Bass following jerkbait to boat

[Frogman]

I was fishing today and had a lot of fish follow my jerkbait to the boat and turn away or they would either come right up and kiss it, but never bite.  I caught a few but not as many as turned away from it.  Can anyone help me out as to why??

[BASSclary]

You needed to adjust your presentation to the bass.

For instance change color, change speed, just fine tune on what your doing until they bite it like a champ.

[Beastie Bass]

alot of times when they dont want to commit to a jerkbait bite, i can catch em on a crank.

[bassinbob54]

I've had that happen too and i found out if i speeded up my cadence they bit instead of follow..good fishing

[fishfordollars]

If you will work with that jerkbait you can make it turn around and look at that following fish. Keep a little slack in your line and when you jerk it give it some more slack . Just as it pauses touch it lightly and it will reverse directions for a moment. It's a timing issue that you have to get just right. You need enough slack to allow the lure to swap ends. Work with it and you can figure it out. I've had a few that just could not stand it when you do this. At times they will just crush it instead of turning away.

It's a little easier for me working with a suspended jerkbait. If you don't have one, get one and try it if you are having issues. I don't jerk it hard either. mostly just pull it down, get the slack in the line , and snap the head around when it is off to one side. It usually takes me a couple of quick snaps after the lure pauses to get the lure to swap ends. It will work so give it a try.

Once you get it to turn around it won't stay but a moment. Be ready, as the lines pulls the lure back around, see if you can do it again if the fish does not hit. For some strange reason i can't get it to turn around when the head of the lure is off to my left side(As you are staring at it). I can only do it if the head is off to the right. May be because I hold the rod in my left hand, but I have no clue.

Good luck

[vapredhunter]

Ive been having a lot of that as well try switching to a fluke with the hook exposed. It seemed to work for me.......

[Dwight Hottle]

Good advice so far. When they won't commit either try killing it then tease them with light taps or try speeding up trying to take it away  from them. You have them interested , you just need to close the deal!

[A-Jay]

I hate that.

Perhaps dropping down in line size might do it.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

You're on aggressive fish.  Like others said, you just have to close the deal.  When this happens, I go to something they cannot get a good look at.  Chatterbait, spinnerbait, lipless crank, even a fluke, worked frantically at the surface.  If that doesn't work, do the opposite.  Have your partner toss a senko right at the followers. 

Above all, if the fish are good size, and showing any signs of interest, work that spot.  Think hard about other spots on the lake that are similar.  Fish those areas as well.

[NateFollmer]

Don't know if it's just me or if it really helps, but I was experimenting with my Bomber suspending jerkbait the other week. I wondered why my Xrap was catching them and the Bomber was not. I added a dressed treble hook to the back of the Bomber... Success! Maybe that little extra subtle movement is all it needs.

J's suggestion is probably what you need though. If they are getting that close to the bait, I think changing it up to a different bait will get em!

[Fishes in trees]

My guess would be that it is a color thing.  Maybe a slightly different color - maybe a totally different color.  That's what I'd try.  Me, I  generally start with the Table Rock Shad color.  I look into my Lucky Craft box and there are 6 or 8 pairs of baits in different colors and 9 in Table Rock Shad, where I've messed with different sticky weight schemes.  So that's what I'd try.

Another thing to consider is that on that day, the fish were just messing with you and there isn't a whole lot you could do about it.

[Raul]

Many people always say: let the bass tell you, yeah right, good advice for soemone who doesn 't speak fish  :.

Bass following your bait but not biting in fish language translated to human language:

" I 'm interested in your bait but you haven 't convinced me to bite it "

That 's what they are telling you.

When a fish is interested enough in a bait to follow it then you have to figure why it doesn 't bite, many times it 's a matter of presentation, so there 's something wrong that doesn 't convince the fish like not enough erratic action, to fast or too slow, too close; or it can also be a matter of approach, you see the fish follow the bait, then they can see you, the moment they can spot you they become suspicious and won 't bite, so you can try moving away farther from the spot and make longer casts, instead of standing up kneel down as you retrieve, and so on.

[Frogman]

Veyr good advice so far.  I started changing colors.  I wound up on a sexy shad xcalibur and had a few more commints but not quite as many.  I also tried playing with my approach but couldn't quite get it tweaked.  I got a tournament Saturday on that lake so I hope I can tweak it early enough to make it work because that is a big part of my pattern

[triglet]

I have tried to let the bait seemingly die in the water in front of the chasing bass.  Also seems like this never works. Quicker jerks to make it look like the bait is fleeing from the bass seems to get more bites for me!

[WanderLust]

I am going to try some things listed here!

Thanks guys.

[Boogey Man]

One thing to also try is stopping your retrieve and let your jerkbait float up to the surface (if you're using a floating model). I've had some days when they would follow it but not strike. I stop my retrieve, the bass follow it the the surface and hit it as soon as my jerkbait breaks the surface.

[boneil]

I've never heard of the idea from fishfordollars, I'll be trying that out next time out.  Speeding up the retrieve has worked for me.  I think the bass are getting to good a look at the bait and are seeing something off about it.

[The Bassinator]

alot of times when they dont want to commit to a jerkbait bite, i can catch em on a crank.

That's funny Beastie Bass I can catch them on jerkbaits a lot of times when a crank isnt working especially on cloudy days