# I have a problem



## Schniedly (Jul 7, 2009)

Last Friday i started pre fishing for a tournament later this month. I started the day throwing a buzzbait and eventually switched to spin baits. I started noticing that about every three casts a largemouth would folow it in but would not comit to the lure...so i switched to soft plastics, drop shoting and texas riging, and still the fish just seemed to follow it and swim away, it was the weirdest thing ive seen in along time...any help would be appreciated because i spent the three day fourth of july weekend thrying to figure it out and no more luck.. i caught three bass the entire weekend.


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## ileddog (Dec 1, 2008)

First what were the conditions? Alot of fishing pressure? Is everyone pre fishing? Water temp? Shallow or deep water? Was the sun at your back? Early, mid, or late day?

Have you tried a no weight approach? Plastic on a 3/0 hook letting it sink naturally.

I like it when the fish are like this. Best opportunity to try new things.

When the fish show intrest but wont take it I think that 90% of the reason is presentation. Something just quite isnt looking right to them.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

I have a few ideas maybe. The first one would be to change the color and or blade configuration of your spinner bait. It's possible that the fish are in the mood to hit something like a spinner bait, so they go after it, but then see that the color isn't quite right and swim off. I'm not sure what color I would say to try, but I'm sure you've got a few others you could try.

The other idea would be to spray your spinner bait with some kind of attractant scent. It's possible that a lot of these fish have been caught on spinner baits before, so their instincts are telling them to go for it, but their past experiences suggest otherwise. You say they're following it, so maybe adding a scent trail to the lure will be enough to push them over the edge and go for the strike.

Did you try varying the speed of your retrieve at all? There's more you can do with a spinner bait than just cast and reel. Try reeling it for a bit and then suddenly stopping for a second, then reeling, then stopping again. Maybe you can create the illusion of an injured or dying fish.

Have you ever tried a Sluggo? You can work them just about as fast as spinner baits, but they have a much more natural look to them. If you've got fish that are hungry, but still picky, maybe this could be your answer. I prefer the 6 inch ones. They have a much better action that the baby ones.

I dunno if any of this helps or not, but it may be worth a shot. I hope you figure them out and do well in your tournament!


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## ileddog (Dec 1, 2008)

I thought some more. If the condition are how they are here. I would recommend a RAPALA SKITTER POP with leopard frog print. 2-3 pops let it set for 5-10 seconds. There seeing your lure but not wanting to spend the extra energy to commit. Top water like this with the few pops and a good pause will usually intise them enough to commit the next time that lure even thinks about twitching.


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## Schniedly (Jul 7, 2009)

Thanks for all the ideas i really do appriciate it. i did try doing many different things with the spinner bait but no luck and the other person in the boat was throwing a popper with no luck. i do agree that i should probably try something new, something they probably havent seen before. the conditions were pretty good, sunny about 85 degrees, water was around the 79-82 range and we fished all day deep and shallow, we just couldnt seem to figure it out. again thank you for the help and feel free to post any more ideas.


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## ileddog (Dec 1, 2008)

Where are you from? Where were you fishing?


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

I thought about this a little more too. If you said that every 3 casts you can see fish following, then we can probably assume you've got them located about the best you can. So if you run into this same thing again, just park the boat where you are, and start tying on any random thing you can find in your tackle box. Use a snap swivel so you can quickly switch your lure without having to tie again. Just put on whatever you think is worth a shot, give it 10-15 casts, if nothing happens switch it out.


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## jamesavp (Apr 20, 2006)

What kind of line and lb were you using? Sometimes when bass get a lot of fishing pressure they can get a little line shy. I always have a spinning reel spooled with 6lb flourocarbon to catch finicky bass. try a zoom super fluke or senko and match the hatch the best you can. If the bass were following they were interested. A tip for spinnerbaits is to use translucent skirts in clear water and use willow blades and speed up the retreive. Don't let the bass get a good look at the lure. When bass can get a good look at a spinnerbait it can turn them off.


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