Elusive individuals...

[Phil Arnott]

Having spent a reasonable proportion of my life watching fish and the way they feed and their reaction to bait. It soon becomes obvious that fish of the same species have different characters. Some are bold and some are timid. Some eat lots and some pick at food.

I watch the fish in my pond every day and the same nervous fish rise to the bait and miss it 50% of the time, The confident fish get it over 90% of the time. Some splash a lot and some take the bait gently. I remember one Koi enthusiast saying that his fish had different characters and one never fed on the koi food and only appeared to eat algae.

I once fished for some really wild mullet. When I threw bait amongst the shoal, some showed some interest, some ignored it and some fled from the sight of it.

I think it's not surprising that some fish rarely get caught when some are timid/suspicious and some have a different diet and never get on to anglers baits.