swimming right in front of you

frequently happens to me fishing at spot pond specifically. i see them cruising the shallows right by me. i usually offer a tube or a jig right in front of their face and they don't take it. haven't tried a senko yet or any topwater plugs. 50% of the time they bite, 50% they act like there's nothing there and slowly swim out into deeper water.

are you just telling us this? or is there a question somewhere in that

Um, ya, the right in front of their face approach rarely works if anythink it spooks them, try leading them a little, like a toss 10-15 feet ahead of them, let them find it, its has to appear normal.

and dont forget all those baits have beeen trown at them at one point - and as sinista said far out then in so they dont smell right what that is comming from -

at my starter times as angler i was seeing huge fish ( later found out carp) under my boat but would not bite

cruisers can be difficult to catch especially in schooling along the shoreline. When you see them, they have seen you. However, if one bites, the rest of the 2 or 3 turned on will try to get a piece from the same lure, usually you caught one and see other two follows to the bank or boat. If you had 50% chance to catch them, then that's excellent in my opinion. Nothing to worry about that.