Fertile Mucus

Destinee
Ok so I'm confused...when my ex husband and I were ttc with my daughter i never had clear stretchy cm until AFTER i found out i was pregnant. i dont remember having cleary stretchy cm while trying to have my daughter....is that kind of cm the only way of knowing that you're fertile? ?? I dont do the whole ovulation test thing...my fiance and i are now are just trying to see what happens but I'm just curious as to if i dont see that kind of cm this time does that mean I'm not ovulating or something? My cycle is 23 in length