So I want to pick some of your brains here. 

 

Some history, iv targeted bass in the past but last year was my first season taking it seriously. I made some good strides and learned alot. Had some good success by the end of the season. But still plenty to learn. Obviously. And you guys have been a big part of my learning. I enjoy and learn from hearing your insight. 

 

So to my question. Woke up this morning and wasn't planning on fishing. Raining, windy. It's only 50 degrees here in NY. Not sure the water temps but I'm assuming they are nearing the 50s. Past week was 40-50 degrees. Said what the hell, let's throw a line out and see what happens. Only had been out 2 or 3 times this year. No bites. Still been cold but we're getting there. 

 

Was tossing a square bill. From the bank. Right on top of a spillway. Some shoreline grass to my left, over hanging trees and bushes to my right. Reeling in with a stop and go type retrieve. And i see a fish swipe at the lure right out of the grass. Cast again. This fish follows my lure all the way back but never bites. I cast again. Change my cadance up. Fast/slow, fast/pause, slow/pause. Follows it in for the next 5 or so casts. Then nothing and he's gone. Looked like a really good sized one too.

 

He was clearly interested. But getting the bite was the problem. Now if it wasn't raining and i planned on spending some time here i would probably tie somthing else on. Maybe even just switching up the color. I'm actually sitting in the truck now waiting for some rain to pass. 

 

It was the most excitement i had since end of last season. So that's a plus. But now I'm thinking (possibly over thinking) what you guys would of done. Or what i would of done had i had more time. If the fish are chasing a moving bait like that, but not biting, do you take that as a sign that they want a moving bait? Keep that going or maybe switch to another moving bait? Somthing similar but different? Or would you change gears all together and go finesse/slow? Or just stick with what you were throwing? 

 

It's that time of year where the fish activity is changing, so just curious on how you guys would of read that situation and the adjustments you would of made. 

Just keep fishing.

After something like that, I'd move along.

If you can see the bass, the bass for sure can see you.

Detection often reduces bites. 

Come back later and present the same bait to the same spot/area

but from a different angle and from MUCH farther away.

Good Luck

A-Jay

When they're acting like that I like to throw a jerk bait or a jig of some sort and like @A-Jay said, make casts past the fish and bring the bait to them and stand much further from them.  They will mostly likely reset in about 30 minutes and be catchable again.

When I have fish swipe at a moving bait, I almost always immediately follow it up with a wacky rig or jig right to the same spot. 
 

I am of the opinion that the hive-mind of bass can be very overstated, so I wouldn’t be certain bass want a moving bait after having 1 missed strike and a couple subsequent follows. What I would infer is that other bass may be found in similar cover, depth and temperature. I would try to recreated the situation that led to the strike, but I wouldn’t force feed them reaction baits if it only elicited one strike. 

This time of year, I want a squarebill that won't be in a hurry to come to the surface when stopped, reel it fast or sweep hard and stop,  but yeah, you'll get a couple of shots and then they will usually loose interest, the good part is you can come back to them later and usually catch them, oh, and spinnerbait....

26 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

When I have fish swipe at a moving bait, I almost always immediately follow it up with a wacky rig or jig right to the same spot. 
 

I am of the opinion that the hive-mind of bass can be very overstated, so I wouldn’t be certain bass want a moving bait after having 1 missed strike and a couple subsequent follows. What I would infer is that other bass may be found in similar cover, depth and temperature. I would try to recreated the situation that led to the strike, but I wouldn’t force feed them reaction baits if it only elicited one strike. 

This makes alot of sense. Generally i would bring at least 2 rods. Ofcourse this being a quick trip i didn't. But i was thinking to myself had i brought another rod id probably have a t-rigged worm or shakey head tied on and would be working that grass where he came from. At least i thought that, but not for the reasons you mentioned. In reality i probably would of kept on with a moving bait because i tend to hold on to somthing if i see a reaction. But your inference about other bass being in similar cover makes a ton of sense.  I'm going to keep this advice in mind. Thank you for your input. 

 

I always laugh to myself when i ask questions here. The responses from you guys always seem so obvious, yet i don't even think of them. I guess that's fishing though and part of learning. 

 

 

In your case I would follow up with a weighted, Texas rigged Senko. I'd swim it a bit then let it sit for 5 or 10 seconds, then repeat.

 

But I know from experience that it's not always easy to do that when bank fishing, especially when you bring only one rod. So I'll give you a little trick that can work in a pinch.

 

First off, instead of tying on a bait use VMC Touch Lok snaps. Then in your tackle bag rig up a T-rigged Senko attached to a leader and a Gamakatsu Superline Swivel. Now you can quickly swap out your squarebill for the T-rigged Senko.

 

Some here might chime in that with the snap and the swivel you're adding two possible failure points to your line. While that may be true, at least you give yourself a shot at a quick follow up with a different bait when you bring only one rod.

As mentioned above, don’t crowd the fish. If fish are striking and missing my reaction bait, I immediately switch to a fineness bait. If no luck leave the area and come back later and try.

I think @A-Jay hit it on the head regarding his advice. The only thing I would offer is once you have located a bass that shows interest is too approach them again but use either a finesse slow style approach or a speed approach which they can only commit to or not, like burning a spinner bait. 

3 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

When I have fish swipe at a moving bait, I almost always immediately follow it up with a wacky rig

This is what I do too. When I get a follow muskie fishing, I toss a more erratic presentation like a slash bait right back there.

If it’s windy and overcast difficult to see following bass. A spinnerbait often works under those conditions.

Sometimes a hard or soft jerk bait triggers followers. A 5” wacky weightless Senko nearly always trigger a strike as a follow up lure.

Tom

I usually follow up a missed strike with some kind of worm.  Either a t-rig, shakey head or wacky.   

My best success with landing fish like that has been to put a bait in a dropshot in front of them and just let it dangle in their face a bit and sometimes they'll hit it.

 

Also if you had a jerkbait, I wonder if you could have got that fish to bite