I don't think this is getting beat to death. I think it's kind of interesting really. I've only witnessed a bass caught on powerbait once, it was a 4lber at Casitas. That fish definitely just at the powerbait straight up. The guy got a bite, set the hook and caught the bass. A guy who posts on the saltwater board BillH got one about 8lbs at Casitas the same way shore fishing for trout. I think a lot of times the bass do just eat the powerbait straight up. The stuff just catches fish. Trout, catfish, bluegill, bass, they all eat powerbait. Trout just like it a lot more than any of the other species.

Probably sometimes the bass eat a trout that just ate some powerbait. The only reason I don't think this happens very often is that I just never heard stories of "oh I caught this bass and inside it's mouth was a trout and inside the trout's mouth was my treble hook" In my trout fishing days I would say about 70% of the powerbait fish I caught had inhaled it down in their throat. There's no way you could then hook a bass on that same hook. The ones that were lip hooked might somehow get hooked inside the bass' mouth, but keep in mind most trebles for powerbait are like size #14.

I am still waiting for the time when some trout fisherman says, "dude there's this giant bass chasing the trout on the end of my line!" It happened at Shadow Cliffs the other day but the 10lber that was under the dock woudln't come out for anything except a live trout. Fongster saw stuff like this at Irvine a couple times last year and got some bites on the Castaic from bass that were trying to steal trout off stringers. That stuff is just way too cool. I don't know why, but this stuff just never happens to me. In fact, I have never once seen a bass chase or eat a trout. Sigh...