Sam,
The reason I was thinking Bass put off a scent or distress signal is because I've caught small bass and have had BIG bass follow them in trying to eat'em. Strange, but I've seen bass trying to eat other bass darn near their same size.
I've lowered hooked bass as live bait into the water (hooked in the body, not mouth). The hooked bass located and joined a nearby group of bass. The hooked bass hovered motionlessly just like the other non-hooked bass. The hooked bass just sorta "hung out" with the others as if he wasn't hooked. The hooked bass displayed no signs of distress or weakness, to what I as a human could tell. The BIG bass would come cruising in and automatically target the hooked bass, as if she knew the hooked bass would be an easy target, even though it did not display any signs of weakness. I began thinking that the BIG bass was alerted to the hooked bass by some sort of scent the hooked bass was giving off.
Perhaps the scent is only given off when the bass is in distress? Kind of like humans will sweat when nervous.