So let’s argue: When it comes to fishing, does size really matter?

By Bill Prater 

One of the many great things about ultralight fishing gear is, it doesn’t matter whether your intended catch is a whopper or a smaller over-achiever. If you match your gear to the size of your intended target, you’ll get more enjoyment out of most fish encounters, get lots more bites, and won’t have to fall asleep waiting for the bite of an occasional whopper of one specific species. You’ll have a legitimate shot at darned near every type (and size)  of fish that swims in places like water-starved eastern Colorado.

Here in our little part of the fishing world, chain stores tempt us with an enormous selection of heavyweight rods, reels and baits. I contend you needn’t be tempted by a 4/0 hook fixed to giant yellow baby duck, foot-long plastic worm or imitation rat. A 1- to 2-inch soft plastic minnow or bug imitation (aided where legal with a thoughtfully chosen scent), will attract darned near every species that swims in the streams and irrigation ponds and lakes around here. 

Granted, this sage advice won’t hold water if you’re going after a giant lake trout in the high country with legends like Bernie Keefe, or if you’re a member of that secretive society of nighttime cat fishermen that prowl our shores after midnight. And darned if I can say (or really give a darn one way or another) whether it applies to walleye. But for most water and most fish I’m aware of, yes, size matters. Smaller is definitely better.  

If I were to give advice to a next generations of anglers, it would be this: “To succeed in one of the more important things in life, you don’t have to throw a lure the size of a full-grown bluegill or a stocker trout.” (Okay, sometimes that stocker trout thingie does make sense) 

Truth to tell, the older I get, the smaller the line, hook and bait I use. Granted, folks like tournament anglers who stick to the bigger stuff eventually catch big specimens of their species of choice. But crafty ultralight fishermen catch some too - while we’re also catching additional species, large and small. I’ve long been told - and once believed - that ultralight gear meant an eighth ounce or so of lead attached to a tiny hook, size 1 or size 2. Now I typically use an ultralight or medium light weight spinning rod to throw soft plastic, mostly on a 1/16th ounce jig, and much smaller if I can get away with it in this damned Colorado wind. Trout Magnet, for example, sells a terrific 1/64 oz jighead, on a size 8 hook, that works well with a 1-inch Gulp Minnow or a tiny grub sold almost exclusively as bait for crappie. 

None of this probably makes sense on the enormous fishing holes in places like Florida or Texas. Fish grow bigger and faster there, in a different climate where fish don’t have to compete for water rights with irrigation companies. Truth to tell, warm water species and trout swimming around places like eastern Colorado don’t often grow as fast or as large as we’d like. That simply means we should match our gear to our fish. And give more consideration to catch and release and selective harvest, though that’s a subject for a different day. 

Want to argue? In the words of Charles Barkley in his book about basketball and life, “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.”