How do i fish catch small mouth bass when they aren't biting?

ok. went fishing this mornin in northern michigan. water was surprisingly clear and we seen LOADS of smally's. BUT THEY WERENT BITING AT ALL!!!?!?!?! i prolly seen 25 NICE bass in about 3-6 ft of water. i threw everything in the box from crawlers, to cranks, to top water... NOTHING. i did see alot of bait fish in shallow and MAY flys did hatch about 4 days ago. Could this be the reason why? Also i was Very mad because there was a guy about 60-80 yrds away from me in a boat just slaying bass. I DONT GET IT AT ALL. PLZ FISHERMEN... HELP!