I can see them, but cant catch them...

[Daiwa]

Almost everytime I go fishing, I see bass in 2-4 feet off water chasing down panfish/small fish. I have pretty much thrown my whole tacklebox at them, and cant seem to get them to go after anything. Any tips??

[SMSRTC]

I know it's been stated before but, if you can see them, they can see you.  I imagine that makes them wary of anything out of the ordinary.  

[S I G M A]

Wear darker colors, try chucking a fat ika out there...

[SammyLee]

I had a similar deal the other day and I tried any lure that looked remotely like a small brim with no luck.  Out of desperation, I put on a watermelon swim sinko (one of my favorite baits) and cast beyond the fish action and did a quick retrieve with the sinko tail making a little wake and splash, fishing it almost like a topwater.  Got three before I wore out my welcome.

What made them hit a worm when they were feeding on goldfish sized panfish?  Hmm, just cause they're bass.

[cyph3r]

i used a dropshot successfully to catch these fish...give it a try

[daviscw]

There are several options here:

1. Don't let them see you at all. Go into ninja stealth mode. Wear dark colors and walk really slow and crunch down if you are pond fishing. (Not kidding.)

2. Dynamite. Or my personal favorite, the .870 Express with 3 1/2" Turkey Load.

3. Deadstick any bait for really long periods of time.

4. Give up and come back another day.

[Big Phish]

I finally cracked this case today actually.

There have been a lot of nice size LMBs hangin out by the mouth of this drainage pipe/creek that leads into a pond I fished. I spent an hour or so throwing different baits at them with no luck. This was obviously since they could see me. What I decided to do was use this as an opportunity to study bass behavior. So I just sat on a ledge on the bank and watched them for about an hour.

I realized that they were waiting for blue gill to swim near the channel then the larger bass would corner them and attack in the creek. Once in a while a bass would wait actually in the creek in a hole and just wait for the blue gills to come to him.

So what I did was tie on a jig and walk as far down the creek as I thought I could cast and just started casting into the pond and working the jig into the creek. And since I'm an awesome F-ing fisherman it worked and I hammered them for an hour or so.

So if they aren't biting, watch what they're doing, and adjust what your doing accordingly.

[Mottfia]

great post by Big Phish. Thats pretty smart thinking

Just a quick word. if they are feeding on small panfish, why not throw something that emulates that.  

Mottfia

[Sam]

stay back.  be silent.  throw senkos with soft water entry.  

[Tokyo Tony]

A lot of times these fish can be caught with a small suspending jerkbait fished slowly with small twitches, even if the bass can see you. Otherwise, throw on a huge weighted treble and snag those mofo's ;-)

Big Phish - how about changing that avatar pic? Every time I see that bloody smallie I cringe. Gracias.

[Big Phish]

great post by Big Phish. Thats pretty smart thinking

Just a quick word. if they are feeding on small panfish, why not throw something that emulates that.

Mottfia

Well that would be because i needed something relatively weedless that could go in very shallow water.  Parts of the flat these fish were on were only 2-3 inches deep.  So I could pull a jig though that with no problem.  Also it was a very narrow creek channel so I could stop the jig and redirect it without putting any inconsistency in the action.

Plus these fish were obviously hungry so it was more a matter of getting out of site and using the creek channel to my advantage rather than worrying about what I had on the line.

[Red Bear]

i had this problem last weekend. and figured it out by the end of the day. i got tired of trying every lure i had so i said ill just throw on a crickhopper and catch some bluegill and might get lucky and get a bass with it too. well, the small bass bit it but not the big ones hanging out around the bank. and most times a blue gill would go to bite it a bass would swoop in and chase them off. just so happens i hooked a small blue gill with the crickhopper and as it was struggling to free itself in the water a huge bass came up and crushed the blue gill and i felt lucky to get the bass after that. so i would catch some tiny blue gill and use them for bait

[Big Phish]

A lot of times these fish can be caught with a small suspending jerkbait fished slowly with small twitches, even if the bass can see you. Otherwise, throw on a huge weighted treble and snag those mofo's ;-)

Big Phish - how about changing that avatar pic? Every time I see that bloody smallie I cringe. Gracias.

Sorry, I didn't realize there were that many women on here...hahaha JK.  Your not the first person to comment so I'll change it now.  I thought he looked kinda bad a**.  I mean the fish lived, he just swallowed the hook.  What makes me cringe is the avatars with hooks embedded in body parts.  

[Tokyo Tony]

Thanks man!

[Daiwa]

Thanks a million guys. If they see me, can I troll the boat away, and cast to them?

[Big Phish]

Yeah just troll far enough away that they can't see you, but you can reach them casting.  Having a weed bed between you and the fish would probably help too.

[deermaster]

I finally cracked this case today actually.

There have been a lot of nice size LMBs hangin out by the mouth of this drainage pipe/creek that leads into a pond I fished. I spent an hour or so throwing different baits at them with no luck. This was obviously since they could see me. What I decided to do was use this as an opportunity to study bass behavior. So I just sat on a ledge on the bank and watched them for about an hour.

I realized that they were waiting for blue gill to swim near the channel then the larger bass would corner them and attack in the creek. Once in a while a bass would wait actually in the creek in a hole and just wait for the blue gills to come to him.

So what I did was tie on a jig and walk as far down the creek as I thought I could cast and just started casting into the pond and working the jig into the creek. And since I'm an awesome F-ing fisherman it worked and I hammered them for an hour or so.

So if they aren't biting, watch what they're doing, and adjust what your doing accordingly.

cool post!  

[bigtimfish]

zoom spinnerbait trailer. just the trailer. if you have an ultralight that would be even better. I watched a buddy do this. I threw everything I had. He took a trailer the long split tail one by zoom, put it on his baitcater, just trailer and hook and kind of fly fished it in there. he popped it off of the water three times before the let it sink and when it sank, the fish took it.

[Daiwa]

Cool, thanks guys, I use all your tips last week (the whole week, i was on vacation) and cought over 15-20 bass, all over 14"!! I also caught like 10-15 under 14". Thanks a ton guys!!

"Otherwise, throw on a huge weighted treble and snag those mofo's"

hahaha, thats a good one.