So I came up on my favorite pond and I can see a bunch of bass floating near the surface in th middle of the pond and a few feet from vegetation on all sides of the pond. I tried a spook and they wouldn’t hit it.  I’m still new at this so I kinda ran out of ideas on what to do and time.

 

Any tips for lures/presentation to get these guys to react is much appreciated!

 

it was partly cloudy and maybe 76 degrees outside at about 7:30pm.

 

 

Shallow running jerkbait, wakebait, or a slow sinking worm wacky is what I would throw 

Are you sure they are bass and not carp?

3 minutes ago, Junger said:

Are you sure they are bass and not carp?

☝️

Yup...

I hope not or I just feel stupid!  I assumed they were bass, they were about the same size of some of the bigger ones I’ve seen on the pond.  There were tons of mini waves throughout the pond that I read means bass are chasing bait fish.  I could have completely misread the entire scenario too. 

 

Are they thick? Carp are thick bodied and glide through the water. Bass you only really see their back and kick their tail more when they swim. If they were bass I usually slow roll a broken back rapala right under the surface or wake a spinnerbait. If they are carp...try some bread on a 1/0 hook, no weight and hang on tight...

If they are indeed Bass; then a Wacky Rigged stick worm should do the trick. 

Yamamoto DShad.  Nothing better for schooled up fish near the top.  Work it fast like a spook, work it just under the surface like schooled bait or let it fall through the school fooling them into thinking it's a dying baitfish.  Deadly bait and I ALWAYS have one tied on.  Weedless, weightless on a 4.0 EWG Wide Gap hook.  

Assuming these aren’t carp (I will have to take a closer look next time), I will check into these tips.  

9 hours ago, trwoh said:

I hope not or I just feel stupid!

Don't!  It's not as easy as it sounds looking at an oblique angle toward a reflective surface (water).  I've wasted some time throwing at carp.  Hopefully they are bass and, if so, you'll definitely get them with help from all these guys.  

I get “tricked” by carp every time I see or hear one.  It always takes me a moment to remeber and to calm down. 

They might have been catfish.  Every time the water is clear and I get a bait near a carp, the carp takes off.

LMB are green with a black lateral line stripe clearly visible if you can see these fish. You determine length but can't tell thickness or girth looking at fish through water at a angle.

Tom

well I can confirm it was catfish or carp but didn’t really examine further, wasn’t big bass that’s for sure.  I did however catch a bass with my spook while practicing with it, so that cool(first non Senko catch this year).