So I have been fishing nothing but plastics the past couple of days, trying to gain some confidence in the baits. Started out today a nice cloudy day with a T-rigged creature(berkley craw fatty-green pumpkin red) on my third cast slammed, the fish fought me around some rocks and made for open water. I was stocked my first fish on a plastic bait and then he spit it, I was ticked and just let my line go slack, started to pull her in and stopped and let it sink again, while thinking that's it I'm going home, can't win for losing. As I am reeling the craw back up bam! The wretched came back.

 

Now this fish hit on my light stickM/F, so I'm sure poor hook set. Going to have to remember to use my H/F for worms/plastics.

 

How many times has that happened to you guys, a fish coming back for a spit bait?

 

And here he is!

Probably not the same fish. They don't tend to bite again for awhile if they "felt" the hook.

That's probably a different fish.

I had it happen a couple of times last week using a Ribbit Frog . Like  others said ,probably not the same fish .

Like others mentioned, probably a different fish. Likely was following the first fish and trying to steal it's meal from it. It's very common if you get in a school of them actively feeding. 

It happens a lot when you fish a topwater or spinnerbait. The fish will hit and miss or hit and spit, follow up with a stick bait and more often than not you can catch a fish, may not be THE fish, but a fish none the less.

Fish will compete for food when they're really in a good mood. Sometimes when they see a bait that appears to be "getting away" they'll jump all over it. As for the rod, absolutely do you need some backbone when fishing a single hook bait. I use a 7' MH F for jigs and there are still some times I just don't get a good enough hookset. Usually, the big fish give you a good anchor to set the hook against. but the dinks will just move with the bait.

I guess there is no better way to gain confidence in a bait then to fight two fish on a single cast.

 

Gotta figure out how to get them both?

It happens. Could’ve been that fish was dead set on feeding and came back. Could’ve been watching him feed fired another one up to feed. 

Either way, you won. Keep throwing them

I've definitely had a bass pick up a jig, after missing the strike, and feeling it spit the jig.  Seconds later I got a bite, and set the hook.  Maybe it was a different fish, hard to know.  It was 4+ and on a prime spot in a pond.

I caught one today that I lost then next flip with the same jig caught the same fish. The whole reason I know it was the same is the black blotches on its head as I lost it right at the boat the first time. So yes they will come back 

Was it a smallie?

17 hours ago, Hewhospeaksmuchbull said:

So I have been fishing nothing but plastics the past couple of days, trying to gain some confidence in the baits. Started out today a nice cloudy day with a T-rigged creature(berkley craw fatty-green pumpkin red) on my third cast slammed, the fish fought me around some rocks and made for open water. I was stocked my first fish on a plastic bait and then he spit it, I was ticked and just let my line go slack, started to pull her in and stopped and let it sink again, while thinking that's it I'm going home, can't win for losing. As I am reeling the craw back up bam! The wretched came back.

 

Now this fish hit on my light stickM/F, so I'm sure poor hook set. Going to have to remember to use my H/F for worms/plastics.

 

How many times has that happened to you guys, a fish coming back for a spit bait?

 

And here he is!

The lake looks more like Castaic then Henshaw to me.

Aggresive bass are unpredictable. Hope you stayed and continued to fish that area!

Tom

 

40 minutes ago, WRB said:

The lake looks more like Castaic then Henshaw to me.

Aggresive bass are unpredictable. Hope you stayed and continued to fish that area!

Tom

 

Amazing what a little rain fall will do, and it's down about three feet already. Fact is I haven't seen Henshaw looking this good in decades. The other area lakes are so pressured as to not really be worth it, at least until my skill set matches that water.

Happens all the time with smb, but not after having fought for a good while.  It's quite common to nail them, feel them, miss them, then have them come back. I'm convinced in these cases of brief contact they are often the same fish.  Another interesting thing that happens now and then when fishing tubes is to have the tube snag, and snap the rod a number of times to get it free.  Then it snaps free and jumps off the snag very fast, and gets nailed instantly. I think they see it twitching and are watching for quite a time.    I also think I have  had  a couple pick it off the snag.

It happens to me with smallies on topwater a lot. Iuse a spook or spook junior a lot. Often, smallies will miss it and I stop the retrieve, they come right back and hit it again. I've had this happen several times before getting a hook set. People have told me that they will "head bunt" a moving lure to stun it before eating it. I dont know if bass think enough to do something like that or not.

        I have also had plenty of fish come off and then get another, immediate bite. I dont know if it's the same fish or not. I'm betting it's a different fish. I know that you often see several fish follow the hooked fish right up close to the boat when you catch smallmouths. So, I assume that's what's happening. The hooked fish gets off and one of the others jumps right on it as soon as it sees it get away.