What are your tricks when the fish follow but won't bite?

[plawren53202]

Wanting to know what some tricks are for when the crappie are following your bait but won't bite?

Spent the past weekend at KY Lake. Single pole jigging with the Livescope. No doubt based on other reports it was a challenging bite this weekend. I had to look around a lot to find fish of any size, they were quite scattered, and most often they were buried in the stakebeds (which I think usually means they are not as active, as compared to fish on top or the sides of the stakebeds).

I spent a LOT of time watching followers...fish that I could get their attention, get them to follow the jig as I slowly raised it, stay right on it when I'd just stop it, etc. We caught an okay amount, but if I'd had a third of the followers bite, we'd have had limits every day.

Just wondering what I should try when they're doing this, to try to get that last little "oomph" to get them to bite. I tried changing jig color, changing jig profile (go to a smaller body, different jig body shapes). Tried adding a crappie nibble or some scent.

Anything else we should have changed up? Didn't have minnows with us or I would have tried adding a minnow. Or, maybe just some days that's just the way it is? Appreciate your wisdom on this one!

[Noodle rod]

The fact that you can see all that on today's electronics is amazing. A crappie chasing a minnow doesn't expect it to stop, try lifting the rod gently when you see them getting close, not trying to jerk it away, just doubling the speed the jig was moving.

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[Slab]

With me it's "less movement" and slabsauce. That seems to help get'm to bite. But sometimes they are just "tire kickers" and won't pull the trigger.

[longhunter]

I usually go home and cook a steak and drink something cold.

[CrappiePappy]

I've experienced that scenario ... probably for the entire time I've been casting jigs, which is going on 60yrs now ... but I just didn't "know" it was happening until I started fishing with someone using Livescope and/or using it, myself.

I even had a friend, that uses Livescope, tell me that "jiggling" the baits scared the fish away, only to turn around and do it (while fishing with him) and "made" the fish bite it.

Sometimes they can be "made" to bite by subtle changes in the presentation, size, color, etc. and sometimes they'll even turn up their noses at live bait.

I really have no special "tips/tricks" that I use, so if/when I see them looking it over but refusing to commit to biting it ... I usually just move to another spot and try there.

["G"]

That's why they call it fishing

[DockShootinJack]

Either way it sure beats a day at work

[Gomer Snerd]

Platinum Plus first came to mind but they closed a while back.

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[Atimm693]

That's the biggest thing Livescope has taught me, you can find 'em, still can't make 'em bite.

Best thing is to find some fish that will bite, but some days they just aren't very active.

[BuckeyeCrappie]

I never know unless they get close to the boat or shore so I really don’t worry about it. I just keep casting and retrieving....oh, and hoping.