big bait vs small bait

[Steve01987]

Anyone have a preference for bass?  I've gone bass fishing in baxter or the bellamy with fat suckers and got no bites.  Then ive caught some nice ones on medium to large shiners.  Idk, maybe if you have a ton of patience and don't mind the chance of getting skunked big bait is the way to go.  It's hard to say.  Never hurts to vary your bait size among your traps either.  Summer/fall I always do well just floating large baitfish off a weighted bobber.  Wish we could double hook them here in NH though.

[Roccus]

Fish eat less in the winter..a big meal lasts longer... bigger baits weed out the runts (most of the time,not always )so you get less action.

[green shack]

Big Bait for Big Bass, the bigger the better.

[SHaRPS]

Fish eat less in the winter..a big meal lasts longer... bigger baits weed out the runts (most of the time,not always )so you get less action.

What Joe said....  However,  I have caught 5, 6 and 7 lbers on small/medium shiners. Maybe they were just hungry enough. Also remember, the amount of large bass, say 5lbs, in a pond is far less then say 2lbers which is also why the bite is lesser.

[Running for flags]

I generally stick to medium I have caught everything from 4kb bass to a 7” yellow perch lol all depends on if they are Hungary

[SalmonAndStriper Stalker]

Depends on my mood. On a blistering cold day where I dont want to be getting cold chasing flags I'll put on the big 10in goldens

[swnoel]

BIG or BIGGER!

[800stealth]

I always set up a couple traps with big baits for bass but only because the pond I live on always puts some big shiners in my traps... If I were buying bait, I'd just use mediums all the time. It seems somehow the 5" and 6" pond shiners always get eaten by 2 pounders and the big girls come on any size. But I find this to be more of a winter thing, in the summer... Bigger is always better for chasing big girls...

[jibbs]

Skip the suckers..pickeral love them but big bait will do it but so will a small shiner...trust me no one has big bait anymore..Merrimack bait and tackle has them but I’m can’t pay 2 bucks per bait...I know Donnie needs that money to make it work so I’m fine with it...trust me the bigger the better..lol..I know what everyone is thinking ..

[Mr.Harry]

Skip the suckers..pickeral love them but big bait will do it but so will a small shiner...trust me no one has big bait anymore..Merrimack bait and tackle has them but I’m can’t pay 2 bucks per bait...I know Donnie needs that money to make it work so I’m fine with it...trust me the bigger the better..lol..I know what everyone is thinking ..

Was waiting to hear from the authority on this. I only open water fish for bass, so this is interesting. Dover Marine frequently has pretty big ‘XL’ shiners available. AJ’s In Meredith will have the huge Golden’s, but again, price...
I’m happy to pay it for certain things like Cusk. But this is a bass/green fish question.

[Mr.Harry]

I’m inclined to think, with bass, under the ice, it’s more about putting a bait, any bait, right in front of their faces, if your good enough to know where that place is. They’re warm water fish. They slow down. I would think? When I catch a smallie on a smelt, working a rocky point drop-off for lakers, they don’t seem to have turned their nose up at a small bait. They also seem half-asleep. In open water, at same placement, they might get wildly aggressive after a GIANT crawdad. I enjoy live lining a huge crawfish like that, and then feeling ‘the battle’ transpire though a taught line as they get after it. Multiple mouthings and spittings. Claws being ripped off, bait fighting back. That’s a thrill. I don’t think that happens so much under the ice. They want a quick easy meal. And size matters not. But I could be wrong and correct me if so.

[Bignass56]

This is a video i took using my water wolf camera last year thats was a 5" shiner and that bass was at least a 5lber maybe  bigger and ill never know because he did this for 20 minutes and never tripped the flag kept spitting it out. I kept asking myself what if that was a small med shiner? I still stick with the biggest bait i can find

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Great vid, thanks for sharing! Makes you wonder how often that happens without knowing? I’ve had days for sure Brown fishing with baits having bite marks all through them and yet no other sign.

[Bignass56]

Great vid, thanks for sharing! Makes you wonder how often that happens without knowing? I’ve had days for sure Brown fishing with baits having bite marks all through them and yet no other sign.

Exactly.. or those darn "wind flags" makes you wonder

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Absolutely, great post!

[HuntnFish603]

Great vid. With That much movement with that shiner and line, I can't believe that flag didn't go off.
Also Makes you wonder, why he didn't commit. That's alot of attempts to swallow that thing. That bass looked plenty big enough to take that large shiner.

[Bignass56]

Great vid. With That much movement with that shiner and line, I can't believe that flag didn't go off.
Also Makes you wonder, why he didn't commit. That's alot of attempts to swallow that thing. That bass looked plenty big enough to take that large shiner.

Yeah i wondered also. Before this video iv often come across a shiner thats missing all its scales and almost dead. I think its safe to say this is probably whats happening. So after seeing this i started going crazy thinking my setup was the problem and started changing everything then second guessing everything. Fluoro, mono, braid, hook sizes   ext

[DConICE]

Great video for sure, super informative. Your set-up got them biting - so I am not sure anything you change would work better. Did appear the bass was trying to turn the shiner and would spit it out to line it up, but even when it did have it head first it still spit it. Maybe hook placement in the shiner?

I was jigging in my portable once in clear water where I could easily see down 15 - 20 feet... and watched a bass come in an MISS a slow moving jig-head/grub combination about 3 times before it finally connected. Makes me wonder how many times that happens while we are out fishing, or how they actually can catch (or how often they miss) fast moving prey.

Thanks for the post

[swnoel]

Jaw Jacker!

[Steve01987]

This is a video i took using my water wolf camera last year thats was a 5" shiner and that bass was at least a 5lber maybe  bigger and ill never know because he did this for 20 minutes and never tripped the flag kept spitting it out. I kept asking myself what if that was a small med shiner? I still stick with the biggest bait i can find

That video is fascinating and makes me really take a lot of things into consideration. Thanks for sharing it.