Sunfish "Moods" (How to Get Them to Strike?)

I am fishing for sunfish using a split-shot rig w/ soft plastic. Today I noticed that they can have different moods (states of mind). I have read about this with bass fishing, and now I am seeing it first-hand and need help utilizing it.

I was fishing off a dock in somewhat clear water, so I could see them.

I observed the following:

• While split shotting (dragging across the bottom), the sunfish slowly followed it, but wouldn't bite (a lot of the time.)
• When throwing my rig 10 feet out (close to me off the dock):
  • I witnessed a "competition bite", where several bass and sunfish approached at once. when the bass lunged, the sunfish did also (the bass "won")
  • Another time, the splash of my rig (and having the soft plastic floating there, as it hadn't sunk yet - it was shallow), a sunfish just lunged out from the weeds somewhat aggressively and attacked my bait, without sitting there to study it, like the first example.

So basically, I was split shotting for sunfish, but they didn't really want a slow approach dragged across the bottom.

General question: How can I do different actions, sounds, etc, to try to make the sunfish strike and not just follow. I know this is a critical skill for fishing for any species. I thought it would be fun to ask, regarding panfish. Any ideas/advice? I know each fish has it's own particularities. I didn't realize that panfish were this "complex" until today.