ZZ,
I got it the first time! Does that mean that great minds think alike or that warped minds think alike? I'll let you be the judge.
Coincidentally a similar version of what you've described has happened to me 3 times in the last 2 days. The first day I was wadeing and fishing for bedding bluegill and redears while roll casting when I'd strip in all the line I wanted and was then forming the "D" loop behind me to make another roll cast, the fish would bite and I couldn't make a proper roll cast because I had a fish on. What a drag, right?
Then today, a friend and I were crappie and bass fishing from a boat and I laid my rod down with the line on the water while I lipped a fish for my friend and when I stripped my line in, I had a crappie on.
I think the moral to all these stories, as you correctly point out, is that we often "overwork" our bait or fly. Sometimes we need to adopt more of a "do nothing" approach to our presentations.
Example: I used to like to pitch a rubber skirted bass jig with the hook cut off to various targets in the living room. Our cat would sit and stare at the jig mesmerized until I'd stop it dead still then the cats tail would start twitching and after a while it would get up on its haunches and pounce on the jig. Another good example is sight fishing for carp. Often you can cast and cast to the same fish and he'll ignore your fly but if you'll strip it by him and then let it fall and set motionless, just like the cat, he'll ease over, inspect it, tip up and suck it in.