I'll continue the fishing analogy, although your grasp of it seems a bit tenuous.
There was no "bite", and your net remains empty. What you got from me was the equivalent of a "follow" from a Muskie, one of the most lordly of freshwater gamefish. They are renowned for approaching the boat, tight behind your retrieved lure, and then stopping a foot away and just looking at you with a withering glare. The excited angler then employs the "Figure-8" technique, plunging the rod tip into the water and swirling the bait around frantically in front of the taciturn fish, hoping to elicit a strike.
Occasionally, it works; the fish gets sufficiently peeved to strike the offensive little shiny thing flashing around right in its face. But usually...the fish looks at you as if to say "What is wrong with you, you dumb s**t? Do you really expect that to work???" It hangs there for a few seconds or a couple minutes, and it feels like you are standing in the middle of an empty street in Tokyo with Godzilla staring down at you. Then the fish gives a shrug and a snort...and it takes a keen perception to understand that!...before slowly turning and sinking into the gloom, never to be seen again.
It's cool; it's one of few examples of "partial success" to be had in a sport where it's typically black/white, yes/no, up/down...you either catch the fish, or you don't, no in-betweens. It's a tiny step towards actual success, but there was no strike, no bite, no reward other than a fleeting memory. The fish has barely deigned to acknowledge your existence, and he's made it clear that he considers you an inferior creature rather than a worthy opponent.
You, sir...have just experienced a follow.
It's much worse than high and dry; you're damp and soggy.