I was fishing with a beetle spin type setup with a larger willow leaf blade (size 4 i think) and a 4 inch paddle tail on a 1/4 oz jighead. I was tossing it around at night hoping to get some nice smallmouth. I have about 5 obvious strikes, but came up short every time. Is it possible that the fish are just missing the hook, or not biting the whole lure, just the tail? The hook comes about 1/2 way down the plastic.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the fish would just grab the whole thing..as for on a beetle spin the only part left is like 1/2 inch....Hope that help...probably not but...

Change the plastic color. When they hit like that you're close but not quite there.

hd a similar problem today on a chatterbait...i was sight fishin an would watch em hit the front but not far enough back on it to get the hook in an wehn they woould run with it or i would set the hook it would just pop out....but then i moved about 15 feet along the shore an hit them from a different angle aan they hit it fine then...idk why but i jus feel that the fish hit lure good or bad deppending on presentation an what they are feeding on at the moment

Well it wasnt a beetle spin exactly, but it was that type of setup. There was actually about 2 inches of the plastic behind the hook. I tried changing colors, but didnt notice a difference. I was really wondering about the fish missing because i was fishing at night.

do you think that they were just hitting the blade?

Sounds more to me like they're hitting the plastic, but not the hook. There's 2 things you can do when they hit short like that: 1) Trim the skirt down a half inch or so (or less if its a smaller rig). Personally, I don't like to do this, but lots of guys swear by it. 2) Use a trailer hook. This is just basically attaching another hook to the front hook. Use a hook with a larger eye and slip it over the first so it hangs off the bend. (I'm sure there's a more detailed explanation of this in the instruction section of the site.)

**Er, I just re-read your original post and I think I missunderstood your rig.  If there's no skirt, then this procedure probably won't help...

For night time fishing, use a very steady retrieve. You want the fish to be able to home in on your bait. So, no jerks or pauses, no yo-yoing, just a slow steady crank.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

GK