Today I was fishing in MA at my favorite unnamed reservoir. No boats allowed and extremely low fishing pressure. One of the best fisheries I have ever come across. I have landed multiple 4-5lbs and a few 12-15 inch perch, and 12+ sunfish. Crystal clear, insane visibility, 5+ feet visibility from the shore. It was extremely calm and overcast so the visibility was even higher today as there was no waves or water disturbances. 70 degrees, overcast and a cold front moving in. Sunfish spawn must have occurred in the past few days and the male bass were seeking out bedding areas. Since it was so clear I could see exactly how many of them reacted towards my baits. The males were guarding the areas they were going to make beds and were chasing sunfish away from the area. I thought they would be aggressive but they weren't. I tried inline spinners, crank baits and grubs and they almost seemed to be scared of them when they went in the water near them or they just did not care. There were big pickerel suspended in 3 feet of water I saw and they could care less what swam by them whether it be fish or my lures.  I managed to still have a good day, I fished for 2 hours and landed 4 but lost a bunch also. I hardly ever lose fish like I did today. On other bodies of water from the shore, 4 in 2 hours is decent. But I swear some of these fish in this lake have never seen a lure before so I slay them when I get the chance to go there, so it was a slow day for this particular place. I got them all on 1/16th green and white buck tail jigs fishing extremely slow. I even resorted to trying to catch one by hand (which almost worked), hiding behind a rock. It was weird, the bass really didn't care that my arm was submerged in the water while it just swam around me. 

 

I thought it was such an odd day. The fish being so close to shore but not eating anything compared to my previous experiences during this time of year. I usually kill them on crankbaits right around now on this same lake. What would you have thrown in this situation? Why were the bass seemingly not as aggressive and didn't care to eat? What was going on in their physiology to make them like that? I'm really interested to know why the fish were so sluggish today. 

I too have been fishing in a similar body of water south of you by an hour or so.  If your weather has been the same as in lower CT I have 2 theories.  I only post this because I've also noticed strange behavior most days.  The numbers are way down, the size is way up.

 

One is the colder weather.  Except for a 4 day stretch it's been pretty cold here.  Generally this is shorts and tshirt time of year but I've been wearing a light jacket fishing.  I think this is affecting the spawn by pushing it back a bit.  

 

Second is the unusual amount of rainfall.  My local body of water is up at least a foot.  Most of the spots I fish are under water.  

 

Things have dried up in the last week until today.  Saw a nice bass just as you described and threw everything I had, power, finesse, spinning and no interest.  Spent about a half an hour fishing through were she was with no luck and about to give up.  Last lure I decided to throw figuring it was too cold but what the heck.  Whopper plopper 90.  Crushed it on the first cast, slow retrieve.  When you pause it the tail sinks down a bit and she couldn't resist.

 

 

 

 

Could be the spawn. 

 

Read about the spawn and note how spawning bass act and react to your bait presentations.

 

Once the major bass spawn ends and the females get their second breath you will have some fun catching them again.

 

Go to the General Bass Fishing Forum and look up the Bass Behavior Documentary to note those bass' behavior and then compare it to what you are encountering on your pond.

 

 

The overall reason for the lethargic attitude of the fish I believe was lack of wind... you always want a little ripple of some sort, not gale force but even a slight breeze is better than calm and slick.

try using 6# floro and a watermelon red flake yum finger wacky style... that should do the trick... a dinger thrown in a unpressured body of water can do some serious damage on the resident bass.... I do well on pressured waters with it myself

One thing to remember, if you can see them, they can see you.  Sometimes you need to be covert in your approach to the shore.