Does fishing with a big bait really matter in catching big fish? Or is placement of the bait the key factor?

As a minimum, it reduces the ammount of dinks you catch and gives the big fish a chance to get at the bait.

Placement is important because if there are no big fish around it'll be hard to get them to bite, stating the obvious.

ive caught 5lbrs with 12 inch worms and ive caught fish that were smaller than the worm i think its more a matter if they are there or not

That is my point!! Placement IMO is the only thing that matters.

plus 1

Of course placement is important but not all that matters, I have been fishing before and cathing alot of fish just nothing big then changed lure sizes or something about my presentation and started catching better quality fish

gotta put that big bait in front of a big fish

Depends on fish mood. During spawn I like a large bait because I want the fish to be annoyed. I want him to see it and be bothered. When it gets hot I have done well done sizing. Way down. Like a 2 inch senko and a split shot. Got bites doing that when could not get them to touch anything else. JMHO

I think it depends more on the time of year and the fishes mood. I've caught 5+lbers on 4" worms and I've caught fish that couldn't even get the entire bait in their mouth on larger lures. You've got to know where and what holds the larger fish because if your catching nothing but dinks you either need to move out or try a different presentation. Becuase the big ones are there you've just got to differentiate the pattern.

Of course SIZE MATTERS! Havent you seen the commercials! Lol

At Falcon bigger is always better.

+1 Done it on many lakes... and caught more big fish on a shakey head than a 1 once jig...

if im using a 1oz jig and a huge gene larew craw trailer,and a dd22 on the other, scoreboard= BIG
I'm catching more hawgs than you, period.

Day in and day out bigger baits will have a bigger fish average than smaller baits. Small fish will eat a bigger bait. Bigger fish will eat a small bait, sometimes they prefer it. But if you average out your catch, smaller baits will catch you more fish but they will average out to be smaller. Bigger baits will catch you fewer fish but will average out to be larger.

One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Davis. "Fish the right bait in the wrong location you have no chance of catching a fish. Fish the wrong bait in the right location and you have a pretty good chance of catching a few fish". Location is more important that the bait because you can't catch a fish if you are fishing where there are none. But the bait can make all the difference, and there are times when fishing the wrong bait in the right location and you will go right by the fish.

Seems like big fish always puke up big baits in the livewell.