I think we've down this road before... good topic... Depends on lots of things.... I've seen times when a winch cable would catch 'em, I've also seen times when any line that wasnt invisible would spook them....
The way i see it, if a bass slaps a bait and doesnt come back something didnt seem right, if a bass follows a plug or bait and turns and flees something made it suspicious... The way I see it, if the critter followed it in the first place it had some interest, if a fish wasted the energy to slap a bait to kill it something turned it off if it didnt return to claim it's prize.... enter line diameter..... I fish lighter than most for the size fish I chase, I hold my own, and IMHO it's because of the light line I use, #20 floro leaders and 15lb main line on the spinners if I can get away with it, 60lb braid with a 15'mono shocker and an 18" leader, deep down I think it helps...
Back in '86 we had a tremedous school of large bass on the front beach, nothing under 30 lb, many in the 40's and enough 50's to make it interesting,some guys fished all night and went fishless until dawn after catching a fish or two it was over, most guy's just gave up, the fish were there, you could see them in the fire in the water, they refused to eat, all those guys were using 20 and 30 lb mono, yours truely went light... real light, 12lb test no leader no swivel, I averaged 6-8 fish a night.... IMHO the line made the difernce... most everyone else figured I was just lucky and waited until the full moon washed the fire from the water....