I just fishied a Tournament on Lake Champlain.  It was a one day tourney.  I was able to go up and practice the day before and found a very active area.  It was a small patch of weed beds adjacent to a creek channel that had clearer water than the rest of the area.  That morning I started throwing a Fluke and was getting slammed left and right by 3 and 4 pounders but they would just roll on it or blow up on it.  I tried changing colors and presenting it differently but still had the same effects. No matter what I followed up with they would not touch anything other than that fluke. It was too grassy for top water and I didn't want to get off that high horses of getting great strikes.  I was able to only plug 2 out of that area but had at least 30 strikes. One was 4 1/2 pounder and the other was a 4 pounder.  I had one hooked about 6 and many other great strikes.  What could I have done differently to have got more of those fish in the boat?

Could have been a case of being wired and not letting the bass take the fluke and turn with it.

Tom

Could have been a case of being wired and not letting the bass take the fluke and turn with it.

Tom

X2

 

This happens to me all the time. If you can see the fish hit the fluke you need to treat it like a topwater bite. Wait to feel the fish and then lay into them. 

X3

x4

 

If this happened to me and I was sure that it wasn't an issue of timing I'd probably switch over to a jig and grub in similar color pattern. In the weeds I'd TX rig the grub on a slider or a spot remover.

First off ~ Welcome to BR ~ !

 

Perhaps it was your line size.

 

Did you consider using a lighter / thinner,  less visible line for the fluke ? 

 

A-Jay

Thank you for all the advice.  I will try a few of these tricks.  However it wasn't an issue of setting the hook to early or letting them take then load up they wouldn't take it at all and if they didn't have it I didn't set the hook.  I would feel for the fish first but they just wouldn't take it.  Also I tried following up with a jig in the same color but after they reacted to the fluke just once they wouldn't go after it again or any other lure.  Thank you all for the good advice.  P.S this is the best place on the internet for fishing advice.  Great job to all of those who make this website possible.

I also just joined this site and it is awesome. I live in Ohio and 2 4 pounders would make my day.

If the weeds and cover allows it a small treble on the belly, like a #6, will turn those short strikes into caught fish. 

Try some jj's? I've heard, too, of throwing soft plastic's in a ziplock with minced garlic (although I've never tried it).

 

Call me crazy, but I'll drag a c-rig through grass on medium braid with a 3 ft. 10/12 lb fluro leader with a 2/0 or 3/0 worm hook.... I've really gotten big on these Roboworms here recently - every time I've used one, bass give it a full hit and hold that sucker. 

 

 Well moral of my story is: I've had good luck with following flukes with c-rig worms "swimming" through that grass.

I do the same thing with senkos sometimes.  I pull it away from them before they have it all the way.