Bass Following Lure To The Boat But Not Hitting?

[Casslaw]

Hello everyone, I would like to hear opinions on this topic as it happened to me at least 3 times last week and I’m kinda scratching my head.

I was fishing a swim jig with a swimbait trailer, felt a few small taps like a bluegill was hitting at my jig, so I popped the rod a couple times and sped up my retrieve for 10’ or so. When the lure got to within my sight there was a TANK behind my swimjig! It was a solid 7+ fish and when I pulled my lure from the water it stayed within sight so I picked up my squarebill and swam it by her and she had zero interest. Another 20-30 casts and nothing from her.

Next I was fishing a jackhammer and catching fish but a few times I noticed the fish following the lure and breaking away once the boat came into their view. I tried different lures and retrieves but the JH was getting the most bites.

Lastly I was fishing a jerkbait and while I was catching a good amount of fish I noticed bass following the jerkbait but not hitting it. Again I tried different lures, colors and retrieves but still had followers.

So, what do you guys do when you notice fish following but not hitting? The big fish made me angry of course; who doesn’t want to tangle with a big bass? But the fact that it happened 3 days in a row on 2 different lakes has me scratching my head!

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[slipknobber bot]

Half to 2/3 off the way through your retrieve, give about ten cranks of the handle as fast as humanly possible.

[Ben Danbleume]

Color isn't right.

[DrewFlu33]

I've had issues with fish doing this starting right about this time of year and extending into the fall. In these situations, I've had a lot of exactly what you've mentioned, but the part that's maybe not exactly the same is that I've had fish trying to hit the bait right as I'm bringing it out of the water. This was, naturally, when I didn't see them and was looking toward my next cast. I think the times I did see them I did something like kill the bait that made them notice the fisherman on the other end of the that bait. Either way, my best guess is that these fish are lazily following the bait, seeing it coming toward a "wall" (the boat), with plans to pin it up against that wall to make it easier to catch instead of trying to outmaneuver it in open water.

This was happening to me so often one time in particular on the Mississippi with both swim jigs and crankbaits I was literally dragging the bait along the side of the boat almost like a muskie fisherman doing a figure 8 before pulling the bait out to cast again. As much of a pain as it was, I caught multiple fish doing that that I wouldn't have caught otherwise. After getting shortlined by angry smallmouth a couple times I also learned the hard way I needed to back off the drag....


The ideas about the fast retrieve and color are good ones - those are way more obvious than the journey into the weeds I just took!

[Squire]

the top swimbait fisherman do a figure 8 at the boat (just like musky fishing) and some say 50% of the bites come doing that due to all the follows that you don't see. So that is one thing to try. Another is have a backup swimbait (no jig/skirt) that closely resembles any local baitfish (shad/herring/alewife, etc) and chuck that. Bass are very curious but the bigger ones are learned so its a challenge....

[Hez]

You have to do the figure 8 pattern like fishing for muskies!

[Squire]

You have to do the figure 8 pattern like fishing for muskies!

Its cool eh?

https://thebbz.com/content/2013/12/10/when-fish-follow



This is Byron Velvick.....minute 13

[TableRock55]

First thing I do when I see one following is kill the bait. Just stop reeling and let it fall. I've had more luck with that than anything. Now once I see that's goin on, I'll change my retrieve speed earlier in the cast. Change colors and change style of trailer if applicable.

[Casslaw]

Thanks everyone...except Hez!

I was initially thinking retrieve speed and action, especially with the jerkbait, but I was getting a lot of good fish in the boat but still saw those followers.

I try to make sure I mix my retrieve speed up during every cast but I know I fall into the cadence that gets bites and I stop experimenting sometimes.

Color is one area I don’t experiment with nearly as much as just picking up a different rod....I need to work on this.

[Hez]

[dstep0]

Sounds like you aren't working the bait fast enough. Fast retrieves trigger bites from non committing fish. Speed it up and throw a few rod twitches in during the retrieve, my guess is you'll be boating more fish.