Sometimes when im out on the lake or out on the pond there are fish just either hitting the top of the water or jumping everywhere and i cast towards that area ... nothing .... i throw towards bait fish jumping out of the water .... nothing. I honestly don't know what im doing wrong or maybe they just aren't interested in what im throwing

Its normal....

 

Yup. Happens....

Yeah, I try not to be distracted, and abandon my plan.  I will do a side scan of the area to see if there are large predators, but usually it's either carp, or something else.

A lot of times there will be schooling bass or other species around chasing bait but there's so much bait you don't stand a chance. If they persist sometimes I'll use a Pop R to get their attention, but the action has to be pretty sustained. You just about need to be looking their direction and cast as soon as they bust the surface. If you get the chance to do this, be loud with the popper. And they'll usually be dinks, but sometimes they're white bass, white perch or stripers.

34 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

A lot of times there will be schooling bass or other species around chasing bait but there's so much bait you don't stand a chance. If they persist sometimes I'll use a Pop R to get their attention, but the action has to be pretty sustained. You just about need to be looking their direction and cast as soon as they bust the surface. If you get the chance to do this, be loud with the popper. And they'll usually be dinks, but sometimes their white bass, white perch or stripers.

i was literally sitting in my kayak and things were hitting the surface all around me ... i never saw an actual fish they would just hit the surface and i just wouldn't see um other than the splash and they had to be big enough to eat my bait with the splash they made

Sometimes they're panfish eating bugs.  They swim in a fast, tight circle to create a vortex that sucks the bug under so they can gobble it up.  It creates quite a commotion.

At my local it's always carp.... carp... and more carp....

Just now, Eric J said:

At my local it's always carp.... carp... and more carp....

I have no idea if it's carp because i don't know 100% what is in the lake ... i have seen 1 koi that obviously someone put in the lake and i know smallies and large mouth are in the lake too and also Bullhead catfish but that's all that i can confirm maybe there is carp

4 hours ago, Eric J said:

At my local it's always carp.... carp... and more carp....

This^^ I use to go on wild goose chases all the time when seeing this. 

Unless I see bait fish boiling up or darting away I never chase surface breaks. It's usually carp.

9 hours ago, Eric J said:

At my local it's always carp.... carp... and more carp....

Same here. I don't even give a jumping fish a second glance anymore unless it's on the end of my line. 

Better to pay more attention to what's going on below the surface rather than what's on it. Big bass in the middle of the summer will be more focused on ambush areas so they don't have to chase bait fish to the surface. 

As some have stated, quite often the fish busting the surface will be carp.  One can get an idea of what they are by how they bust the surface.  Carp usually jump one at a time and make a big splash, but you will tend to see individuals doing this all over the area.  I rarely see a largemouth jump this way but when they do it is a single fish.  Spotted bass will group up like marauders and you tend to see multiple wake lines and splashes in one area, though at other times a single spot or two may make only a small surface commotion.  White bass make a similar commotion to spotted bass.  For either spotted bass or white bass, if you cast into a marauding group you can sometimes catch one right after another in a short period of time.  

The last couple of weeks everywhere I've gone there are little 4-8"bass jumping all over trying to get dragonflys.