How aware are you as an angler of the food-sources your bass are feeding on ? It’s an important consideration that’s often overlooked.
What’s going on locally ? Is there a crab-peel (if so, which crabs ?), are there Sandeels in attendance, or Sprats ? Are you fishing on a reef where the primary bass food is shrimp, or small rock-dwelling fish ?
Having a view on this will allow you to refine your tactics. For example, if you are thrashing surface lures over an area of reef where the bass have their heads down gorging on crabs, then catch-rates might suffer.
Of course, there are no hard & fast rules to all of this, as bass will often take baits or lures that differ from their current main food source, but in a lot of cases, matching what’s there already will pay dividends.
Look for clues in rockpools, use your polarised glasses to see what’s in the water at your feet, look for surface action including bird activity, look for signs of Mackeral chasing baitfish & watch for landed fish coughing-up a recent meal.
Tailoring your tactics with a mind on what’s happening in the water infront of you might well increase your catch rates. It’s this sort of attention to detail that can make a huge difference on any given day.
An accidentally hooked baitfish provides a clue …. 
Notice how closely the metal jig resembles the foul-hooked baitfish. A short while later, a decent bass hit that same jig …. 
Whether you are bait fishing, live baiting, or lure fishing, gaining at insight into the current feeding habits of your bass, will allow you to make the right decisions.