Big bait equals big fish.
We’ve all heard that one at some point.
Well, with largemouth bass that is an absolute fact. Biologists say the only determining factor in what a bass will eat is it’s “gape width”. In other words, if it will fit in the mouth of a bass it is a potential prey item.
Live bait is HIGHLY underrated for big bass and in some circles politically incorrect. I say however as long as you are obeying laws and returning the big bass to produce more of their kind, it doesn’t matter. In fact, live bait bass fishing can be fun.
While conducting the initial trials for my F.L.E.X. Fishing (R) system, I took our friends Rion and Cynthia Carlos to some ponds and rigged up Cynthia with a nine-inch long mullet. In this photo you can see the results. By the way, this was her second bass ever. The first was 15 minutes earlier when she caught a four pounder on a finger mullet.
Big bait does equal big bass.
Chester Moore
I also have first hand experience with big bass going after huge prey. I once caught a 13+ pound largemouth on my trot line with a 12.5 inch sand bass that hit a dead shad down its throat. After removing the sand bass and a little nursing the bass swam off no worse for wear. I was completely surprised at the time that a largemouth would go after something that large. Very cool.
Ince saw a quite large bass ‘floater’ had hit and tried to swallow a blue gill head first. It was to big to go down– spines on back and in pectoral fins had stabbed inside bass’s mouth so it could not dislodge.