After many hours in my kayak if finally found some bass. Pretty new to fishing and still learning. I feel like I have learned to locate bass but can’t get them to hook. Was fishing with a lizard, recommended by the guy at Bass Pro. I learned to throw a bait caster and have a Berkeley lightning rod. One of the bass followed the lizard all the way to the kayak and I got to observe the behavior. Seemed like it more played with the lure and never ingested. The bass swam away with it finally and I attempted to set the hook. No luck. Moments later the same thing. Playing with the lure and seemed like a more forceful strike. Hook set failed again. Any advise? Set the hook immediately or let the summer Florida Bass play with it for a while?

Never fished in FL..but, what I would do is Slow down, let the bait fall to the bottom let it rest for a few seconds then give the rod a twitch or 2, then reel a couple of cranks, slowly..If the water is clear, and you can see the bass, then the bass can see you, I've had this happen more than a few times. Sometimes bass will just follow out of curiosity, the trick is to get them to react hence the twitching motion, you want to try and duplicate a injured lizard or any other bait as much as possible.

What hook/line are you using?