waynem Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 There was a recent thread titled Confidence. SU member Topwater made some good points in his post and one of them concerned downsizing. His comment was "The idea of downsizing is bunk in my opinion." I'd like to see what other members here think about this. For myself I can only think of 3 trips where downsizing swimbaits really worked. Two were very late fall when the water temperatures were in the 30s and the only way I could scratch out a couple of fish was on 6" triple trouts or 6" BBZs. The bigger versions of these same baits would not get a sniff. The other time a friend and I were on a really good big rat/9" slammer bite and when the bite tapered off I was able to get quite a few more fish dropping down to a small Rago generic rat. But those are the only trips it really seemed to work. On the other hand I can think of many ore trips where the small & medium sized baits did not work AT ALL but going up to big stuff put some fish in the boat. Generally something like moving up from a Deps 175 to a 250 size. And I'm talking about times when the medium versions would not even produce a follow, but the fish would react to a much bigger bait. In these cases either I or my partner continued to take some casts with smaller or bigger baits, so its not that the fish just turned on. It was definitely a case of fish preferring the downsized or upsized baits. And again my experience has been that when the going gets tough, going up rather than down in size is more effective. I'd like to hear what other guys have found. bigpoppabass, aesoprocks247, innova and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamsaaron5280 Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 Whatever they are biting man. If that means up sizing or downsizing. Can't let the big bait/small bait ego get in the way. Let the fish talk, adapt, get em. surfk9, mcaetano2905, asavamedhi and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjw2121 Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 match the hatch... mcaetano2905 and bigpoppabass 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 My natural tendency is to downsize...but I don't have any big big baits currently, so I like to start with my biggest (around 9") and work my way down from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcaetano2905 Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 match the hatch... I agree with that. If you are fishing a swimbait and bass aren't hitting it try to know what size prey big bass are eating at that time (usually it's the most abundant and easier to catch prey, specially near the place where bass rest). Just fish the size of the prey bass are eating. You may have to either downsize or upsize to match the hatch. If that doesn't work just experiment. bigpoppabass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppabass Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 (edited) I tend to marry SBS to certain rod and reel rigs (hudds, slammers) so space becomes an issue on my boat. I will leave big rigs at home especially if I am fishing with a non sb thrower. Instead I will bring a rig that can throw a couple of different smaller baits.....But in my experience it is hard to find a jr model that fishes as well as the senior model. Small slammers, monster jacks, buzzjets, megabass vision 110s, and Matt's hard gills, have never given me confidence that their bigger models do...The exception for me has been a baby wake and I can throw that on my buzzjet and hardgill rig. I am also excited about hudd 68s but they are mostly on deck for me at this point, but I do like what I have seen with em. The baby wake and hudd 68s are a forage perch strategy, cuz there are alot of them that size in area lakes. Edited February 21, 2017 by bigpoppabass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MA Frog Man Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 I think downsizing is a tournament mentality that so many guys think it's the only way to catch fish. When most fishermen talk about downsizing they're taking about going from a 6" senko to a 4" to catch a12" fish and limit out. When most guys are downsizing I'm usually upsizing. I find a during the middle of the day is when the bigger bites come, but it's also considered a tougher time to fish than the morning/late afternoon so guys will downsize towards the middle of the day. One 6 pound fish beats 5 one pounders though. bigpoppabass and waynem 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceaser Posted February 21, 2017 Report Share Posted February 21, 2017 I have both scenarios play out. Had to downsize and upsize at times to get bites. Im lucky enough to fish alot so its not a guessing game each time but i have seen a switch from a 6.5" hollow belly to a 5.5" make a difference in no bites on the bigger one then hit multiple fish over 6-8lbs on the small one. Also had times ive been throwing my huge rat and i catch 30+ while my buddy in the back cant get a sniff on anything that was smaller mcaetano2905, willsochill and aesoprocks247 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppabass Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Years ago I began to stockpile creeper crawler lures made by Lloyd findling of hi fin tackle. He is no longer in biz and was having some health issues etc. He made a small bass creeper and a musky sized creeper. He began to do customs for me and almost fed my big order being surprised I used the musky sized model for bass. Lol I was lucky to chat with him by phone about my order. To this day, the musky sized one is too small imo...I still give the smaller bass model to newbies who night fish with me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynem Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Maybe I could have made this clearer. I wasn't asking about whether big baits are better than small baits or anything like that. My question applies to these specific situations: A) You've been on a bite and it dies off. or You get out on the water and after 2 hours you have not had a single tap, follow, swirl, etc. Completely dead. If you were fishing Senkos, jigs, crankbaits, etc the approach that is recommended is to downsize. I've fished plenty of pre-swimbait tournaments and I would agree that downsizing is definitely the first thing to do with those baits- try to finesse up a few fish. However, at least in my experience, swimbaits are the opposite. Especially on the days that start off completely dead going smaller usually doesn't seem to do much to help, but going up to a really big bait will get some interest from the fish. Its as if the bass are not at all interested in eating unless the opportunity for a really big meal appears. Just wanted to see if others have witnessed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppabass Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I go home when its dead unless I know front is coming or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakevlastnik Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Shake a worm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynem Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I go home when its dead unless I know front is coming or something like that. Nah, I'm generally way too stubborn to go home. Sometimes I can figure something out, sometimes not. If you fish the bigger tournaments you find that even on a really dead day one guy comes in with a big bag. So you just try to be that guy. I'd get bored if every day was easy. SpaceGhost 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhornet Posted February 23, 2017 Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 (edited) I've had similar observations waynem. I can usually get at least 1 nip/bite by going up in size(10 inch baits) no matter how tough. That being said for me a 10 inch bait seems to be the magic number. The difference between jumping from a 10" and a 12" bait for me amounts to me just chucking 4 extra ounces all day. These are just my observations. Going up in size seems to get more reactions. I'll admit to "riding the moped" occasionally. Sometimes I just want to whack um and stack um and I go on the dink hunt. Go home if you like but you cant hit a homerun if your not out there swinging the bat Edited February 23, 2017 by greenhornet waynem 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.