Bigger Bait, Bigger Fish

[steezy]

Im often told to fish bigger bait and I will catch bigger fish but never really believed it until the past couple of days.

As the bite has slowed some this summer, yesterday I started throwing a large black senko into some grass and weed shallow areas with 12" or less of water depth.  I usually use a zoom fenesse worm and catch 1-2 lb'ders but figured I would try a larger bait. The results were awesome!  Yesterday I caught a 4 lb'der on the first cast and this morning I caught another nice one on the first cast as well as several others.

Hence, bigger bait, bigger fish!

[Steven Ladner]

Nice fish steezy. Sounds like you found what those big bass like  

Congrats

[endless]

Im often told to fish bigger bait and I will catch bigger fish but never really believed it until the past couple of days.

As the bite has slowed some this summer, yesterday I started throwing a large black senko into some grass and weed shallow areas with 12" or less of water depth. I usually use a zoom fenesse worm and catch 1-2 lb'ders but figured I would try a larger bait. The results were awesome! Yesterday I caught a 4 lb'der on the first cast and this morning I caught another nice one on the first cast as well as several others.

Hence, bigger bait, bigger fish!

nice!! yea i heard the same, i was throwing the sticko (watermelon seed with red flakes) 7 1/8 but didnt get anything, and nothing off the 10" anaconda (red shad) neither. but i was throwing rage tails frogs (green pumpkin/pearl) nothing spros (leopard and tropical white) nothing, and the smaller anaconda (double header) carolina rigged nothing. so today nothing off of anything so my day sucked! a few light hits on spro but thats is all. i even threw my white spinner out a few times and nothing.

[Fishing Rhino]

As a general rule, that may be reasonably accurate.  But, one good catch does not mean it will work day in and day out.

I've caught a passel of nice largemouth, from three to five pounds plus, on a four inch finesse worm on a ShakE2 jig head.

They slowed on hitting the jigs the size of sparrows, that I had been tossing.  Before the finesse worm, I was catching them on Rage Tail craws and space monkey rigged on a weighted hook in five to six feet of water.

They lost interest in those, and tuned in on the finesse worm.

Some days they prefer a three inch senko type to the four and five inch versions.

A bit of advice.  Don't get locked into the bigger baits produce bigger fish.  Some guys have posted pics of dinks caught on wake baits.

Ya never know.

Congrats on your catch.  

If they keep hitting it, keep pitching it.  If they lose interest, throw 'em a change up.  Smaller may be what they want.

[steezy]

Yea Rhino, Ive pretty much been through the entire tacklebox this season and have caught'em on everything.  The basic fishing rules always apply.  First you gotta find the fish and second you gotta give what they want to eat or bite.  Sure nice catching some decent size ones that quick with such a simple change.

[endless]

As a general rule, that may be reasonably accurate. But, one good catch does not mean it will work day in and day out.

I've caught a passel of nice largemouth, from three to five pounds plus, on a four inch finesse worm on a ShakE2 jig head.

They slowed on hitting the jigs the size of sparrows, that I had been tossing. Before the finesse worm, I was catching them on Rage Tail craws and space monkey rigged on a weighted hook in five to six feet of water.

They lost interest in those, and tuned in on the finesse worm.

Some days they prefer a three inch senko type to the four and five inch versions.

A bit of advice. Don't get locked into the bigger baits produce bigger fish. Some guys have posted pics of dinks caught on wake baits.

Ya never know.

Congrats on your catch.

If they keep hitting it, keep pitching it. If they lose interest, throw 'em a change up. Smaller may be what they want.

my friend when we was younger caught a white perch on a lure bigger than the fish. i doubted him too and he told me watch Im'a catch a fish on this............. and what do you know.

[SammyLee]

Likely true but sometimes the biggest bait will catch the smallest fish!

[RoLo]

Likely true but sometimes the biggest bait will catch the smallest fish!

And vice versa: sometimes the smallest lure will catch the largest bass  

[Muddy]

Wasn't it just a few years ago that they were touting finesse lures as the way to big bass?

[Lynx]

I love throwing 6"-12" Swim Baits. It is, & always have been the rule of thumb, "bigger baits catch bigger fish."

[Fishing Rhino]

I love throwing 6"-12" Swim Baits. It is, & always have been the rule of thumb, "bigger baits catch bigger fish."

California.  Never had the pleasure of fishing there, but it does have the reputation of large numbers of large bass.

And the photo of the minnow on the large bait notwithstanding, I do not dispute that on average, larger baits will produce larger fish.  

However, there are days when even the larger fish prefer smaller baits.  It probably happens more often with smallmouth bass than largemouth.  That's just an observation, not established fact on my part.

I recall a day in May, back in the 1960s, when Devol was a smallmouth pond, catching five pound smallies like they were bluegills on either a number one or two, Mepps plain spinner with a gold blade.

Back then, my philosophy was small baits will catch all size fishes, while large baits would not.  But, back then, I was not specifically targeting larger fish.  Just wanted to hook something, anything.

[flipin4bass]

Way to go Steezy! I've been throwing a 12" worm past couple weeks.

[SoFl-native]

Wasn't it just a few years ago that they were touting finesse lures as the way to big bass?

haha.....they absolutley were. We will probably be back on that finesse thing 5 years from now after the swim bait craze wears down.

Strike king will be trying to sell us tiny baits again: The baby garter snake, and the teeny tiny lobster.

and people will buy it too.  ;D

[Catt]

If Bigger Bait, Bigger Fish were a true statement we would all be throwing 6' lures

One proven big bass lure that works year round is a Jig-N-Craw, yet it is only 3-5 overall.

What lure is deadlier during pre-spawn than a ½ oz Rat-L-Trap, it is only 3 overall.

Little lures and big lures all have their time and place; it is up to the angler to figure out that time and place.

[steezy]

Little lures and big lures all have their time and place; it is up to the angler to figure out that time and place.

Ain't that the truth, last week they were killing the spinnerbait but the past 2-3 days you couldn't catch one on a spinner if your life depended on it. I watch a bass swim right past a spinner this morning and never even thought about hitting it.

Who knows what they will want this evening or tomorrow or next week!

[RoLo]

"Big bait, big bass" is just too obvious to be gospel.

It stands to reason, when a lure is large enough to intimidate small bass,

it is guaranteed to increase the "average" weight of bass harvested.

But reducing the number of small bass, is not the same as increasing the number of large bass.

In the not too distant past, hawg-hunters in Florida touted the use of live golden shiners between 8 and 14" long.

Ask any bait dealer today the length of his best selling shiners and it'll probably be closer to 4 to 7".

Kevin VanDam's boated an 11 lb plus bass, but it was a forgettable event that slipped through the cracks.

I suppose it would've been more newsworthy if Kevin were using a 10" swimbait, but he was fishing a 4" fry worm

Roger

[roadwarrior]

...reducing the number of small bass, is not the same as increasing the number of large bass.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement! As a specific

example, switching from 5" Senkos to the 6" version has

resulted in a dramatic improvement in the "average" size

fish. I don't want numbers, so this has worked out very

well for me!

8-)

[Eddie Munster]

Little lures and big lures all have their time and place; it is up to the angler to figure out that time and place.

Ain't that the truth, last week they were killing the spinnerbait but the past 2-3 days you couldn't catch one on a spinner if your life depended on it. I watch a bass swim right past a spinner this morning and never even thought about hitting it.

Who knows what they will want this evening or tomorrow or next week!

And it's not only WHAT they'll bite but how they want it presented.

Fished Saturday morning and couldn't buy a bite on a T-rigged U-tail Zoom. Switched to Carolina rigged with about 18-24" of line and bam; four in a row. Same color worm, same retrieve but that small difference in depth was the key.

[Busy]

Well, I find this true only to a certain extent.

I go by this rule of thumb:  A small lure will catch both large and small fish; a large lure will catch only large fish.

You may more consistently catch larger fish with a larger lure.  The larger lure doesn't necessarily make the larger fish bite, the presence of the larger fish does.  If you only catch smaller fish on smaller lures then you may not be into bigger fish in the first place.

When I in fish, especially in a new spot, I will upsize lures to see what size fish the spot may be holding.  Generally I stick to smaller lures and search for bass and once I find them upsize and see what happens.  I will generally go back to smaller lures after learning more about the bass I am on.

But by all means, do what is working for you!

[wormsnufsaid]

well ether or ive caught a 5inch sunny on my 1 oz jitter bug and a 4 pound large mouth on a 1/32 oz beetle spin

but i follow the same rule as most big= only big small = both

(thats why im going to get 3 packs of the new thumper worm bring on the lunkers!!!)

[steezy]

...reducing the number of small bass, is not the same as increasing the number of large bass.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement! As a specific

example, switching from 5" Senkos to the 6" version has

resulted in a dramatic improvement in the "average" size

fish. I don't want numbers, so this has worked out very

well for me!

8-)

I knew I should have bought 6" instead of 5" !

I would have caught a 7# instead of a 4#.  

[Lynx]

...reducing the number of small bass, is not the same as increasing the number of large bass.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement! As a specific

example, switching from 5" Senkos to the 6" version has

resulted in a dramatic improvement in the "average" size

fish. I don't want numbers, so this has worked out very

well for me!

8-)

I knew I should have bought 6" instead of 5" !

I would have caught a 7# instead of a 4#.

LMAO! ;D

[sofakingbigbass]

Hey Steezy,

you fish with some beaucoup equipment:

Daiwa Steez 7.1 Casting Reel & Steez Rod

Daiwa Steez 6.3 Casting Reel & Steez Rod

Shimano Core 100MG Casting Reel & G Loomis GLX Rod

Shimano Core 50MG Casting Reel & G Loomis GLX Rod

some boats don't cost this much

[steezy]

A $20 walmart setup will catch the same fish.  I just like toys!  BTW, I just picked up another Core 50 reel and GLX rod today.  I hate having to stop and change lures.