fish not taking jig

[Brayberry]

I'd try a few things:

1) Downsize my Jig
2) Downsize my Trailer
3) Change my bait color

[long island basser]

Sometimes bass will try to rip the claws off before eating them as tom mentioned.

you were reeling up your jig with no claws on the tralior.

i have experience this and had to be more patient with my hook sets.

it felt like they were throwing it around down there ( like pecking at it) trying to declaw them then I would get a larger thump and then procede to set the hook, it worked.

[bigbill]

Color on the first day?

What was the water conditions on the first day?

Second day water conditions muddy, right?

muddy conditions brighter colors.

I use the double rattles on my jigs. Ring that dinner bell.

i purchased the rattles frm Seiberts Outdoors.

[A-Jay]

Maybe they weren't bass. Or perhaps smaller bass than the previous outing.

 Since SI doesn't ID species you could have been fishing something else with a few bass mixed in.

A-Jay

 

[Paul Roberts]

Hmmmm... 15 misses is an awful lot of "short strikes", and one actually being towed to the boat still holdin' on. It could well be that strike detection was hampered in that wind, rather than hooksets exactly, as Catt suggested.

[senile1]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Ok y'all let's examine the facts!

fishblitzer said he missed 15 fish

i know I'm a dumb Cajun but that tells me

The jig weight, color, trailer & overall profile was correct.

The presentation was correct 

Had they not been ya wouldn't have gotten bite!

He missed the fish due to not getting hook penetration!

When? On The Hook Set

 

I'll add to the facts that Catt provided.  The OP stated the following in an additional post:   "The first day was cloudy with light winds, and the second(when they weren't taking it) was sunny with strong winds."  Is it possible as Tom suggested in another post that a cold front came through, or maybe, as A-Jay suggested, the bass were sore-lipped?  If so, did the OP change his presentation in any way to adjust for the new conditions?  One could infer that the bass, while attracted to the presentation, weren't as committed as the day before and only bit the tails.  And, perhaps, if the bass weren't as committed on day two, maybe the OP was setting the hook at the wrong time and missing the fish as suggested by Catt, or the bait needed to be downsized as proposed by a number of others.  I assume the OP's presentation was the same, and he needed to change it to accommodate the bass on day two.  But, maybe it is as Catt stated, and the presentation was close enough on day two but he just needed to give the bass more, or less, time with the jig in their mouths before setting the hook.  Only experimenting on the water can provide the answer.

And while typing this, A-Jay has suggested that maybe some of these fish weren't bass . . . . perhaps the old bluegill tug.  

[Catt]

4 hours ago, fishblitzer said:

Your both forgetting that after the hooksets I would pull my jig up with no claws left on the trailer. I didn't miss a fish the first day, that is what leaves me to believe it wasn't user error but to each their own! I'm not ruling it out, but I think between me and my co-angler one of us would have connected if indeed they were taking the whole jig. We didn't have any problems the first day

Dude don't feel bad or get angry it happens to the best of us!

if someone tells me it doesn't happen to me I look at kinda funny!

i remember prefishing a tournament & I was sticking everything; the night of the tournament I missed 17 in a row luckily it was a team tournament & my partner boated 30 lbs.

[Paul Roberts]

I'm thinking they were the same bunch of bass stacked up on that ledge -a common winter spot pattern.

I'm thinking that the important element is the wind, which will greatly affect detection. The same jig will not fish the same in a light breeze and a strong wind.

Suggestions: Go to a finer diameter line. Use FC as its weight cuts wind a bit better. Fish more vertical, with rod tip closer to the surface. Pick a calmer day to fish that spot.

[gulfcaptain]

Might also look into some tungsten jigs just incase you find yourself in this situation again.  You can go to a smaller profile with the same weight as well as get a heavier jig in the same size.  I'm thinking the wind probably had a lot to do with it.  The bait may have been moving more then the day before causing the fish to grab the claws which you felt but with the boat moving you could have been unknowinly pulling the bait away causing them to only get the claws instead of the whole jig.

[fishblitzer]

18 hours ago, WRB said:

Spotted bass often grab a crawdad by the claws to declaw them before engulfing then crunching the craw in the back of their mouth crunchers. It becomes a timing thing when to hook set. You might want to consider a 3" Chigger craw, smaller claws or just hesitate a few counts before hook setting with Spots.

Tom

 

Thanks for the advice, that would definitely explain the missing craws! The next time out when I feel a thump thump I will reel down, wait for the thump and tug and then set the hook. That should fix my problem! I am also going to downsize to a smaller chigger chunk.