On two occasions now I have seen fish that were following my swimbait get picked off by a larger bass! One occasion it was a sunfish, but the other time it was a bass that was (roughly) 12-14"! It was awesome to see though i wish it would have been my bait. Anyone else seen this?

I haven't but I am sure that was cool to see!! 

I'd like to think that validates my purchase of a baby bass swimbait....thanks!

Yep, I've seen that quite a bit fishing in northern Wisconsin.  I'll be panfishing and see perch or bluegill following my bait only to have a musky take advantage of their diverted attention and grab a quick meal!  It's definitely cool to see!

Unfortunately the water clarity is too poor where I fish to actually see it, but I've heard of fish hitting either the follower or the prey as a competitive response.  Crappie fishermen will sometimes put out a small minnow, then throw a slightly larger crankbait, spinner, or jig and crank it so it approaches the minnow, hoping to convince another crappie to hit the lure, minnow, or both before the "competition" grabs the minnow.  I've heard of trout fishermen putting a tiny jig or fly about a foot in front of a spoon, and some fishermen think that schooling bass often hit lures like lipless crankbaits because they think another bass is chasing it.

 

I've wondered before about putting something like an 1/8 oz Rat-L-Trap, or a small jig in front of a swimbait in baby bass/baby pike or even crappie, and seeing how it works for musky or larger bass. 

The REAL A-Rig minus the catching.

I'd really like to witness that event, but most of our waters are too discolored.

In any case, keep throwing them swimbaits, they definitely make stuff happen

 

Roger

With the good water clarity we have most of the time you can see bass and other fish following several different lures.

When I started using trout swimbaits it wasn't unusual to see several trout joining up with the swimbait and bump it, they would panic and scatter just before a big bass showed up, sometimes striking the swimbait.

Tom

Have had pike swipe at , chase, and/or grab many a small bass or panfish that I had caught and was reeling in many many times

I've had big bass eat sunfish I was reeling in on more than one occasion, part of what got me started fishing bigger swimbaits. One of the biggest bass I've ever seen attacked a 12-14 inch bass I was reeling in from a strip pit. She was big enough to engulf all but the head of that bass crossways in her mouth. 

Switch to a lure that looks like the smaller fish sounds like Ya know what their after