Help With Bass Short Biting Lures..

[Rolltide09]

Went out to one of my favorite lakes yesterday afternoon to do a little fishing. I started out fishing t-rigged dark colored Zoom U-tail worms. Made a few cast and was getting a lot of bites but the bass were only grabbing the tail end of my worms and would not take in the whole bait. Tried setting the hook on first feel, letting the have it a little and as far as letting the swim with the bait. Everytime I would go to set the hook either the worm was pulled off or about to fall off. Switched to a lime colored skitter pop topwater as it got later and the same thing. Bass would just swat at the bait but never actually take it. The only thing I noticed that was different about the lake was that we had fertilized not too long ago and the water was much greener and not as clear as it was last time I went which was over a month ago. Any ideas or suggestions??

[jsc4324]

Get some megastrike. They hang on better

[MarkH024]

1. Did you see that they were actually bass? Or how do you know for sure it is bass? Only reason I ask is because panfish will do exactly this....

 

2. Try an attractant like JJ's or Megastrike. Might be enough for them to committ fully on it just from a little taste. Doesn't hurt to try. 

[Felix77]

When I get short strikes I think short lures.  So in your case you were using a u-tail worm and they were nipping at the moving tail.  Try switching to a 5" senko with a 4/0 hook.  Gives them very little to nip on.  Another suggestion is a 4" senko wacky style on a 1/0 wacky hook.

 

The idea is go give them very little to "nip" at and increase your chances of making good hook to fish contact.  

 

... and a little Megastrike never hurts.  They seem to commit longer to the bait when it's on.

[bigbill]

Scents like the original baitmate bass scent. Do you wash your hands before going fishing? I feel the last second the fish are picking up an oder.

[dreamertino]

I like jj's magic I pitched a fluke under a dock yesterday and got a small tangle in my so i got it out and flipped my bail and started to reel in my slack and i thought i was hung so i jerked my rod a little trying to free myself and the rock i was hung on began shaking its head and peeling drag it had my fluke for at least five seconds

[PABASS]

Short strikes to me indicate color change, try some JJs with chartreuse on the head and or another color worm, black or purple..

[ColdSVT]

Short strikes to me indicate color change, try some JJs with chartreuse on the head and or another color worm, black or purple..

this right here!

 

if im getting short strikes or cant get them to commit I will make a slight color change and adjust again until they start to hit harder

[aqualkinbush]

The only thing I noticed that was different about the lake was that we had fertilized not too long ago and the water was much greener and not as clear as it was last time I went which was over a month ago. Any ideas or suggestions??

 

 

This to me says one of two things, either color change to something that contrasts with the water better or GO BIG. Possibly even both.

 

Black, Blue, Chartreuse, or Red, any combination of these colors should improve strikes in those kind of conditions.

[Sam]

1. Change color of bait to Junebug or Black/blue for plastics and Firetiger for crankbaits.

2. Scale down size of bait for both plastics and hard baits.

3. Fish slower as they are not aggressively feeding and you may have to aggravate them into striking.

4. Go with a spinning rig to "finesse" more. Try the Drop Shot and Shaky Head applications.

5. Throw the bait at the same target from different angles at least 10 times each angle.

6. Try to add just a little chartreuse or lime to the tails of your plastics. Lime may work better.

7. Fertilizer may have caused their systems to go off kilter. As the fertilizer goes away the bass may return to their normal behavior of this time of the year in Bamaland.

8. Dead Stick. This means you throw out your plastic and just let it sit there for at least 60 seconds, 120 seconds and longer may also work. This is a cold water tactic that may work in your conditions.

After doing some or all of the above consider doing the following:

1. Size up your baits with a larger size and hook.

2. Throw Senkos or YUM Dingers rigged backwards.

3. Throw 5 or 6-inch Senkos or YUM Dingers wacky rigged. Try Zoom trick worms rigged wacky. Throw ping! Yep, pink.

4. Throw a Spook or a Cavitron topwater followed by your poppers.

Your goal is to find out why the bass are not inhaling your baits and walking away with them, especially this time of the year. It may be the water clarity; the fertilizer may have had an adverse affect on their systems; the bream, bluegills or the crappie are hitting your baits; small bass are trying to hit your baits; catfish are looking at your bait; in other words, who knows?

Change things around; go with finesse; and keep on trucking.

[hooah212002]

1. Did you see that they were actually bass? Or how do you know for sure it is bass? Only reason I ask is because panfish will do exactly this....

 

This right here is what you should rule out first. I can't tell you how many times I have went to a new place and though I had a ton of bites only to find out they were overly eager panfish. Throw a small jig and grub, inline spinner or a beetle spin (depending on how weedy the water is) just to pull something out. If you are getting that many non-commital bites, I'd put money on them being bluegill or maybe small small bass.

[Rolltide09]

Gonna go give them another run tomorrow night and see what happens. Goin back through my logs and this particular pond has given me fits since March. I have had a couple nice bass pulled out of there this year in the 8-10lb range but nothing like the past few years. Talking to the lake manager this morning and he mentioned some of the other guys have been running into some of the same issues with the bass being finicky. Never been granted a night trip to these lakes so I'm pretty stoked over that alone.

[annexation]

I had this exact problem the other night at a lake where they're almost always smashing my worms. I tried much of what was suggested here; slathered some Megastrike on them, downsized, slowed down. The only thing that seemed to work was fishing on until it got closer to nightfall. Once 8:00 hit, it was like someone flipped a switch. Their behavior changed instantly. They were inhaling plastic as soon as it hit the water.

 

Based on what I could observe, the bass just weren't interested most of the day - no amount of deadsticking or twitching would get them to bite, much less inspect.

[bassh8er]

They might be panfish or small bass that have a tendency to just "pick" at lures

[CDMeyer]

Sometimes the bass just to that there is no two ways around it... but whenever they do that I just keep changing colors until I find the one they like.  If that doesn't work then I tri putting scent on my bait ( unless it is a soft plastic in which I always use Berkley Power Bait the bass LOVE the smell and feel) Good Luck let me know how it works for you!

[Thatbasstardbrent]

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this but when the fish are striking short I double snell the worm. Look up on youtube how to double snell a hook on a leader line, then stick the head of the plastic through the top and almost the very end to the second hook. This should increase your hookup.