why is he not biting?

[striker23]

Today i went out to a place near my home called Goose Creek. i was bank fishing and there was a very large fallen log right near the bank. i dropped a short striker "tiger fly" lure right in front of this 2-3 lb bass that had come out from under the log. it was right there in front its face and it didnt do anything, but the little ones were going crazy over it. any ideas?

[Raul]

Because your lure is not producing the "vibes" necessary to convince the fish into striking it.

[JB]

I had the exact same thing happen wed. night, I saw a 4 pounder next to a log, threw a tube beside it, it totally ignored it, a 11 inch dink came by and got it...

[3dkicker]

Either the fish saw you, was not hungry, or the presentation you used didn't get the fish to react to the bait. For some reason the "feed" response was not triggered. Did you try other baits?

[WTL]

Sometimes they wont bite no matter what.

[bassintom]

maybe he don't like you..

[Raul]

There are a number of reasons why fish bite, not being hungry doesn´t mean the fish won´t bite; sometimes fish won´t bite no matter what ... I do not agree with that statement, with enough time and the right set of tools the fish will bite, it´s a matter of presentation and patience, if you dangle the bait right on their face the fish will bite sooner or later out of curiosity, out of anger or out of sheer stupidity.

[bassking22]

Try to get a reaction bite next time, try a pond magic or terminator spinner, and some kind of buzzbait.

[WTL]

Raul, sometimes fish wont bite no matter what. That is 100% true, fact.

That doesnt mean there wasn't a hypothetical presentation that would have worked, just that it happens to everyone, there are fish that just wont bite.

[Fishing4Soup]

I would've tried to burn a rattletrap by it or throw a trick worm right on top of her and let it sit there. Whenever i have a fish that wont take a bait...it takes the rattletrap most of the time and I haven't missed a fish with a trick worm yet.

[brandonjames]

I have heard that if even if a fish is not hungry if you present the right bait it will bite due to nature. What I mean is if there is a dying fish in the water, another fish will bite even if it is not hungry because this is what they are programed to do, take an easy meal, and this was my reasoning on why swimbaits got very popular. Am I correct on this statement, if not please fill me in.

[WTL]

Brandon,

Most of the time you may be able to get a fish to bite if you spend an inordinant amount of time on it, or in theory maybe there would be something that could make it bite, but the fact of the matter is that practically speaking you need to recognize that some fish arent gonna bite or arent worth the trouble. There have been people before who stalked 12 lbs + bass for days and could never coax a strike. That doesn't mean that it was impossible to get that particular fish to strike, just that whatever it took - that angler did not have it.

Now the wounded bait theory is straight off the informecials. It is a crap idea to say that fish are programmed to automatically hit an injured looking lure, because sometimes they will hit it - but a lot of the time they wont. And if there are times that they wont hit an injured looking lure, that rules out the theory that they are automatically programed to do anything. They do take advantage of wounded baitfish quite often, but even a fish has free will.

Fishing is complicated.

[Raul]

I agree that many times a fish is not worth the time needed to make it bite.......it took me once 2 hours to convince an 11 pounder to bite, I guess an 11.2 pounder ( scale weight ) is really worth 2 hours of my time. I learned several things that day:

1.- If you dangle the bait long enough at it´s face the fish will bite
2.- suspending crankbaits are a must in your tacklebox
3.- bigger bass will return to their hiding place if they have one
4.- a fish can strike a bait and spit it in an eyeblink
5.- fish can strike a bait .....and you never knew it was there, get a good sensitive rod.

[JB]

It sure is a sense of accomplishment when you can stick with the same fish for hours and get a 11 pounder WTG!

[WTL]

Oh yeah, for 2 hours of your time you got a deal. I spent half a day once working a 6 pounder, only to never get bit. I would trade an entire day for a 6 though, if I had a guarantee that it would eventually bite - but alas there are no guarantees.

[Steve Junior]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

Either the fish saw you, was not hungry, or the presentation you used didn't get the fish to react to the bait. For some reason the "feed" response was not triggered. Did you try other baits?

I Agree with you, but fish are always hungry they alwys seem to breakdown their food in order to eat more.

I heard about that in a show.

[WTL]

Oh well you heard that on a show, so it must be true!

[GorillaWarfare]

Fish, like all animals breakdown food in order to have energy. The energy is then spent and more fuel (food) is required.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by WTL

Raul, sometimes fish wont bite no matter what. That is 100% true, fact.

That doesnt mean there wasn't a hypothetical presentation that would have worked, just that it happens to everyone, there are fish that just wont bite.

WTL, I agree with you. Sometimes we just can not put the bass in the mood! I do believe it.

Raul, My concern is What SOMETIMES really means here! I think 2 hours is too long for a term "SOMETIMES". I mean you spend 2 hours working on a single bass, and finally the fish hits your lure. That's NOT SOMETIMES! SOMETIMES DOESN'T MEAN EVENTUALLY. 2 hours is way longer for a bass changing its mood! For a bass, 2 hours may contain more than 3 SOMETIMES. We all know that!

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by Raul

I agree that many times a fish is not worth the time needed to make it bite.......it took me once 2 hours to convince an 11 pounder to bite, I guess an 11.2 pounder ( scale weight ) is really worth 2 hours of my time. I learned several things that day:

1.- If you dangle the bait long enough at it´s face the fish will bite
2.- suspending crankbaits are a must in your tacklebox
3.- bigger bass will return to their hiding place if they have one
4.- a fish can strike a bait and spit it in an eyeblink
5.- fish can strike a bait .....and you never knew it was there, get a good sensitive rod.

I would have spent all week chasing her if she stayed around I fished in a tourney this year, where the guy was bed fishing for maybe a 7 lber for at least a total of 3 hours. Not once did he get her to bite, only a 12" buck bass. I tried not to long ago to catch 2 fish that were 6-7lbs each. I fished for them for over 4 hours total. Never once got either to hit my baits, including the suspending cranks LOL. I would probably do that again. If you have a chance to catch a nice fish, and you know it's there, then why wouldn't you try to catch it? I caught a bass yesterday(yes I was fishing yesterday ) that weighed 3.5 lbs. I saw the fish before I got to it, I placed the bait in front of it, and past it. Hopped it right by it and stopped. The fish came over and looked at it. So I short hopped it 2 times. Then it came a little closer and I hopped it once, and BOOM that fish took me less than 30 seconds to catch, but I caught it sight fishing. I won that time, but mostly they seem to win in my case. I just prefer to keep moving and fishing, and cast to objects, areas, cover, structure that I know. If I see the bass, to many times I will spend too long fishing for one fish, especailly when there are others that only take seconds to catch. So this brings up the question as to how long is to long to spend on trying to catch a specific bass, more so for a tourney purposes, because for pleasure, there is no limit to how long, that in my opinion, could be construed as tooooooo long.

Lizards