Are We Fishing Too Small Of Baits?

[Rangerphil]

Just wondering everyone's opinion on this: Are we using too small of lures? My friend only muskies fish and he uses very large baits. He occasionally catches bass on the musky lures. Some are very large (4-5) pounds and some are little dinks. We are from western PA so we do not have an abundance of large bass. Are we just brain washed into using smaller lures or is it actually better to use smaller profile lures? It maybe worth putting some time into throwing just large baits!

[wisconsin heat]

I believe we use lures that will catch us the most bass. Most bass we catch don't commonly eat musky lure-sized baitfish. Musky lures will catch bass, big bass, but if we use our smaller lures, we catch better numbers of bass with a big bass every now and then.

[SAC2]

i wouldnt say we use to large a bait. i mean its a different game fishing for numbers and fishing for big fish. you rarely see guys fishing the delta for 10 pounders with micro pond magic spinnerbaits. my buddy caught a 5 pounder last week here in jersey on a 7 inch soft tail phantom while muskie fishing. only bass he caught all day. i was fishin the same boat for bass and i landed 10+ bass on various soft baits ranging from 5-7 inches in size, but clearly a much smaller profile than a phantom

[iceintheveins]

Even small bass will hit bigger baits sometimes. I live in Colorado and here, a 6 pound fish is a really good one, even a 5 is respectable. I generally use 4" - 8" plastics, but have caught 12 inchers on Old Monster Worms. So don't be afraid to try bigger baits from time to time, ESPECIALLY if the water is off colored. Also don't be afraid to go smaller if needed. Versatility is the key to success.

[cajun_flipper]

Lures like trick worms and grubs bring in huge numbers of fish ranging from the funniest dinks all the way up to wall hanger sized bass. Guys who specifically target trophy fish use huge lures like the monster swim baits, multi blade spinner baits, and huge soft plastics. It all depends on what you're after. Big bass will hit tiny lures and small bass will hit lures larger than they are. If you're going for numbers, such as a recreational or tournament angler, then I'd suggest smaller profile lures.

[craww]

Big baits are a tool like any other lure. Sure dinks will hit a big bait, but more often than not they wont. I think one thing big baits do for you is discourage the smaller fish from biting enough to allow the big girls to get it. Who knows how many times we've presented a lure nearby a willing big fish and a dink grabbed it first? Another thing that goes unnoticed is that they will draw big fish from farther away that tiny finesse baits. I once witnessed a 19"x26" fish swim 40' feet in super shallow water to eat a lunker punker right at the bank in front of me.

[deep]

I don't usually fish to catch a mess of small bass, except when I'm out to have fun. If I'm looking to catch the biggest bass in the lake, and get skunked trip after trip trying to do that, that's all right with me..

This guy thought he was big... Guess he was wrong!

3lbs 12 ozs on 8" huddleston deluxe

[roadwarrior]

A new Oklahoma State Record was caught last week on a 1/4 oz finness jig.

Huge fish will eat small presentations, but as a general rule, big baits are

more attractive to big bass.

[LoneWolf]

No......we are not

[Catt]

If a bass is hungry it will eat anything it can fit in its mouth!

Double digit bass have been caught on everything from Crappie jigs to huge swimbaits.

[smalljaw67]

I had a discussion with a fisheries biologist some time ago and the subject came up about big bait and big fish and what I learned is interesting. He told me bass, unlike trout are very opprotunistic, trout will only feed when the need arises but bass will eat out of pure aggression which is why we like to pursue them. Areas with a large forage base of a certain type like alewives or shad will be the most difficult places to catch a fish on something really big because more often than not each year class tends to key on certain size forage. lakes that contain a lot of bluegill, crappie, chubs and shiners will provide the best chance at getting fish to hit large baits as these types of forage are also egg stealers and the bass will often hit them just to kill them and larger fish also see them as a big meal. I also got a good answer as to why gaudy colors catch fish like a bait that is all chartreuse or bubblegum, and it has to do with the fish being genetically programmed to eat sick or dying fish as they are an easy meal. When they observe fish feeding on schools of bait what biologist saw was instead of just swimming through the school the bass would swim around, under and over the tops of bait balls looking for sick or injured fish and what it seems they look for is something different whether it is a slightly different color of something being off in the way a particular fish is swimming but it has to be something different. When they can't differentiate they either abandon the school or they swim though the school tail whipping at times and it oftem results in injuring a fish and then they just circle back and eat it. This often happens when fishing topwaters baits, the bass will sometimes tail whip it to kill it, sometimes just to kill it and other times to make it into an easy meal which is why sometimes they leave the bait alone after hitting it like that or sometimes coming back and eating it. But just like everything else, fish aren't robots so they are often unpredictable and that explains anglers catching fish on topwater baits in 40 degree water but most fish behave within a certain set of guidelines.

[BradH]

All I know is I sure wish Rapala made a husky jerk the same size as the F18 floater.

[Rangerphil]

Sounds like we are better off to throw what we have confidence in and let the cards fall where they may. Thanks for all of the opinions!