Matthew Dennis definitely could of been those scaring the bait.

Looks like something was scaring the bait. Are there any white bass in this lake?

Toss it out about 15/20 ft infront of you and reel back towards you. If it comes back straight, it is "tuned" if it goes off to one side or the other then you have to tune it. If you find it pulling to either side, take your Pliers and gently tweak the line tie in the opposite direction. Do not over do it because you can break it off. You keep doing this to find that sweet spot.

Quick tip is when you reel back in, keep your rod tip down and pointing straight at the bait as to not impose pressure to one side or the other to make it run more accurate.

Hope that helps

Yes it is. It is a 2-5ft bait.

When you are fishing that deep, are the fish comming up from that depth to eat or are you putting your bait down at that depth and deep sticking it? Also, when you fish up from that depth, are you having to fizz them or are you taking your time to work them to the surface?

I use a wind app to see which way the wind will be blowing when I am there, then I look for points the wind will be blowing into. Once I find those, then I have potential to eliminate over 1/2 the water. I looks for those places because I know bait fish will be pushed into those areas. Those are the first places I check then I can work either left or right of that point becuase typically there is a break in the wind on one side or the other. Now clam days.. Totally different approach..

Nathan Sipes even in the middle of the lake, you can use a crank bait as a search bait to see what is on the bottom. Figure out the depth from the boater then throw a crank that will get down that deep. If the treble hooks scare you, throw a jig around and slow roll it across the bottom

I was started off with the classic zebco 33. If you want to step up from that, I agree with Brian on the spinning reel, but I would caution with that because of the wind knots. If you can teach her to flip the bell before winding the handle then your good. I believe Brian Latimer did a video a couple of years ago on that very thing. Maybe he can post here as a reminder. 😁

Before we see anything, we gonna need some screen cleaner and a rag 🤣

Of you are beating the bank, then figure out wind direction from your location and that will help you decide where to throw. Lay downs near the bank will provide current breaks depending on wind direction.