This is a similar scenario, just on a smaller scale :



These fish would "look at" a jig, but rarely bite one. So we had to get our minners down to within 1ft or less of the pod of fish, or else they'd rise to it and look it over and leave ... but they were usually the smaller ones in the pod, as evidenced by the ones that did actually bite on the minner. Strangely enough, the condition or size of the minner didn't much matter to them, as they hit tiny ones, big ones, & dead ones at the same rate.