Saw An Article That Said Smaller Is Sometimes Better Than Larger

[BammerBass]

First off, been a while since I've been here, hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year, ans hope some of you got to ring it in qith some nice fish. That said....

Saw an article on bass resource's facebook page that talked about how sometimes smaller lures can be better than those big ole heavy spinner baits, large plastic worms and crankbaits, etc, and they were spot on with it, as I have experienced it for myself.

The few times I got to go fishing this year, every bass that I caught that wasn't a "dink"( less than 12" in my book, your definition may vary) was caught on a tiny jig, a crappie fishing jig actually. 1/16 oz jighead with silver minnow 1.5 inch long panfish assassin. There waa just something about it that they seemed to really like when I used it, perhaps the conditions had somethinf to with it, maybe it resembled alot like what they were foraging on at the time, or a combination of the two. Tried buzzbait, worms, spinners to no avail, but this little crappie jig did the job. Perhaps these may not elicit monster bass, but I think they are certainly capable of catching 2 and 3 lb bass with regularity. Heck I even hung what I estimated to possibly be a 4 lber, would have been my on, on one ofthese jigs. I toyed with the retrieval speed and prexpectation several ways, and they liked a slow retrieve with o ccassional twitches the most. And some may see this hook size and say "no way will that ever hold a bass for long", well it sure did, laa t bass I caught was 2.5 or so lbs, and I had to let my dad net the bass, cut the line because it was a lonf way down to the surface of the water, ans then remove it with pliers, dad said I didn't have to worry about it throwing the hook, and he was absolutely right. It took a few turns (no harm done to the fish) to get it off. If you haven't tried something like it before, give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

[Catch and Grease]

Its definitely fun catching big fish on tiny hooks and lures, went out and caught some big bowfin today on 1/16th oz jigs & grubs... What a blast!

[Weld's Largemouth]

I don't doubt that smaller baits catch big bass, i've caught a 5 lb bass on a 2 inch grub, but using such a small bait limits the amount of big bass you will catch because small panfish or small bass will get to the lure first and eat it before the big bass can. I would never soley rely on a small grub to go after my PB largemouth, it can definitely catch them but the chance is so small. I do believe a giant bass would see a senko and a small grub equally and would take either one. I just would rather use the senko so i don't pull in bluegills instead of the 7lb bass that was sitting next to them

Plus, casting distance is awful with tiny 1/16oz jigheads if you don't fish from a boat

[BammerBass]

Oh I certainly wouldn't count on these to land those bigger fish, like you said, but they do seem to catch them solid 2-3 lb bass with pretty good regularity. And while it indeed my be true in most cases the bluegill and crappie would go for it first, that day I hung my "big" bass, I could see the bluegill in the water plain as day, and they wouldn't offer, but the bass did, to my very surprised reaction. I used a light action rod and it tossed it out there a pretty good little ways, bass seemed to always hit about midway or the last third or so of the distance remaining. Water was quite clear and I thought for sure no way would I get bites (if they can see you, they usually wont bite), bluegill as I mentioned indeed did not offer, but the bass did, and as a result of this, I actually caught more bass than bluegill this year, which is a definite anomaly, back when I could go regularly, panfish always outnumbered my bass total. From my experience, these little jigs have a lot of potential, especially for those 2-3 lbers that one might like to catch for eats from time to time.

[Weld's Largemouth]

Oh I certainly wouldn't count on these to land those bigger fish, like you said, but they do seem to catch them solid 2-3 lb bass with pretty good regularity. And while it indeed my be true in most cases the bluegill and crappie would go for it first, that day I hung my "big" bass, I could see the bluegill in the water plain as day, and they wouldn't offer, but the bass did, to my very surprised reaction. I used a light action rod and it tossed it out there a pretty good little ways, bass seemed to always hit about midway or the last third or so of the distance remaining. Water was quite clear and I thought for sure no way would I get bites (if they can see you, they usually wont bite), bluegill as I mentioned indeed did not offer, but the bass did, and as a result of this, I actually caught more bass than bluegill this year, which is a definite anomaly, back when I could go regularly, panfish always outnumbered my bass total. From my experience, these little jigs have a lot of potential, especially for those 2-3 lbers that one might like to catch for eats from time to time.

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Thing with that light action rod for tossing tiny lures, i wouldnt want to be pulling my PB in on that and that light line

[BammerBass]

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Thing with that light action rod for tossing tiny lures, i wouldnt want to be pulling my PB in on that and that light line

oh I know it, when I hung that 4 lber (my guess) I absolutely was not expecting it at all. I was actually targeting the bluegill, crappie, and smaller bass, but sometimes you do get surprises!!! Bass seem to know whenyou s re not properly equipped for them....... fish was 19 or 20 inches long in my bbest guess and fat. I knew I probably didnt stand a chance to grt it up to me with that light line, but surprisingly I did grt it up a good way and held it there for a minute or so while my dad tried to find a path down to go get it, and then it snapped the line...... thats where I was wishing I had 8 lb line and a medium rod, but then again, I may have never even felt the strike on thst though...... I got it up out of the water and dad just nearly got to it when it broke. I was gonna put her back anyway, so I guess for my ego, I will call it my "unofficial" pb had we found a way to actually get it before it snapped, no doubt it would have officially been my pb.

[BammerBass]

And I thought I actually did pretty well with the presentation and the fight, felt like we I did everything I could do to give us a shot at it. Confidence (certainly not to the degree of arrogance though) is key to fishing to success, would you agree with that?

[Raul]

Smaller is better to catch many fish, shure I have caught some nice 5-6 lbs fish with 1/32 oz marabou jigs or 00/0 in-line spinners while fishing for bluegills but itsy bitsy teeny tiny baits are not what I would normally use for my everyday fishing, it´s good to have a few around when things get tough and may help you save a bad day or, like in my case, make my kid catch a truckload of dinks, but I wouldn´t go beeg momma huntin´ with those baits.

[MassBass]

What do you throw that thing on?

[Weld's Largemouth]

And I thought I actually did pretty well with the presentation and the fight, felt like we I did everything I could do to give us a shot at it. Confidence (certainly not to the degree of arrogance though) is key to fishing to success, would you agree with that?

Yea.. I do agree. But just wait until you pull in a 6lber.. You better loosen your drag alll the way

[Darren.]

First off, been a while since I've been here, hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year, ans hope some of you got to ring it in qith some nice fish. That said....

Saw an article on bass resource's facebook page that talked about how sometimes smaller lures can be better than those big ole heavy spinner baits, large plastic worms and crankbaits, etc, and they were spot on with it, as I have experienced it for myself.

The few times I got to go fishing this year, every bass that I caught that wasn't a "dink"( less than 12" in my book, your definition may vary) was caught on a tiny jig, a crappie fishing jig actually. 1/16 oz jighead with silver minnow 1.5 inch long panfish assassin. There waa just something about it that they seemed to really like when I used it, perhaps the conditions had somethinf to with it, maybe it resembled alot like what they were foraging on at the time, or a combination of the two. Tried buzzbait, worms, spinners to no avail, but this little crappie jig did the job. Perhaps these may not elicit monster bass, but I think they are certainly capable of catching 2 and 3 lb bass with regularity. Heck I even hung what I estimated to possibly be a 4 lber, would have been my on, on one ofthese jigs. I toyed with the retrieval speed and prexpectation several ways, and they liked a slow retrieve with o ccassional twitches the most. And some may see this hook size and say "no way will that ever hold a bass for long", well it sure did, laa t bass I caught was 2.5 or so lbs, and I had to let my dad net the bass, cut the line because it was a lonf way down to the surface of the water, ans then remove it with pliers, dad said I didn't have to worry about it throwing the hook, and he was absolutely right. It took a few turns (no harm done to the fish) to get it off. If you haven't tried something like it before, give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

They work extremely well. Here's a link from a while back

of my setup for this rig. I've had great success over the 

years with it. Mostly a skunk-saver, LOL.

 

I've caught some bass over 3 lbs on it, and a 4 lb pickerel.

 

They can catch some big fish, but drag must be set to 

give on that occasion, as stated by others.

[BammerBass]

Yea.. I do agree. But just wait until you pull in a 6lber.. You better loosen your drag alll the way

eh I doubt that'll happen any time soon, besides like you guys said, if one is going to target these big fish, then one had better bring heavier equipment and lures. I typically do very poorly when specifically bass fishing, except for buzzbaits, I have had luck with those. I do have 2 medium-heavy bait casters in my arsenal, equipped with 17lb and 14 lb test line. I feel the one with 17 lb should suffice for most places id be fishing. But again, I dont foresee catching anything 5-6 lbs or bigger any time soon, but so long as I can catch these smaller 2-3 lb fish on a decent basis, id be more than happy.

And as far as for what I threw that jig on, it was a 5'6" light action zebco spinning rod.

[Tony L.]

I really like the smaller jigs too. They are absolutely great for all around fishing. I dont always look for trophies when i go out, sometimes i just want to be on the water catching a fish or two, and I don't really care what they are. If it has been a particularly stressful day at work, i dont want to go through the effort of patterning monster bass. I just want to relax, unwind, enjoy some time outdoors and on the water, and feel something give a little tug on the line without investing too much thought into it. I think that it is a blast to reel in a mixed bag of bass and panfish- the action is fast and the element of surprise is thrilling.

Have you looked into the Lindy "Watsit Jig" and "Watsit Spin Jig" ? They are pretty unique and one of my favorites hauling in a bit of everything and for catching LMB/SMB in creeks.

[BammerBass]

Have not tried ir but I have heard good stuff about it. And I totally agree about just getting out there to enjoy the time and to get a tug on the line, that is mostly what my goals are. Trying to find them big 5+ lb bass can indeed be frustrating, especially for novice and shore anglers like myself. And thrn getting them big ones to bite is another battle that can be really frustrating for people that aren't used to it (me). So usually I just toss my line out there targeting bluegill and crappie since it is relaxing and doesnt bring newr the frustration of swinging and missing on these big bass. But I have ran into some decent bass before with this little set up, and that was the cherry on top for me.

[deep]

Depends on what the bass wants.

[smalljaw67]

I use small baits like that when the bite is tough and most of the time it will be in cold water. I do far better with smaller hair jigs in winter than I do with larger silicone or even larger hair jigs, I never really fish heavier than 1/4oz and even that is big. The point is that yes, there are times smaller is better but on average big baits catch big fish, and that is ture no matter where you fish. I'd be willing to bet more 5lb bass have been caught on large baits than were caught on small stuff, the reason for downsizing at all is to match the mood of the fish and to get numbers. There are more smaller fish so by going with a small bait, it ends up appealing to more fish which ups your chances at getting bit but catching the bigger ones is more of an accident when using small baits. We all know that the rules for fishing are not written in stone, all kinds of things happen like 12" fish eating a 3oz swim bait and a 6lb fish eating a 1/32oz crappie jig, it happens and so you can say that sometimes smaller is better but you can also say that sometimes bigger is better too.

[scaleface]

Smaller will get bites. I have   lost a lot of big bass on crappie size hooks though. So when I go smaller , I keep the hook size larger.  

[ClackerBuzz]

^probably has more to do with ur hooks not being sharp or ur hook set/rod.

fly fishing/trout guys regularly land 10+lb trout on size 22 hooks. but they are razor sharp.

[K_Mac]

Size is a relative thing, and there are definitely times when a smaller bait will catch more fish. There are even times when downsizing will catch bigger fish in my experience; changing to a Smallie Beaver from a standard size has saved my day more than once.

If I am targeting bass I will always use a jig with a big enough hook to have a reasonable chance of landing whatever I hook. I have caught (and lost) good bass on crappie jigs, but it is an iffy thing.

[scaleface]

^probably has more to do with ur hooks not being sharp or ur hook set/rod.

fly fishing/trout guys regularly land 10+lb trout on size 22 hooks. but they are razor sharp.

I think its due to the gap between the point and the line tie being a tad to close. The lure lure often skips through the mouth rather than hook and hold on. At least thats how it appears to me.

[everythingthatswims]

I have landed quite a few bass up to 5-6lbs while crappie fishing with little jigs. Imo if there isn't any heavy cover around it is pretty easy to land a big fish on light tackle, you just have to be patient and realize that you don't need to have the fish in the boat in 10 seconds. The big largemouth I have caught were all in very cold water, but big smallies will hit tiny baits any time of year.

[BammerBass]

^^ agree with you there. I too think as long as there isn't any heavy cover like milfoil, then one stands a decent chance of landing them 4-6 lb fish,  but like weld said, better really watch that drag and loosen it so it dont snap the line. I had that 4 lb bass up out of the water, but that light rod didnt have the oomph to reel it all the way up, plus when I did see it, I got excited and tried to force it. With light tackle, need to be patient and ideally need to be at the water level. Fishing from a pier like I was with that light line makes it difficult to land those bigger fish.

[scaleface]

 

Weve all caught big bass on a crappie jigs I caught a 7 lber on a Marabou jig. I have also lost lots of big bass on crappie jigs. In the picture , look at how close the point is to the eyelet. This is made for crappie not bass. The line tie, in my opinion , often gets in the way of a good hookup.  I still use smaller lures  but go with jig heads designed for bass.

[gobig]

The Float and Fly is a very powerful tool that catches giant fish. 

[primetime]

Only for a float and fly otherwise my tackle is too heavy although a small tiny shad as pictured is a great little bait after the spawn of any fish, kind of like catching a mayfly hatch, those little 1" baits on a ballhead jig work on fish of all sizes when nothing else will...Problem is Crappie and panfish get them first, big bass won't compete many times except very very cold float and fly 4lb test type stuff, streamers, marabou jigs, or dragon flies in summer on a split shot rig 6lb test is small  as I go and have caught a few nice fish doing that since uncle bucks makes a nice 2" version that makes a good teaser in front of a plug as well....so do those tiny shad, nothing wrong with double rigs.