Hattrick7

I appreciate the advice and I would consider myself a beginner. I'm so new that I really thought a plastic worm is a plastic worm. Then I wondered why they wouldn't bite the worm that smelled like a plastic factory. I've been hearing so many good things about the Senkos that I'm going to give that a try next. I'm at the point where I've got three entirely new packs of worms and I'm using some bass attractant in those bags. I did actually get hit on one occasion but that was it. But from all the stuff I've read about the Senkos that once you start fishing them, it's pretty much all you wanna fish. So my plan at this point is to give the worms that I have a good chance and then move on to Senkos. Because, like you said, I have a strong feeling that once I start fishing Senkos I'll be throwing the other stuff out.

I saw this youtube video of a fishery guy saying that the way bass mouths' are designed they like to hit their prey from the bottom up vs. something like a flounder that eats stuff on the bottom. There will be kids just having fun catching blue gill and as soon as they reel it in and it starts to break the surface, bam a big bass will be all over it. That's generally the reason why I start to reel it in. After the bluegill is hooked it goes nuts in trying to get away which I'll let it do but not so much where they're so tired they look dead. When they're still fighting I'll slowly start to bring them to the surface. The thing that I've noticed is once I've reeled it in and let them swim out again they resume acting like all the other bluegills. So my theory is to get them to start fighting me again to attract the bass to strike it. I've noticed that once the bluebill does break the surface and is fighting still, I've seen bass come out of nowhere then start following it around. It's just getting them to bite it.

Whats the vegetation look like at your destination? Well there really isn't any. Not any that you can see sticking out of the water. There may be some towards the middle of the lake but you couldn't see it from shore.

I'm using a 6'6" rod and spinning reel. I think my hook is a size 2. I'll use some cut hot dogs to catch the bluegill with no weights at all. Since the bluegill are about 5-6' from the shore it's not necessary for me to cast a ways. I'm thinking that it's probably that they can see me. I understand they have very good vision. I stand nearby shore and wait to see a bass coming. What I'll do is once I've hooked the bluegill, I will start reeling it in which causes a lot of commotion and vibration hoping to attract a bass. Once they're too close to shore I'll pull my line out to let them swim out again or completely take the bait out of the water and pitch it out about 10-12', wait and slowly start to reel in again. There was one particular time when I saw a bass take the bluegill tail first and the head was sticking out (happened to be where the hook was). I didn't want the bass to completely inhale the bluegill and get hooked in his gut so I tried to time the hook set. It didn't work because I pulled the fish out of his mouth and he didn't bother returning. There are a lot of bluegills in there. I notice that whenever I hook one and start to reel it in, about 10-12 of them surround it. They may just be spoiled with so many bluegill that they're just not hungry. But that's another thing that's a little confusing because of all the stuff that I've read, bass typically eat whenever it can and they like to go for the easy meal.

Hello a little background on me. I'm fairly new to bass fishing but learning quickly. I've caught about 4 bass. 3 on crankbaits and one on live bluegill. I fish a relatively small lake regularly. I've seen bass in there caught around the 5-6 pound range. I throw lots of different stuff at em. I haven't been successful to get them to bite a spinner, buzzbait, jig or worm. The one thing though is they will go after live bluegill and when it gets really slow I'll catch some live blue gill and fly line it out there. I can see the bass circling the fish. Some times it'll come up and nip at it but won't really strike it too aggressively. I've noticed that the bluegill play dead very well and I've seen bass lose interest pretty fast when that happens. Recently I've noticed that the bass won't go for the live bait like they used to and I'm confused as to why. I haven't really done anything differently to get them to bite it. I've hooked them in two different places. Tail and in the mouth. I'm wondering if someone more experienced and knowledgeable would be able to give me a better understanding of why the bass aren't hitting the bluegill especially since it looks wounded.