What should I do?

[Luis Dominguez]

So far i've caught one Largemouth bass this year, but haven't been able to get one to bite since then. I see them shallow and as soon as I see one, I cast my lure past him and reel it in right into his face, he looks at it, sometimes nudges it, and swims off. Sometimes it pays the lure no mind. I always try to switch lures and they make no difference. What am I doing wrong? When the lure is in its face, i hop it a little or retrieve it hoping he might chase it but nothing happens. This happens all throughout the day.

 

[Fishpdx]

try wacky rig senkos, or Neko rig

 

[Luis Dominguez]

try wacky rig senkos, or Neko rig

I had to give up on senkos and lizards the other day because it wiggled it in their face as I watched them look at it, hit it with there nose and swam away:/

 

[Pole Bendahz]

Throw a jig past them and work it reaaaaallly slow. Or down-size the presentations and switch up the color. Don't give up on senkos, just try to vary your retrieve/presentations

 

[Fishpdx]

If they dont want to eat it , keep throwing it next to them to piss them off and they will attack it

 

[Luis Dominguez]

If they dont want to eat it , keep throwing it next to them to **** them off and they will attack it

Thats what I've read online as well. I cast far past them, then I reel it in till it sits right next to them, and then i hop it or let it sit still under or around them and they completely ignore it. Especially bedding bass.

 

[Fishpdx]

sounds weird, did u try something like a crawfish shape , or maybe bigger size, to make the bass think its a predator and attack it

 

[Aervax]

Is it your sunscreen? Seriously. Bass hate the smell of sunscreen. If your hands have sunscreen on them and you touch a lure the bass will ignore it until the cows come home.

 

[Luis Dominguez]

Is it your sunscreen? Seriously. Bass hate the smell of sunscreen. If your hands have sunscreen on them and you touch a lure the bass will ignore it until the cows come home.

I never use sunscreen, but I always use Megastrike Scent on my lures so they can't smell me.

 

[Luis Dominguez]

sounds weird, did u try something like a crawfish shape , or maybe bigger size, to make the bass think its a predator and attack it

A few times I've tried two different types of crawfish. One time I threw it way out not thinking I'd get anything and somehow got a bite. But when they're close and shallow, I see them, step back a ways and cast from afar but they just dont want it.

 

[Aervax]

Keep in mind that bedding bass that are visible from the bank have had every bait known to human kind thrown at them. They have also been hooked and released multiple times. Studies show that fish do have memory for that and avoid baits and lines and hooks for a few weeks. Bass not as much as other species. The smaller bass are sometimes caught multiple times in a day, but the bigger ones literally have larger brains and longer memories. You are probably casting at fish that already have a doctorate in artificial bates, hooks, and fishing line. Anything that looks like those things they are going to leave it alone if they are visible from the bank.

I would try fishing a little bit deeper. If there are bedded bass in the shallows, there are many more just a little bit deeper that are preparing to move shallow to spawn. The prespawn fish are more aggressive biters and are generally lurking just out of site in 5 to 12 feet of water. Water is warm enough now to wade out to waste deep. I have been doing that and casting parallel to shore with Senkos coated with my favorite smelly jelly scent. I used this method on Thursday and caught over 40 smallmouth bass weighing 2 to 6.5 pounds. Friends who were fishing with me and had never caught a bass before caught up to a dozen fish each weighing 2 to 6 pounds.

The easiest place to use this method is along the railroad tracks and highways in the sloughs of trapped water that are right next to the Willamette and Columbia. Look for the ponds with a pipe connecting them to the river. The smallmouth bass are coming through the pipes into the ponds to spawn. They will be doing this in decent numbers for the next 2 weeks. Try these types of spots and senkos and scent while casting along the banks and you will get into a few fish for sure.

The key is to fish the senko completely weightless and let it sink on a completely slack line. Watch the line as it is slowly pulled down by the senko. If the line jumps or changes speed it is probably a fish. Set the hook. If it reaches bottom without a bite lift your line a couple feet and let it sink on a slack line again. Repeat until you get a bite. I will jiggle the line sometimes while it is sinking to give the senko more wiggle. Even then let it sink to the bottom and repeat.

Post pics soon of the many bass you are about to catch. Haha.

 

[Luis Dominguez]

Keep in mind that bedding bass that are visible from the bank have had every bait known to human kind thrown at them. They have also been hooked and released multiple times. Studies show that fish do have memory for that and avoid baits and lines and hooks for a few weeks. Bass not as much as other species. The smaller bass are sometimes caught multiple times in a day, but the bigger ones literally have larger brains and longer memories. You are probably casting at fish that already have a doctorate in artificial bates, hooks, and fishing line. Anything that looks like those things they are going to leave it alone if they are visible from the bank.

I would try fishing a little bit deeper. If there are bedded bass in the shallows, there are many more just a little bit deeper that are preparing to move shallow to spawn. The prespawn fish are more aggressive biters and are generally lurking just out of site in 5 to 12 feet of water. Water is warm enough now to wade out to waste deep. I have been doing that and casting parallel to shore with Senkos coated with my favorite smelly jelly scent. I used this method on Thursday and caught over 40 smallmouth bass weighing 2 to 6.5 pounds. Friends who were fishing with me and had never caught a bass before caught up to a dozen fish each weighing 2 to 6 pounds.

The easiest place to use this method is along the railroad tracks and highways in the sloughs of trapped water that are right next to the Willamette and Columbia. Look for the ponds with a pipe connecting them to the river. The smallmouth bass are coming through the pipes into the ponds to spawn. They will be doing this in decent numbers for the next 2 weeks. Try these types of spots and senkos and scent while casting along the banks and you will get into a few fish for sure.

The key is to fish the senko completely weightless and let it sink on a completely slack line. Watch the line as it is slowly pulled down by the senko. If the line jumps or changes speed it is probably a fish. Set the hook. If it reaches bottom without a bite lift your line a couple feet and let it sink on a slack line again. Repeat until you get a bite. I will jiggle the line sometimes while it is sinking to give the senko more wiggle. Even then let it sink to the bottom and repeat.

Post pics soon of the many bass you are about to catch. Haha.

I appreciate the tips! Thank you

 

[EOBOY]

When fishing for Bass with Senkos or any plastic remember they like to pick things up and carry them before they actually chomp on them. With that in mine don't jump on that first little tic or two, let them commit. I was once bobber fishing for Bass on a pond and my bobber would go completely under and I would set the hook.........nothing! So, I started counting to 25 after the bobber went down, then I started catching fish.

 

[BaldTexan]

Old school Texas rigged curly tail worms. When I fish bass tourneys back in the day, on days the bass were finicky or not biting, I could almost always get them to take a 7" worm or big skirted dark jig bounced off the bottom.