Small vs. Big Baits...

[stushsky]

we all hear use smaller baits in the spring and larger as the season progresses. has anyone gone to large baits right out of the gate in the spring across the board and use no small baits at all? if so, has your follow / hookup rate been less / the same / more than when you did the small in spring and larger later in the year deal?

[toothyfishman]

I haven't fish the same waters enough to compare.
I never really run much smaller baits until this year but one thing I can share with you is when I never run or hand much smaller stuff I always done well running bull dawgs, pull,reel,pull,reel,pull,reel.

Would I have done better with smaller??? Not sure. The fish will hit an 8 inch bulll dawg early on. Whatever the standard size is, not the spring dawg.

The last year we had a season I got a 43" on the opening day, the very next friday I got a fish the was 43.5" in the same area. First fish I didn't measure as good as it was hook badly.....turns out it was the same fish. The markings on the side you can match up perfectly....no doubt in my mind or anyone's who I shown the pics too, same fish.

Oh, same bulldawg...........catch and release works!!!! Gotta love it!
Stupid fish............

[stushsky]

toothy,
i suppose the reason i asked that question to begin with is that 3 years ago i went from 6 rods in the boat and now i'm down to three and will never look back. but if anyone would have asked me 4 years ago to leave half of my rods in the truck i would have thought they were nuts...lol. i guess i am trying to convince myself to use the same thought process as far as the size and number of the baits i carry. then after that the number of various colors of the baits that i need to have...lol.

[Joe M]

I dont downsize that much either. I use the same lures all year long. I caught them on Plows in the middle of summer and 9" Wileys in the spring. If they are hungry they are going to eat. Maybe the speed or action has alot more to do with it then the lure size. Just my 2 cents!!

[muskie52]

Good post....I always kinda questioned the small bait theory myself....that being... to "match the size of the smaller forage early in the year". Why is the forage smaller early in the year?

My thoughts are that young of the year forage would be WAY too small to interest muskies. Wouldn't young of the year forage be 1-2" max??? Would the small bait theory be refering to last years young of the year?
Would last year's young of the year (suckers, carp, shad, etc.)already be 6" or so?

I wounder if smaller baits get eaten simply because it's an easy meal that is easy to digest. I would think that muskies still mainly feed on big bait, but bigger bait takes more time and energy to digest in the cold water....and as a result they have to feed less. If they have a partially digested 12" sucker in their belly, they probably wouldn't try to eat another. But if a smaller (6") bait gives it an opportunity.....chomp!

Does this make any sense? Or am I just rambling too much due to having the winter blues/cabin fever?

Tony

[HBmusky]

I think that makes perfect sense. I believe also that it is a good thought that it has to do with digestion. Its for the same reasons you find them on the sallow sand bares, digestion, hiting the perfect time when there ready or a basking fish priceless. I also think that it is naturally the food chain instinct feeding on the vanerable and uneducated prey. Very good post and thoughts.... Herb

[Red Childress]

The size has not mattered that much during the pre-spawn for me. Spawn and post-spawn seems to be when lure speed and size comes into play. I almost always throw larger stuff (for homework sake) while my clients are chucking "spring-sized" baits (6-7 inch stuff) and they usually get most of the action.

I am inclined to worry more about speed during spring instead of bait size, if talking about only an inch or two difference in size.

Just my opinion as of '09.

[Red Childress]

Hey Tony,

I have finally finished reading all the posts for the past 4 days and noticed your question about 1-2 inch bait fish being desirable by a musky......I have an interesting little story:

Back when I was single and fishing every night after work and every weekend all day long, I was also doing a crazy amount of river spotlighting. One night, I was out fishing my milk run spots first, and then immediately going back to spotlight those same areas to see "who" was sitting "where". Well, I had a big commotion boatside as I pulled my bait out of the water (no figure-8, of course) so I re-trace my cast to see if that fish went back to set up in the same spot. When I got there, all I could see were hundreds/thousands of small shiners schooled up and they were just shimmering everywhere under the spotlight and then I see a musky rise up and bite the surface of the water, inhaling multiple shiners in one big chomp. I watched this for about 10-15 minutes.......the musky came up and took several shiners with each bite. It was a very slow movement and the shiners really did not even try to scatter. They just stayed tight and the musky just kept on eating.

I do not think muskies actually pursue small bait but they are opportunistic feeders and that was one heck of an opportunity to eat at the "Shiner buffet table".

[HBmusky]

Love the story , you problly sat there and said look at that with aww ,is that not awsome thing to witness? they without a care in the world sometimes

[muskie52]

That's a pretty cool story.....woulda been neat to see!

Reading that made me remember an experiance with a musky eating a small jig & minnow while in Canada...

Our 3rd year going to Lake Nippissing (I was 13 or 14 at the time) my dad hired an Indian guide to take us out for walleye. Using a jig tipped with a small (2") minnow the guide hooked a BIG musky. It jumped once, coming completely out of the water flaring it's gills. It was an incredible sight. Biggest fish I had ever seen to that point. My young eyes thought it was a world record for sure! lol Then it went deep and after a few minutes broke his line. We were in awe!

That was the 3rd or 4th week of June so the water temps were still pretty cold up there. But that big musky sure enough ate a 2-3 inch bait....

Oh yeah....later when I asked the guide how big the musky was, he said it was probably about 35lbs. I'm sure he was right, but at the time I would have swore on a bible that it was twice that size! lol