Has the fish bite changed over the years?

[fowlthing]

It seems to me that 30 years ago when worm fishing a bass gave a distinct thunk when they bit.  Today half or more of my catches are on bites that only feel heavy.  I may be nuts but just wondered what others think?

Maybe I had the heavy  bites years ago, and didn't have the gear or experience to tell that's what was going on??

 

Thoughts?

[Dutch]

25 minutes ago, fowlthing said:

It seems to me that 30 years ago when worm fishing a bass gave a distinct thunk when they bit.  Today half or more of my catches are on bites that only feel heavy.  I may be nuts but just wondered what others think?

Maybe I had the heavy  bites years ago, and didn't have the gear or experience to tell that's what was going on??

 

Thoughts?

With today’s good equipment I think we feel stuff that used to go unnoticed.

[dtrs5kprs]

3 hours ago, Dutch said:

With today’s good equipment I think we feel stuff that used to go unnoticed.

That, and we had more wood cover. Think fish just set up differently, were more aggressive.

[vernon]

11 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

That, and we had more wood cover. Think fish just set up differently, were more aggressive.

And grass!

I miss cranks, spinnerbaits and buzzers over the tops of the weeds in fall.

That was some fun fishing.

[FishnDave]

Conjecture here... Maybe the super-aggressive fish of old got caught and harvested (as was more common then), leaving the lighter biters.  Or, even if those aggressive fish were released, they learned to be a little more tentative with their strikes after being caught?  I've seen in just a year or two of fishing smaller waters, how fishing pressure will push the bass to feeding at unusual times....after dark, for example.  Magazine articles have been written about such phenomena.

Anybody else seen similar behaviors? 

Also, what about.... perhaps when we select for big deer and big fish (for example), it leaves the smaller ones to pass on their genes, creating a loop of ever-smaller game?  10" Bluegills aren't nearly as common now.

[Bill Babler]

We caught a total boat load of fish Saturday.  Everyone of them had been previously caught. Never landed a fish in the KC area that did not have a hook hole already in its head. 

Got to mean something. 

 

[dtrs5kprs]

5 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

We caught a total boat load of fish Saturday.  Everyone of them had been previously caught. Never landed a fish in the KC area that did not have a hook hole already in its head. 

Got to mean something. 

 

It's sure not a plus, other than they were still swimming in the lake instead of grease to be caught again.

[Champ188]

On 5/2/2023 at 7:20 PM, dtrs5kprs said:

It's sure not a plus, other than they were still swimming in the lake instead of grease to be caught again.

Preach!

[fowlthing]

Several great points that I had not thought about.  The cover and pressure changes alone have been tremendous. Just having a gps map that shows contours helps but at the same times increases pressure to key areas.   

Fishing is still great fun.