Fear Of Bigger Baits

[Jack Jones]

So...as a relative noob to fishing in Missouri, I have to say, I am so not used to the larger baits. I've usually only fished spinnerbaits of 1/8 to 1/4oz max and when I see these 1/2 oz and 3/4oz I just can't fathom using them on the James, or Lake Springfield. From what I'm reading though, they produce results. Same on the cranks, I'm not used to those but learning. I've Texas rigged worms before and skipped them back along the bottom but with few results.

As a misplaced New Englander, I used to use rooster tails, spoons, 3 or 4 inch grubs in the summer. In the winter I used to ice fish (but I'll post another thread on that) and the bait was worms or maggots for panfish.

Anyone want to chime in on what their favorite lures or bodies of water are for bank fishing or wade fishing? Since I don't have a boat, other than my yak, I'm a bit confined to smaller waters and coves. I love catching the google eye. Not a fan of catfish. I'm just interested in becoming a more productive fisherman.

Right now I tend to hit either trout parks or the James, but I'd love to expand.

[aftersh0ck]

I used to finese fish only back in the late 80s and understand what you mean.

A good way is to have a rod with your smaller baits and depending how much tackle you have and if your in a boat

put on some medium and some large.

Use common sense where the bigger work and fish them.

When the fishing is hot or go to a small pond with alot of small bass and throw them on and start catching them and building confidence in what your throwing.

I brought my ultra light rods with me when I started fishing tourneys in the 90s and some of the guys

gave me sht for it. Time and place for everything.

Like above confidence in what your throwing is everything.

[Flysmallie]

Follow Eric one day and watch him chunk a big spinnerbait all day. That's all the motivation you will need.

[Gavin]

When its hot and the rivers are low & clear.......its hard to top a 5.25" Zoom Fluke in a baitfish color...rig it on a 4/0 EWG Hook...Glimmer Blue, Pearl, or Pearl with chartruese tail...1/8 or 1/4oz buzzbaits work great...but youll need a curly tail grub trailer (stinger hooks are optional)...4" walk the dog lures work great...Lucky Craft Sammy 100 in a white bellied baitfish color worked fast. I'll toss those 3 lures about 80-90% of the time during the summer months...the other 10%-20% of the time its a 4" Chomper Hula Grub, or a 4" Zoom Fat Albert in green pumkin, or green pumpkin with red flake...1/8-3/8oz weedless standup or a football head....they always catch bass when they wont eat the bigger near surface offerings....The main thing is just get out and toss them till you build confidence...leave most of your small stuff at home so you force yourself to use em. Hunt around the main sight for Al Agnew's smallmouth program....its worth an hour of you time to view it. Cheers.

[rps]

If you have a yak and are willing to use it, I suggest you do the following research. Search this forum for Al Agnew, Chief Grey Bear, Zack Hoyt, and RSBreth posts. All fish rivers and streams in this area and have posted detailed reports on the baits and methods they use. Others like Wacky Worm and Gotmuddy add material too. You will be surprised how many large fish are available on rivers and streams within an easy drive of Springfield. You will also find an enormous amount of information on the tackle they prefer and recommend. They are experts at fishing you can do from a yak in your area. I will add a start point so they can critique/supplement/or laugh.

I mostly kayak with my wife for pleasure but if I intend to fish I prefer a 5'6" or 6" baitcast rod with 8 or 10# line.

I make sure my tackle carry bag holds 4" tubes in crawfish colors, 5" senkos, black and chartreuse/blue twin spin spinner baits in 3/8 ounce size, a white buzz bait, a walk the dog top water (see my avatar), and cranks designed to run 3-5 feet (rebel crawfish) and 6-8 feet (wiggle warts). Oh, a subsurface jerk bait - either soft or hard plastic - needs to go in there.

Now, if you really want to fit in, there are other matters we can discuss. Do you like chitlins?, ever eaten squirrel?, can you smoke a pork butt?, can you play euchre?

[rps]

Left Gavin's name off. Sorry Gavin. Look how similar his list is.

[eric1978]

Follow Eric one day and watch him chunk a big spinnerbait all day. That's all the motivation you will need.

Actually, I never throw one bigger than 3/8 oz, and I prefer 1/4 or 3/16. I see no need to go heavier than that on a river, unless you wanna slow roll one in a deep hole for some reason I couldn't fathom. Also like Gavin said, flukes are magic, but I like the 4 inchers. Plastics, jigs, Sammies, Pointers, buzzbaits, cranks the size of warts...you don't have to use "big" baits, just something big enough that a bigger fish will have interest in and big enough that you won't have to pick dinks off of it all day. Nothing worse than casting in the perfect spot, catching an 8 inch fish and watching the 18 inch fish follow him to your boat.

They'll eat tiny stuff and huge stuff, too, but I tend to use "medium" sized baits.

[Jack Jones]

All good advice and suggestions. RS has been very forthcoming in teaching me about the area. I may have to invest in a baitcast outfit and learn to use it. Last time I did was twenty years ago and I birds nested the hell out of it. I guess I'll start investing in a few baits here and there to try out. Thanks guys.

[Stephen Hall]

I'm from New England too and I had a cute little tackle box with little tiny spinner-bait a couple months ago, when I got here. Caught a bunch of itsy bitsy bass and trout up there too. If someone told me use a rubber worm on a hook that looked like it could support a side of beef, while fishing in Vermont... I would have LMAO.

Now my tiny(though somewhat bigger) tackle box has a bunch of rubber worms, crayfish, squid-looking type things, caterpillar and leeches. Accompanied by great big hooks. I'm not experienced on any rivers here but that box works very well on LOTO.

[Al Agnew]

It does take a different mindset to fish bigger lures. For stream bass, I think there are optimum sizes. Go bigger than optimum and you might catch a big one now and then, but you won't catch many medium to small ones. Go smaller and like Eric said, you'll be busy unhooking sunfish and little bitty bass all day. Go optimum size and you'll catch just as many big ones or more than you would have on the bigger ones, and just as many fish as you would have with the small ones, with a better average size.

Optimum size somewhat depends upon the lure. For lures that loosely or not so loosely imitate minnows, you want 3.5 to 4.5 inch long bodies. For lures that loosely imitate crayfish, you want lures with 2-2.5 inch bodies. For spinnerbaits...well, my twin spin, rigged the way I rig it, might weigh a bit over 1/4 ounce, but with a curly tail grub on the end of it it'll be 4.5 to 5 inches long.

In special situations you might want to go a little bigger or a little smaller. In cold, clear water in the winter, go smaller. In warm, very murky water in the summer, go bigger. But in normal clarity water, which could be anywhere from 3 feet to 8 feet of visibility depending upon the stream, the optimum sizes I listed should work.