Most people don't much care about finely analyzing why a bass strikes. Most fisherman are empircists. They look a t a lake, on a particular day, with a particular weather situation and say to themselves "I'm going to use whatever because it always works in this situation."

Fly fisherman for trout are used to seeing short strikes which they call refusals. Often you see a trout come up to your fy then drift back in the current under as the fly floats down stream, only to slip away into the depths. Usually the failure of the fly is not the fly tself but drag caused by the line moving at a different speed than the fly.

So when you get a short strike I'd think presentation first. A lure ripping across the surface might easily attract a bass that then is alarmed by the action at the last instant.

Here's the deal with all artificials. All artificials are to an extent an exaggeration of nature. The greater the exaggeration, be it sound, lure speed, size or color the more the lure will attract. By the same token the more that exaggeration is likely to spook a bass at the last instant or more often, without the bass even moving. However, a less exaggerated lure and presentation might not get the bass' attention at all. Everything in bass fishing is a trade off.

Finesse techniques work because the lure and presentation is only a little exaggeration of reality. At the same time they put the lure very close to the fish. When fish are mainly agressive a finesse fisherman hampers himself by showing his lure to less fish that a guy ripping a spinnerbait. But if the fish aren't agressive at all, you may have no other choice than to put a slow moving, non-threatening morsel, directly under the fishes nose. In fly fishing it is the difference between using a deeply sunk nymph and a dry fly on the surface.

This is good; a good description of artificial lures. I think it's too easy to breath WAY too much into them -as if the magic is in the lures. There's some of that in there, but our manipulations (starting with depth and speed) make or break that magic on any given day, and at times, on every given fish.

Sometimes they are being territorial,curious,or just trying to wound or kill it before they eat it

Yes, I agree that many anglers do not understand the patience of the slow retrievel. 90% of bass strikes occur on the fall of a lure and not the jigging motion that most believe. Bass arnt all dumb, they know that they can attack prey better when it does not move(a no brainer). Jigs especially<---

have ya ever thought that bass are just trying to stun there pray before they eat it?

I believe that it depends on the mood of the fish also. Sometimes when they just aren't quite as interested in the bait they will just strike the bait to strike it instead of striking to eat. Everyone on this thread is right about what they do but what I like to do is just pop my bait three or four times or just stop the bait on the retrieve in. This sometimes causes the fish to be ontop of the bait if they are chasing it and will cause them to take it.

have ya ever thought that bass are just trying to stun there pray before they eat it?

Yes, that is a the case sometimes too, and like what Magician said, the fishes mood contributes greatly to how it strikes.

have ya ever thought that bass are just trying to stun there pray before they eat it?

Hmmm, wouldn't a bass risk losing it's prey sometimes..? I mean if a fish is gonna expend the energy, why not just eat the dang thang..?

The first things i would try is shorten skirt, change speed and that could even mean try a faster one to provoke it more and draw a more agreesive strike, I would also change the color depending on the conditions if it real clear go more natural with your color selection if theres less clarity go with something that the fish can see better.