Good post....I always kinda questioned the small bait theory myself....that being... to "match the size of the smaller forage early in the year". Why is the forage smaller early in the year?

My thoughts are that young of the year forage would be WAY too small to interest muskies. Wouldn't young of the year forage be 1-2" max??? Would the small bait theory be refering to last years young of the year?
Would last year's young of the year (suckers, carp, shad, etc.)already be 6" or so?

I wounder if smaller baits get eaten simply because it's an easy meal that is easy to digest. I would think that muskies still mainly feed on big bait, but bigger bait takes more time and energy to digest in the cold water....and as a result they have to feed less. If they have a partially digested 12" sucker in their belly, they probably wouldn't try to eat another. But if a smaller (6") bait gives it an opportunity.....chomp!

Does this make any sense? Or am I just rambling too much due to having the winter blues/cabin fever?

Tony