I was fishing a fair sized farm pond today (about 1/2 an acre) using a Mann's Baby 1-. I got a few decent 1lb bass, but I missed alot more. Several times bass would follow my bait 5-10ft and then short strike. I was reeling it in slow as possible, but they still would short strike. What causes this. Were they just lethargic? Do I need a different color? By the way. Water temps were around 50-60, air temp 70's.

personally if they are following it that far I would speed it up. it sounds as though they may be getting to good of a look

If you can see them they can see you, good enough reason not to bite.

Also, followers are telling you something but you haven 't paid attention to what they are saying, they say: "I 'm interested but ..... not convinced ",  they are interested on the bait but you haven 't been able to convince them to strike, so if what you are doing doesn 't convince them you have to try a different approach, changing the speed ( faster ), making the retrieve not that predictable ( stopping, twitching, jerking, ripping ) many times is what you need to trigger the strike. Reeling in steadily is just one of the many ways to reel in a crank.

Not to hijack the post, but what water temps do you normally start using topwater baits.

most of the time when i get those follows....i change cadence first. like raul said, speed up...rip it, jerk it... etc.

if that doesnt produce AND the following has stopped... then i change colors and go back to the way i was fishing originally.

and i throw topwaters year around... but then... im in florida.

When you see some followers that are short striking or won't commit to a faster moving lure, try quickly following up with a subtle soft plastic presentation if you can, like a finesse tube jig, Senko, or weightless Trick worm. 

When you see some followers that are short striking or won't commit to a faster moving lure, try quickly following up with a subtle soft plastic presentation if you can, like a finesse tube jig, Senko, or weightless Trick worm.

The above works for me all the time.....

Usually when a bass nips or follows a live baitfish the baitfish acts and swims different because the baitfish becomes scared and knows it is lunch. If your bait acts like it isn't scared or continues to swim as business as usual the bass looses interest because it isn't acting like live bait.