come Sat they shut down ...they would chase for a few feet and drop back down ...only caught 2 (only 3 hits) on Sat and fished for about 6 hrs before calling it a day ...Fish finder was lit up all day with lots of fish going through high ...couldn't even get a response from them at all.

Thursday and Friday I had drop-ins from both the Leo's and CO's and they said they had seen a few fish but almost everyone they had talked to from Port Carling over to my area were reporting the fishing was really slowing down compared to earlier in the week.

Last week I got a huge pike right off the bottom in 68' ...thought it was a good trout and was really surprised to see a 40" pike in the hole ...let it swim for another day.

Lake in Windermere now has about 18-24 inches of snow on it with some good drifts out there ...Bike travel would be next to impossible without tracks and walking may be a little bit of the cardio workout...

Suds

On Rosseau right now. Marking lots but only a few light taps. Tried everything but live Minnie’s. no luck last 2 trips either. And it’s a brutal walk.

Dave

Have you tried a fast retrieve?

(enough moaning---just be glad you are not on Simcoe getting buzzed by snowmobiles---or some guy using you anchors to set up to make a 'townhouse'! )

I was out on Saturday as well, In the am the fish were all over the sonar hot pursuit style. You would think with how active they were on the bait that they were going to eat, but man that was not the case. By afternoon it appeared that a black hole formed in the lake and all of the fish were sucked into it. Did not mark for the next couple hours, we did manage to finally coax some nice brookies in by switching up the techniques and fine tuning them. Other then that ya it was odd as to how interested they were and what they chose to do with the bait.

Back home now. Big ZERO. I lost two but they were barely hooked. Started getting short bites. Even set up stingers but no dice. They would chase and maybe take a swipe but that’s it. But I had the by to myself and I was warm so better than working today. Just used to more success there. Maybe Dale fished em all out?

Dave

I experienced the 2 toughest fishing days this year last Wed and Thurs ever on ice.

lots of fish, but not hitting. managed a few perch day 1 and day 2 we targete wf and lt's with only 2 caught.

I do blame that super moon as day before everyone did real well. the barometer going up and down was no help and neither were the bite times

In truth, I was somewhat hungover day 2 , so a tad slow on the draw

In my experience, I just write it off as the "February Sucks" syndrome.

Every year is the same where I fish...slay fest at first ice, and stays good, but slowing toward end of January...then starts ramping back up to awesome once the nice sunny March days arrive.

I go to tiny....1/32 oz jig head with just the head of a minnow on it. Gets one or two a day usually.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll definitely use all your advice and plan a little better for next time. Hopefully it picks back up, it looks like the weather is going to be pretty consistent throughout the week and so far looking pretty good for the weekend. I'll probably head out Saturday, I'll post some pics in here If I get lucky this time lol.