Do you truly believe you must match the size of the baitfish in the body of water you’re fishing when choosing paddle tails for river smallmouth?

[Ohioguy25]

I have a friend whose judgement and advice I generally trust. He is adamant about not using anything larger than what you see in the water. In other words, using a 2.75” soft plastic paddle tail rather than a 3.25”.

 

How accurate is this? I have seen people catching big smallmouth on giant 6”+ glide baits, is that different being a reaction strike?

[TnRiver46]

2.5 inch is my favorite paddle tail. Granted, I threw my cast net last month in the river grass and was catching 4-5 inch minnows 

[WRB]

Bass can’t determine the size of prey without trying to eat it is one train of thought. 

Bass feeding on a particular primary size bait fish can be very difficult to catch on anything that doesn’t look like what they are focused on is another accepted practice.

The key word here is primary bait fish size and type like large schools of Threadfin Shad for example.

Tom

[Revival]

Bass are opportunistic predators. They have no rules.

[NorthernBasser]

[WRB]

You want to offer what the bass are feeding on 90% of the time.

Keep in mind bass eat a very wide variety of prey but when they are feeding on a specific prey type your odds increase by using lures that closely resemble what they are looking for.

Small bait = smaller lures, larger bait = larger lures, it’s not that difficult.

You are simply increasing your odds by matching the hatch theory but  bass are incredible predators that respond to a wide variety of lures on any given day. It comes down to catch many or a few. 

Tom

[Catt]

Nahh! ?

 

Which hatch do ya match?

 

This years?

Last years?

5 years ago?

 

Do ya match the runt or the alpha?

[Deleted account]

Like most other things fishing and not, the answer is situational, so sometimes. The trick is identifying what's going on, and what they want.

[king fisher]

Depends on what they are feeding on.  If they are feeding on schooling baitfish sometimes matching the size of the bait is very important.  If they are feeding on bluegill, or crayfish, than it most likely wont make any difference.  Much of the time there is not a big concentration of a particular bait, (basically not hatch) and the bass will hit what ever swims by.  When there is a large concentration of a particular bait, the bass are more likely to key in on that particular bait, and they can become frustratingly selective.  Sometimes when there are large amounts of a certain size bait the bass are feeding on, picking a lure larger or smaller may help your bait stand out from all the live bait, making it a more likely target.   Other times matching the size is more important.  No set rules, every day is different, and every bass is different.

[Bankc]

There are days when matching the size of the baitfish really matters.  There are days when using a different sized lure than the baitfish works best.  And there are days where it doesn't matter either way. 

 

In my personal experience, Wednesdays that occur on odd numbered dates are the days where you should match the hatch.  And the third Thursday and first Monday of the month are the days you should contrast the hatch.  Unless the full moon takes place after the 13th and before the 23rd then you do the opposite.   

 

In other words, the only thing I'm sure of, is that I can never be sure until I've tried.  

[TOXIC]

My school of thought is what a lot of the pros say….show them something different……bass are looking for the oddball and will key on it.  

[Bankbeater]

Nope. 

[smalljaw67]

As a rule of thumb, I always start on the large side of baits. Nothing extreme in size but things like a Keitech 3.8 swing impact fat. If they aren't biting it or they are ripping the tails off then I'll drop down to a 3.3 or 2.8.  River smallmouth will get what I call "Trout brain", that is when they will seem to be locked on a particular type and/or size bait. It happens a lot more than I like but the only way you really know is through trial and error.

[scaleface]

On 10/13/2022 at 6:28 PM, Bankbeater said:

Nope. 

this

[flyfisher]

I find river fish in general, all species i hve caught, are way more opportunistic than their lake counterparts.  Many times they are at the mercy of the river system and current to provide food and since they don't have hands, they gotta eat stuff without thinking as much as we think they should.  

 

There is also the confidence piece which some may not agree with but if yo uare confident a bait will catch fish you will be more in tune with what is going on at the end of your line.

 

So I guess the answer is, sometimes.

[T-Billy]

5 hours ago, flyfisher said:

I find river fish in general, all species i hve caught, are way more opportunistic than their lake counterparts.

This has been my experience as well. 

[Luke Barnes]

I've always been curious about this topic as far as ponds go.  Very, very few ponds that I fish have any sort of shad in them so I usually always go the bluegill route.  Ok that part is simple. 

 

I like taking my UL and seeing what the bluegill are like in the pond I'm fishing,  but there are times I catch a 2" teeny little guy then a big ol football next cast. So how do I tell what the bass are actually feeding on? I would say they aren't trying to get those big fat bluegills down their throats so I tend to go smaller, but how small?  I always just guess. Whatever feels right, which is usually wrong haha. 

[Fishing_Rod]

Good Day All,

I am just an opportunistic angler that typically uses ultra lite rigs to simply catch more fish. Sharing my observations from angling here in Arizona. Many of the locations I fish in have very murky, stained, water. Usually within a foot you are not able to see your bait to provide some reference. Through several decades of angling I have concluded it is more about first getting the bait close to the fish without scaring them.

 

Here it doesn't seem to make too much difference in the color. As an example I occasionally fish at several of the Tucson area parks with lakes using two identical fishing rigs the only difference is the color of the bait. During the spring and early summer I used four inch stick type weedless worms in red and green. Both caught fish easily at roughly the same rate. It seemed more important to simply get the bait near the fish and let them have a go at it. 

 

Then I switched things up to use the same two rigs only one still had the four inch stick worm. The oher I changed to a three inch worm. Now there was a significant difference registered on several angling adventures. It was easy to see I was catching way more fish using the three in worm compared to the few caught with the four inch worm.

 

I also did trips where I would try five inch worms too. Very little success catching. Great success in casting practice though.

 

These days I typically keep my baits at three inches or less to be successful at the various lakes. Same trend appears to be for hard baits too. Generally I catch more on the smaller baits. I am referring to multi-species not just large mouth bass. Just to clarify I do catch fish with the larger baits, just not at the higher numbers when using the three inch or smaller baits. 

 

There just appears to be a size factor in the willingness of fish here to strike the smaller baits. I don't believe it has to do with matching something they are foraging on. I suspect it may be simply a good sized morsel presented near them to have a go at.

 

I hope this helps in some way. Good luck angling. Cheers!

[CrashVector]

On 10/12/2022 at 4:01 PM, TnRiver46 said:

2.5 inch is my favorite paddle tail. Granted, I threw my cast net last month in the river grass and was catching 4-5 inch minnows 

 

Likewise. 2.5-3 inch is ideal for me.