This is always a fun thing to talk about, because bass are bass, and they are just unpredictable critters. I've seen it where fish would barely look at 7 and 9" lures, but when I put out the 12" they were all over it. Sometimes it goes the other way. You throw the 12" for nothing, and then switch to a 9" and you get some bites. There's no science to it, it's a matter of figuring it out over time.

The main dilemma in trying to figure out this kind of stuff, is that most days you only get 1 or 2 bites if that. How do you pattern fish or put together a theory on bait size, when you only get 1 or 2 bites? It's really hard.

I think people get the idea that you can go out with a big bait and get bit like you would with a worm or a senko or a spinnerbait or whatever. It's just not like that at all. If I look back in time at how many casts with the stocker trout it took before I got a 10+ on it, it's easily easily 10,000 casts. 10,000 casts and 4 fish over 8lbs. That's a lot of casts with no bites. If I look back just at my last 4 fishing trips, I've only caught three bass. Two trips I got skunked fishing almost all day. One trip I caught 2 smaller fish, and the last trip I got a 12. That's about right on par for me. I blank half the time, I stick some small fish, and I get one slug. If I lived in San Diego, I'd probably get a fish over 10 every 10 or 15 trips instead of every 5 to 8 trips. In SD and So-Cal and even on the Central Coast you get everyone out throwing big bait. The fish get used to it and it makes it so much tougher. Up here I can run around to 6 or 10 different lakes and try to find some fresh fish to throw at.

foods for thought anyway.