Is there anyway to tell what kinda fish made that splash or jumped? I always see fish breaking the surface but most the time I think there just carp occasionaly I'm sure there bass or pike because I see minnows going crazy then a big splash in the middle of it so I'm assuming that's a preditory fish.

Another one is what about when ur aproching a spot and say there's brush or some cover and u just see the water wake from the fish taking off would u put ur money on bass or carp.

All the spots I fish but maybe 2 of them are loaded with big dumb common carp and a lot of time I get confused that there bass swiming the shallow weed bed because I can't visualy see the fish 9 times out of 10 its a carp every now and then its a bass I mean that's how I got my 8lber I thought it was a carp

Visual contact is about the only way you'll know for sure , everything else would just be speculation.

In my experiences they are usually carp. I see them a lot walking the banks of the ponds I fish.

It seems that carp spook a lot easier than bass do, or at least that's what I have found.

no way to know for sure without seeing them, but lots of times walking around a pond i will see bass take off from under the grass and algae patches. try to sneak up on them, stand a good ways from the bank and cast out a weightless baby rage craw and wait for it to get crushed on the fall

Had the same problem today.

Bass are actually pretty skiddish in my experience. I would see some swirling going on and would walk right to the edge and the bass would zoom off (I could see with m polarized glasses on).

So instead of that I stood back a casted to where I saw the swirling and boom, fish on. Also, get yourself some polarized sunglasses if you don't already, might help IDing the swirling fish.

I had a ton of fish jumping today but I knew they were bass there's only 2 fish in the pond bass and gills plus I was catching them so that helps a lot to

The carp I see are usually close to the surface. Some times they swim around with the fin out of the water like a shark so I know its a carp for sure.