What do you think causes Bass to....

[Hammer 4]

Short strike a lure, i.e. most have had them short strike spinnerbaits, hence the trailer hooks.

Is the fish just tasting, investigating...or what..?

Your thoughts..?

[Carrington]

ive heard that the color causes the bass to short strike.  i know when i change the color when they are short striking alot, all of the short strikes stop.

[Bass_Akwards]

Every home run hitter strikes out once in a while. Bass sometimes swing and whiff as well, especially with fast moving baits like buzzbaits.

Once in a while however, I swear it seems that it could also be the basses instincts taking over at the very last second as it senses something is "wrong."

[Gatorbassman]

A follow or a swing and a miss usually means that you almost have it. It usually means you need to change either the color or the action to something more natural. I go with color first and then I will change the action. If it's a Crankbait I'll go with a tighter wobble. If it's a spinnerbait I'll go with a smaller blade or a single blade.

[simplejoe]

If it's a Crankbait I'll go with a tighter wobble.

I never knew that Gene.

I usually change color or pick a different bait all together. Like If I'm throwing a crankbait and they short strike it, I'll put that rod down and grab a spinnerbait.

[Glenn]

It means the bass are amatures!   

[bigfruits]

like mentioned above, size, color or action arent exactly ideal. if you keep getting short strikes, change it up a bit.

[CJ]

I think the cause of it is the fish's mood at that given time. Say if the conditions have them somewhat inactive or in a neutral or negative state their instincts may cause them to react but not follow up.

[Catt]

I agree with CJ that "mood" that causes short strikes everything else listed are ways to compensate; I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

[Simp]

Many times I think it's a territorial strike and not a feeding strike. I think many time it's simply intending to bite the tail and tell it to get out of here.

[George Welcome]

Cure that short or missed strike: downsize

[Paul Roberts]

One reason doesn't cover all. It could be any one of the above. I assume we're talking about a pattern of short strikes as fish can and do simply miss on occasion. But not that often I believe bc missing is costly and mature bass tend to know what is catchable.

As a long time fly-fisher for trout I found the most common reasons were:

1. The fish was testing something that might be edible. I also kept trout in an stream aquarium and I saw them do this pretty regularly. They don't have hands and often the way they did this was with a closed mouth, brushing the jaw and cheek against the item. This is why we sometimes hook fish such outside the jaw. I believe I've had this happen with crankbaits and bass too.

2. Something wasn't right with the presentation and they didn't really know until they got close, and aborted the attack.

3. Here's the odd one I cannot explain: In water too warm for trout comfort (like 80F), trout would boil frenetically at a fly, as though they were acting crazy. They would literally blow up on a fly but NEVER take. It was enormously frustrating. Then again, I shouldn't be hooking trout in 80 water unless I plan to kill em anyway. The crazy part was they might do this repeatedly, whereas in comfortable conditions they make decisions about whether it's worth trying again -usually it's not.

4. Short strikes on frogs: A member (forget his handle -from FL) brought this up as an explanation and I think it's a good one and more common than one might think -at least in my neck of the woods. Sometimes these are simply misses, but other times it's too frequent for that. I believe this is likely the bass chasing bluegills following the frog under the mat.

[Fishing Rhino]

It's a vision thing from having their eyes crossed too often during hook sets.

[Paul Roberts]

It's a vision thing from having their eyes crossed too often during hook sets.

Oh yes...that's #5!

There HAVE to be more!

[WRB]

Most tandem blade spinner baits have the trailing blade too far back. The trailing blade shouldn't extend beyond the hook bend. What happens is the bass strikes the blade and misses the hook. Putting a trailer hook may solve that problem, why not use a spinnerbait that is design properly to start with?

Next time you are shopping for spinnerbaits, take a close look at where the trailing blade is located.

WRB

[Sam]

The bass is knocking it out of the way as it is annoying to the fish.

This is the "aggressive" strike you read and hear about.

The bass is not feeding, it just is ticked off that your bait is bothering him/her.

And then you have the spastic bass..... ;D   ;D   ;D

[brushhoggin]

i've had days fishing frogs in the pads, when bass would not for the love of moses, finish it off. just a violent headbutt to get them out of their territory. probably thirty misses for two people no exaggerations. i took the hint eventually and cleaned up finally by switching to my paddle tail tube, more vulnerable looking i suppose.

[NasTMcfingas]

I agree with CJ that "mood" that causes short strikes everything else listed are ways to compensate; I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

X2

[Hammer 4]

Good info fellas...I don't experience short strikes that often. I was reading a thread on spinnerbaits, and the thought of short strikes entered my head, so, I thought I would ask what your opinions are on the subject.

As usual ...lots of good info...hope this helps someone that experiences short strikes for Amature fish..lol

[ww2farmer]

I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

Funny how your the only one to mention that Thats what I do first as well. If that didn't work  I  would change bait size before color.

[jaymc]

Most people don't much care about finely analyzing why a bass strikes.  Most fisherman are empircists. They look a t a lake, on a particular day, with a particular weather situation and say to themselves "I'm going to use whatever because it always works in this situation."   

Fly fisherman for trout are used to seeing short strikes which they call refusals.  Often you see a trout come up to your fy then drift back in the current under as the fly floats down stream, only to slip away into the depths.  Usually the failure of the fly is not the fly tself but drag caused by the line moving at a different speed than the fly. 

So when you get a short strike I'd think presentation first.  A lure ripping across the surface might easily attract a bass that then is alarmed by the action at the last instant.

Here's the deal with all artificials.  All artificials are to an extent an exaggeration of nature.  The greater the exaggeration, be it sound, lure speed, size or color the more the lure will attract. By the same token the more that exaggeration  is likely to spook a bass at the last instant or more often, without the bass even moving. However, a less exaggerated lure and presentation might not get the bass' attention at all.  Everything in bass fishing is a trade off. 

Finesse techniques work because the lure and presentation is only a little exaggeration of reality.  At the same time they put the lure very close to the fish.  When fish are mainly agressive a finesse fisherman hampers himself by showing his lure to less fish that a guy ripping a spinnerbait.  But if the fish aren't agressive at all, you may have no other choice than to put a slow moving, non-threatening morsel, directly under the fishes nose. In fly fishing it is the difference between using a deeply sunk nymph and a dry fly on the surface.    

[Hammer 4]

Interesting point Jay..

[Catt]

I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

Funny how your the only one to mention that Thats what I do first as well. If that didn't work I would change bait size before color.

Most anglers fail to understand the importance of retrieval speed or rate of fall

[jaymc]

I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

Funny how your the only one to mention that Thats what I do first as well. If that didn't work I would change bait size before color.

Most anglers fail to understand the importance of retrieval speed or rate of fall

For that very reason, I've always liked baits that I can fish more than one way.  Whenyou think about it most of the baits that are the most popular, are those we can fish a variety of ways.

[Catt]

I would try speeding up or slowing down my retrieval rate before I change anything else.

Funny how your the only one to mention that That's what I do first as well. If that didn't work I would change bait size before color.

Most anglers fail to understand the importance of retrieval speed or rate of fall

For that very reason, I've always liked baits that I can fish more than one way. Whenyou think about it most of the baits that are the most popular, are those we can fish a variety of ways.

When you think about it most of the baits that are the most "productive", are those we can fish a variety of ways.