The waterdogs will vary in length from 8 inches up to 10-12 inches - they are large and strong swimmers and they attract large bass and large catfish. I suppose using really large plastic worms might accomplish the same. I do know this, other than during the spawn, the large bass I catch are in deeper water (20-40 feet) while the smaller are caught in shallower water and on smaller baits. I just know that I was of the same mode of thinking that you were until I used the waterdogs and caught some nice large bass that I had never caught before. The F1's certainly are harder to catch than native. Good luck