no bite

[bosnmate3]

I was at a water shed pond today, found a cove, 2 to 5 feet, lots of lilly pads, fallen trees.I came in on a point to see about ten Bass all about 2 to 5 feet from the shore.After looking at them for a few min. I cast out a popper,and scared the living crap out of the fish, they took off to the other side of the cove.After 10 min. they slowly made there way back to my side. Tried a frog, same thing,tried a 4 in. lizard, same thing,I'm in MA ,it was 70's for a few days. I'm fairly new to fishing (started last summer ), so my questions are as follows:How can I get bait to them, when tere that close without spooking them?,are they always this easy to scare this time of year?is it the spawn the reason there not hitting my bait?Finally got feed up and went to other parts and picked up 2 largemouth 1 1/2/ and 1 3/4on a small Henderson torpedojust under a bridge. Any insight that you guys can give me would be great. It's bad enough that they didn't bite,even worse that I don't know why they didn't !!! I've been lurking for a few weeks and the info you guys provide has been a godsend for me.I just picked up some Power Pro line after reading up on it here .So thanks in advance for you're input

[BassMaster]

what i would do is throw a texas rig with a very light weight on it, maybe 3/16 oz. and put a double ringer, finnesse worm, centipede, french fry, or something short with a straight tail and fish it SLOW.  spawning season is usually when bass are very easily scared.  haven't quite figured out why, but they do scare easily.  at this time of year, you don't want to throw topwater.  they're not looking to really ambush anything on the top yet.  down here in NC, i'd give to the end of the week and they will most likely start hitting topwater.  it'll be in the 80's all week, thus raising the water temp to the mid to upper 70's... great temp for bass to start hitting top water.  but try a texas rig with a small weight, maybe even a split shot with an even lighter weight... hell, you may even wanna try going weightless.  they may take a very slow rolling spinnerbait, just barely fast enough to keep the blades turning... so you're less likely to spook the fish, use gold blades instead of silver.  the silver may be too bright of a flash if they're easily scared, but the gold blades should work.

[fatbass]

You could try casting a t-rig onto shore and workin it back to them if they were that close to the bank.  If you were droppin that bait right on top of them then thats probably why they spooked

[chad km5qf]

Throw a torpedo way out, sit and have a soda pop, watch the clouds, take a break, let the fish come back, then sssssssslowly start twitching the torpedo back to you.

[BassMaster]

or just throw the bait a good ways past the fish and work in back slow.

[5bass]

I'd just wait unitl it rains and the water gets stained up and go back with a spinnerbait and rake 'em out ONE BY ONE!!Thats what I would do!

But in the mean time,since you are able to see them,the water must be fairly clear and if they are that close to the bank,you should be able to take them with a jig.Or if you can pick up some of the small MadMan craw tubes,they should draw you a bite.Dont throw the 4 or 5 inch ones,keep it small.Same with the jig.And make sure you cast way past them and work it slow into their area so it just looks like a craw passing thru.

And dont ever forget to throw a super fluke for bass near the surface,especially in the morning before the sun gets up high.Good luck,let us know what happens.

[ramafishin]

texas rig definetly. try to stay away from the fish. they are very easily spooked. reel IN to them . the slower you can get to them the better. dont work it fast though. Patience is a virtue my fishy friend.

[cedar1]

fatbass uses the same method I do. Cast onto shore any slowly crawl it into the water. My partner and I also do this with bedding bass.

[Snag]

If you can see them, they can see you. Try a different approach and cast past them onto the shore like others have said. Slow and easy, be patient and they will bite.

Basst of luck,

Snag

[bosnmate3]

Thanks for all the input guys, haven't been back to the cove yet,but I'm going to try T rig slow, I'm a big topwater guy so I'll try that too. I'll let you all know how I make out, if they are still there !!

[Mike H.]

You could cast out, and let it sit there awile, wait till they come back, then start working it. All of the other info on here is good though. If they're spawning, useing a lizard will be good! Wait till you see them take it and set the hook quick!  

[burneddude1]

My advice is to cast a soft plastic onto the shore to and work it back from there. I'm a firm believer in a natural presentation. I would use a frog, lizard, or a worm.

SLOOOOW

[bassin4life]

Well my best technique for this is if I can get the lure on the bank a little ways then slowly work it into the water then its pretty much a wrap....also cast 10 ft past the fish and work it slowly in front of them.... ;good luck

[5bass]

I had this happen to me yesterday afternoon.There was 10-12 bass hanging just under the surface in the back of a pocket.....I got in too close before I saw them so they knew I was there and wouldnt even look at anything I threw.

First thing I did was back out of there and gave them a whole bunch of space.....fished the bank around for a few minutes (5-10) then moved back just within casting distance of the back of the pocket.My first cast went all the way back to the logjam past the fish which was what I wanted,I slowly pulled the Super Fluke into the water and started twitching it near the surface.After about the 5th twitch one of the bass slammed it....but after boating him,the rest of the bass were spooked.So I left the area and came back about 15 minutes later and boated another the same way.I feel like I could've kept going back and getting one each trip back but it was time to go.......(Super Fluke color was "white ice")

[bassin4life]

that white ice color is my favorite perfect color for a bait fish