# Short-hitting bass.....



## honers (Aug 1, 2009)

got alot of good responses so far on my crankbait question....it's time now for another question on short hitting bass....

here lately i've been gettin bass hits but all they are doing is biting off the tails of either my plastic worm or lizard...i've tried shortening up my bait by taking some length off the head but they still seem to want only the tail.....

ideas as to how i can remedie myself of this....i've thought about a small trailer hook but think that would take the effects out of my presentation....

this is quite frustrating...let alone expensive....

tks


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## dyeguy1212 (Aug 1, 2009)

If theyre biting the tail clean off, theres a good chance youre into some pike, not bass.


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## honers (Aug 1, 2009)

in the neck of woods i fish we have no pike....sure wish we did....luv to catch those fish....best eatin fish i've had....


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## Captain Ahab (Aug 1, 2009)

Are you certain that it is bass that are hitting your soft plastic? Bluegills and the like love to grab the tails and run around with them. Bass will almost always eat the whole thing - even small bass.

Next time it happens give the fish some line and let them swim off with the bait.

I have caught bluegill with a 5" senko stuffed into their throat up to the hook bend - they could not eat the hook but sucked in the entire worm


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## redbug (Aug 1, 2009)

i think it is a blue gill or sunfish


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## Quackrstackr (Aug 1, 2009)

and a 3rd vote for bluegill being the culprit.

Very, very rarely will you ever have a bass take nothing but the tail. Bass go for the head, bluegill go for whatever is moving.


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## Waterwings (Aug 2, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> and a 3rd vote for bluegill being the culprit.
> 
> Very, very rarely will you ever have a bass take nothing but the tail. Bass go for the head, bluegill go for whatever is moving.




Make that a 4th vote. I've also had turtles bite the ends off of my soft baits.



Captain Ahab said:


> ...I have caught bluegill with a 5" senko stuffed into their throat up to the hook bend - they could not eat the hook but sucked in the entire worm



Have had the same thing happen on 5" Tiki Sticks a few times also. makes it easy to get them off with no hook in 'em, lol.


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## fishinchef (Aug 2, 2009)

5th vote on the bluegill especially if they are repetitive short quick taps on the line


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## honers (Aug 2, 2009)

well.....i guess the forum can rest it's case...... =D> ....... as described by all the responses that's exactly what is happening....small repetitive taps....guess when that happens i'll have to pull out the ultra lite and see if i can nab those little bait destroyers....

tell ya what guys....this forum rocks....preciate the votes....and i'll try releasing the bail and see just how big these gills are that want to steal my bait....


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## russ010 (Aug 3, 2009)

I won't be the 6th vote for bluegills or bream... yet it may be what you are getting.

Last Friday I had the same thing happen to me with them biting the tails off. I downsized the lures, and they still took the tails off.

Went to a straight tail Roboworm and started putting them in the boat - 8-10" bass fingerlings... I did manage to get some bigger bass on there with the straight tail worm though (I use the 6" worms on a shakey head).


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## honers (Aug 3, 2009)

tks Russ....i did the same...downsized...but as i had mentioned i also bit off some of the head on the worms to make the bait smaller and the hook farther down but still lost tails....the good thing about all this....i'm getting hits on the bait which means eventually there will be a fish on the other end of the line....

i'm just hangin in there....


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## slim357 (Aug 3, 2009)

Its fairly easy to tell if its a blue gil/sun fish or a bass, most times if it is a blue gil or sun fish it wont be just one pull but a series of pulls, Ive had quite a few tails pulled off plastics by bass as well so I cant count them out. For lizards you can use a spinnerbait trailer hook, just run the worm hook through the nose of the bait and add the trailer hook before sticking the hook back through the body of the bait, then stick the trailer hook through the bait, and burry it just under the skin.


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## wasilvers (Aug 4, 2009)

If you don't mind livebait, go right back with a half crawler. If it's small or panfish, you'll catch him. 

We were in a tourney a while back and kept getting short bites on stickworms during the bass tourney. The next day, we went back to these places and cleaned up on panfish and placed in the panfish tourney. Short bites aren't a bad thing, at least you have some action


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## shamoo (Aug 9, 2009)

redbug said:


> i think it is a blue gill or sunfish


My thoughts exactly.


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