Want to spark an argument without bringing up sports or politics? Tell your fishing buddy the old adage: You need big bait to catch big fish. Then stand back and watch the flurry of expletives and pros and cons fly. This debate has raged over the proverbial cracker barrel for as long as anglers have been fishing, and there may never be a “right” answer.
I’ve been ice fishing on Sebago Lake for 40 years. Every season I head to the bait shop with the same thought: if I want a double-digit lake trout, I need jumbo shiners or foot-long suckers.
Sometimes I land a big one, but more often, I get a flag — the bait dragged off but never eaten.
My assumption is always the same: a small fish must be the culprit. Yet I keep bringing the big bait, like a feisty grandmother pulling the lever at a slot machine, hoping my jackpot is just around the corner.
Decades ago, I slogged through a few fisheries biology classes at the University of Maine at Orono. I retained just enough to answer a few fish behavior Jeopardy questions and occasionally cite research to back up a point.
Most of the time, though, my attention wandered — unless we were dissecting something or studying a favorite game fish. One lesson that stuck: large fish conserve energy by hunting less and selecting larger prey.
Makes sense. But does it always work in practice?
Most of the time, big bait does not guarantee a lunker. But sometimes, it does. Sebago Lake has seen an influx of alewife from nearby stocked ponds. Smelt once dominated as baitfish, but now smelt and alewife are the primary diet for salmon and lake trout.
My guide colleague C.J. Harmon of Burnt Mountain Guide Service trolls with live bait and consistently does well. When I asked if he used smelt all season, he said he has better luck with shiners.
Two summers ago I fished with shiners all season and caught plenty of salmon and lake trout. When I switched to extra-large shiners, I caught even more fish, especially salmon.
Many of these fish were belching out large alewife six inches or longer. Using oversized shiners closely mimicked the alewife the fish were feeding on.
In other words, the old fly angler’s phrase “match the hatch” applied perfectly to bait fishing. The skinnier, shorter smelt likely would not have worked as well. In this instance, larger bait prevailed.
As I gear up for the Sebago Lake Rotary Ice Fishing Derby, I’ll still be tempted to pick up a few large suckers at Dag’s Bait Shop. But I’ll also grab a handful of small shiners, just to test the theory and improve my chances.
After 40 years on the ice, the experiment never ends.