jpsdad,
LMB (and other fish) will strike for reasons other than eating. I have caught large bass on tiny lures. I don't know if they decided to "eat" a small meal that was going right past their mouth, or if they wanted to "punch" an intruder in their home - but they lacked fists.
We have also caught a 9# CC on a tiny hook with a bit of worm while fishing for BG. The CC was only landed because the curve of the hook was perfectly wrapped under the cats lower jawbone, so the fish could only exert force on the straight shank. I don't know if the large cat struck the tiny bit of worm because his whiskers could only signal "worm" without conveying the quantity of worm?
I have caught some nice LMB on small lures and flies. The largest was around 5lbs with my dad many years ago on a crappie jig. I figure the jig just fell right in front of his face and he just opened his mouth ... sucking it in by doing so. How much energy does it take to open a mouth? No more than what a crappie jig sized minnow has in it for sure! LOL. But I am always pleasantly surprised to catch >12" LMB on BG popping bugs and other small flies. I catch a few in the 16" class each year and I can tell you that they will usually inspect closely before taking which involves a gentle rise and take that just sucks the bug in. To be sure, small prey, particularly prey that are less than 1/10 the length of a
piscivorous predator are uncommonly consumed, even so, they are consumed about as often as 1/3 length laterally compressed prey which is also uncommon per multistate DOW records on realized consumption. Uncommon but both happen where each make minor contributions to the overall consumption of predators.
As for the little bait and the CC. I once caught a 9 lb rainbow on a salmon egg. Trout grow huge in the White River on sowbugs and in the Blue River on green drakes and stoneflies. We shouldn't underestimate what small food can do when it is abundant and easily consumed.
Snipe earlier mentioned that we all have seen what LMB can do when their eyes are bigger than their throats. There are risks to larger prey and I do think they are harder to handle and to get positioned so the throat teeth can begin pulling them into the gullet. BG have large spines and it seems reasonable that they can damage gills like fish hooks do. I do wonder if this might explain why LMB sometimes seem more careful to take the larger BG and the time the bait is on the hook tends to be substantially longer.
