My partner cast Crappie Magnet grubs last week and wasn't catching fish as well as the larger lures I was casting. The day before I found that longer lures worked better and caught nice size crappy and other panfish. Long with longer or larger lures (grubs with fatter bodies) were lures with action tails that put out more vibration.
Yesterday I caught a 1 3/4 lb bass and 10" crappie in a pond on a 3.5" Kut Tail worm rigged on a 1/24 oz jig whereas no bites on a small grub.
Anyone with similar experiences?

Big bait often equals big fish.

I have personally caught more fish using smaller baits than vice versa.

Sure there are times you want to use bigger baits.

The old saying "Match The Hatch".

For me personally 98% of the year I like going small.

The Crappie even the stuffed ones that have been gorging on Shad cant resist the small easy meal.

Small = Impulse Bite.

In the late summer when they get really funky on the bite small has been the ticket for me.

Tight Lines!!

Big bait when the shad are spawning. Small bait after the eggs hatch.

Lately all I can get bites on are tiny hair jigs, 1/64 ounce.

I get more bites on smaller jigs than larger

Sometimes. Depends when and where. Before they killed the grass and had the algae outbreak at Murvaul, a full sized jig tipped with a minnow was a killer combo for big crappie but only during the early summer months. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I use the baby Shad style jigs most of the time.

right now the minnows on most lakes are abt 3/4 to 1 inch long.. match the hatch. the small size slab bandits are a great match, also the little frogs from constant pursuit have been a great bait for spawning fish.
while fishing belton a while back, my son noticed fish chasing little frogs in the water, so he caught one, put it on, and caught a nice slab immediately. so I remembered I had some little plastic frogs I won in a contest from Lane, put one on and we have been using them regularly. I use a wide gap, 64th oz jighead with a tiny fly float. I like this set up because it doesnt make a splash when it hits the water. the float will go down very easy and the crappie cant feel the resistance of a big float. weve been using the slab bandits in meller yeller, and pink white.. and the frogs in white, chartruese, and chartruese sparkle. I like to smear a little slab slobber on the back of the frog, and of course a crappie nibble to seal the deal.
If you want to catch more fish right now use a small bait, if u want to catch bigger fish use a larger bait. you will find that large minnows may not do too well.. how the fish know this, I dont know,, but instinctively, they know
Something else u may notice, the mayflies are beginning to hatch, when this first starts, the crappie, bass, catfish, ect will go into a frenzy. fishing will be fantastic, for a few days, then it will get tough, for maybe a week. this is the time to use natural colors like the cajun cricket, texas toast slab bandit, ect. something with brown and green in it. or brown and yellow, . after the mayfly cycle, the crickets and grass hoppers will come., florescent greens, yellows, black, all good choices.

also just because its may , doesnt mean the spawn is over, certainly not here in central texas.. remember spawn is not an event , its a cycle. they dont just stop according to the human construct of time.

more times than not-smaller gets a better response than large for me. I also have days that jigs will outfish live bait-go figure!!

Yesterday morning I got on the lake at mid afternoon. I had about a dozen minnows from the evening before when I took the kiddos out. I soaked a minnow under a bobber at the first brush pile I stopped at. After about thirty minutes time, that minnow was still swimming around the pile while I landed 20 fish on a 1/16 th jig with a Bonehead stump bug. I kept a 16", 13", and an 11" off that pile and moved on. I released the rest of those minnows I had before I moved to pile #2. At the end of the day, You just got to giv'em what they want...

Size can be crucial in my opinion but a lure's action in combination with size most times matters most for fish size and quantity. Fish are attuned to object motions first and then confirm everything else visually. Thinking is for higher forms of animals; reaction bites are what I need for fish to strike.
So, when I cast confidence lures most times of year, I'm thinking, what action/size/shape - in combination will get the most fish to react and chomp down.

A friend just sent me this mop-strand lure he made and the action was unique and hopefully catch fish as good where I fish as he has experienced.

Once I catch fish with it, it's added to my list of confidence lures such as these:
The Claw:

As you can see, it's kinda bulky but fish slam it as they do this chubby body/ wide flat tail grub (lure attached to outside for my records):


On the same day, longer & tapered on a light jig caught many crappie:


...as well as a smaller flat body and tail:


The worst thing an angler can do is limit lure selection based on what fish strike according to the most prevalent prey species. All of the lures above caught fish on the same day and on the day that followed. That's all I needed to know because I lean towards fish-motivation vs fish motives.

Pre and post front can make all the difference - especially around the spawn, not to say that post-cold front conditions in spring are to be avoided. Even when water temperatures drop to the upper 50's doesn't mean fish slow down. Cold-blooded is as cold-blooded does, which is an advantage for fish when it comes to strikes or feeding activity. Being warm-blooded will probably keep me doing chores around the house until the chill wind dies down.