Ever asked a bass why?

Ever asked a bass why he took a soft plastic lure? Nope neither have I as its likely to be a pointless exercise; although I use the word 'likely' carefully because having never actually asked a bass why its a little premature of me to assume that he won't answer. Its a moot point anyway as I believe I know what he would answer if he did. Still with me?

He would say either that he took it because it represented a likely food item that was impossible to resist or because it annoyed him or because pure inquisitiveness got the better of him or simply because he could. Only four potential replies exist and having determined that and as to avoid going completely mad I will never ask a bass why. As we already know the answer...

So which was it on this occasion (the occasion of the pic above). Well this Gary Yamamoto worm is kind of like a lug worm I suppose and could be mistaken for a worm drifting in the current. To ensure that this was the answer your retrieve would need to be zero because otherwise the thing is swimming and I don't think lug worms have evolved sufficiently enough to swim (yet). I was fishing it up tide and bouncing it back down towards me, doing little else than keeping in touch or control. This fits the lug worm scenario. However at the time I was fishing a very rocky reef where no lug could possibly exist and for one to drifted in the tide to that location for real it would have to have done so for half a mile over further rock and weed and remained unscathed. Doubtful this as a lug is steak and chips to everything, crabs included. So this bass had either fed on lugs before or had some pre programmed understanding of what lugs are; we have to conclude that he was not hunting them

Or did the lure just annoy him. A get out of my patch moment...like a riverine salmon taking a hairy mary? I don't buy this theory either as this lure is not in the least bit offensive. Since when has a watermelon annoyed anything? Its soft, its plastic, its shaped boringly and coloured in a dull fashion. No, its simply not annoying. Apart from to me when its not catching!

Inquisitiveness; is this the answer we would get? No. I do not see this either... if bass were prone to inquisitively chewing on anything, then they would be full of plastic litter because the sea is full of plastic. I kill precious few bass in a season but those I do (to the order of 2) are always treated with the utmost respect cleaned out and eaten. I have yet to find anything other than food items in any bass. Sorry, as I write I remember finding a stone once. Stones do get ingested but this happens as the bass hits a crab. Its an accident not a choice.

The answer we will get; if the bass ever answered us...'I did it because I can'. And this is the both the frustration and the thrill of lure fishing. No matter how lifelike, how much of a tease, how exciting your lure is it will only get hit if the bass wants to hit it and in the end that choice is entirely his and his alone!