Are Big Baits Really Better?

[dakotawilson17]

Well are those monster 5 ounce bulldogs really the best musky and pike bait you can buy because I have had much better much better luck on small jointed blue rapalas over the course of 1 week this summer I caught a 32 inch musky, a 25 inch pike,a 22 inch pike and over 20 bass on 1 lure. And I got to experience all these species instead of throwing a 5 ounce bait and catching nothing.Let me know what you think.

[Scott F]

Depends on what you are looking for. Guys who throw the big baits are looking for big trophy size muskies not numbers of fish. if you prefer numbers of small fish like what you were getting, stick to the small baits.

[SirSnookalot]

Species has a lot to do with it, muskie like bigger baits, bigger barracuda like tubes that are about 15" in length.  Tarpon on the other hand can be caught on 1/4 - 1/2 oz bucktail or flies I'd say it's more species orientated than the size of the fish.  I caught a spinner shark guessing about 80# on 1/2 oz storm wild eyed shad, wasn't the only time with a small swimbait.

[Bluebasser86]

Are they the best? no. If you're after a truly huge muskie or pike they're going to be one of the best options though. If you're enjoying fishing the baits you're fishing and you're happy with the fish you're catching then who cares what the other guy is throwing?

[slonezp]

We catch musky on bass baits all the time. On the flipside, the musky guys on my home water catch some big bass throwing huge musky baits. 

[RoLo]

On balance, small lures tend to produce 'more' fish, while large lures tend to yield 'larger' fish.

Small fish aren't intimidated by small lures, BUT a large fish may instinctively reject a small lure 

deeming the reward too small to bother chasing. 

 

Roger

[Dwight Hottle]

Well are those monster 5 ounce bulldogs really the best musky and pike bait you can buy because I have had much better much better luck on small jointed blue rapalas over the course of 1 week this summer I caught a 32 inch musky, a 25 inch pike,a 22 inch pike and over 20 bass on 1 lure. And I got to experience all these species instead of throwing a 5 ounce bait and catching nothing.Let me know what you think.

 

Imagine what you could have done with a big jointed blue rapala J-13 size.

[Lucky Craft Man]

I seem to catch a few musky every spring on jerkbaits while fishing for bass, but they are never seem to be over 32 inches.  Granted, you will always hear a story of someone catching a 50+ inch musky on a 3 inch grub and 6 lb. test mono, but that is definitely not the norm.  It wasn't until I started casting the Pounders (a 15 ounce Bulldawg) and larger baits that I started to have success catching larger (granted a lot fewer) muskies.  What I find interesting is that you will still catch that 32 inch musky on a 18+ inch lure.  Those fish are crazy! 

 

As a side note, I have caught a lot of nice bass musky fishing.  Though, the unfortunate thing of that is you can get a 20+ inch bass motorboating across the surface with musky gear like you do with a 10 inch bass on bass gear.  You just don't get the thrill of the fight that a large bass would usually offer you when you are fishing with a 9 ft. telephone pole.