A friend and i were fishing a lake in NE ohio this year. We caught some on cranks. we then pulled up to a shallow warning buoy in the middle of the lake it was a grass bed a stretch of 100 ft or so. the grass bed was 7 FOW the sides were 20+ FOW. were throwing spinner baits after 15 min of nothing i casted out and went to get a drink. it sat for a few min. lifted up and there was a fish. my friend casted out it would sit on the bottom for a few min then all of the sudden it would start moving and set the hook fish on. we caught 4 this way 2 dinks a 5 lber and a 3 lber. i tried pitching jigs, worms, cranks and drop shots to no avail... Does anyone have an explanation as to why they wouldn't take it while we were cranking them but could cast out and let them sit on the bottom for 2-3 min and then the fish would pick it up?

info

july 9

Sunny

water temp 75

Ive had this happen to me before using a chatterbait. Crank crank crank. Nothing for an hour. Cast and got a backlash. it sat on the bottom for about a min or two while I got the nest untangled. Picked it up fish on. Every cast after this id let It sink and wait as long as I could stand it. I ended up catching a few more this way. The only explanation I can come up with is dying shad falling down to the bottom. I think the bass actually will sit there and look at it for sometime and as soon as it moves an inch they inhale it. Just my opinion.

Ive had this happen to me before using a chatterbait. Crank crank crank. Nothing for an hour. Cast and got a backlash. it sat on the bottom for about a min or two while I got the nest untangled. Picked it up fish on. Every cast after this id let It sink and wait as long as I could stand it. I ended up catching a few more this way. The only explanation I can come up with is dying shad falling down to the bottom. I think the bass actually will sit there and look at it for sometime and as soon as it moves an inch they inhale it. Just my opinion.

I had that happen on one particular cast over the weekend. We were fishing Lake Sharpe over the weekend, I was throwing a perch colored Frenzy and wasn't having much luck. Had a bad cast and got an overrun, and had a smallmouth hammer it while I was bailing the line out. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to set the hook so the bass got away. I tried letting it sink awhile a few more times but never got another strike on the Frenzy.

Probably saw the spinnerbait helicopter down (great technique BTW!) and was interested enough to take it. May have had it in it's mouth and not moving anywhere while you went for your drink. It happens, not a lot, but it happens.

I think this just goes to show that bass are not only aggressive but also curious. Sometimes they'll eat up a bait as soon as it touches water, and other times they'll sit for a while until finally deciding to take it, like herefishy42 said. This has also happened to me a few times on a backlash or a tangle.

Sometimes these crazy techniques just do the trick. I remember this summer I was tossing a buzzbait early in the morning and hadn't had a bite yet. I didn't stop the spool in time so I had some loose line on a cast. I didn't want to risk a future backlash so I sacrificed that cast, so I thought, and the buzzbait sank to the bottom and got drilled on the fall! I had fixed my line at this point and reeled in a fish. I immediately tied on a spinnerbait and let it flutter to the bottom and basically jig it and caught several more. Had never fished it like that but one "bad cast" on my part turned into a good technique that day.

I always catch fish on bad casts doesn't seem to mater the lure though jigs and frogs are top producers for the backlash bass. Iv caught on cranks this way had it hit the water and backlash sit there picking it out just to have it nailed from the twitch of me reeling all the slack up. I almost look forward to back lashes its the only way I have the patience to fish so slow.

Maybe the fish were just cruising around and happened to see your bait on the bottom and after looking at it decided it was good enough to eat. Sometimes in fishing you dont have to understand why a particular technique is working so long as it is doing just that "working."