Bob, to try and answer your question, sure a bite will turn on if bait shows up when the waters were previously lacking bait but held the fish we target. But as you already indicated, if the bait has been around awhile, sure the fish have gorged, and subsequently with so much bait around, they can afford to be very selective about eating. But with that said, IMHO you'd be better off paying attention to things like, times of high tide, low tide, slack tide, water temp, time of day the bite is on, and the corresponding tide, where the fish are being caught (in the kelp, the canyon, out tot he west...) and trying to build some patterns of how and when the fish feed. Some fish like to feed when the current is flowing, others are rather lazy and feed during a slack tide...
|