i'm just kind of curious about others opinion on this, i'm not sure about everyone else but when i go fishing i can usually catch fish pretty regularly (now i'm not one to toot my own horn).  but i always get quantity instead of quality, other than small fish population to lunker population, what could be some other reasons for me not being able to land a good lunker.

If you are using smaller baits, sometimes with the smaller tackle you will catch more dinks. Also for big fish it takes big fish tackle such as jigs, 10" worms, creature baits, and swimbaits are just some examples to help improve size. Sometimes you are also fishing the wrong depth for big fish. In early spawn the bucks will move shallow, while the larger females will usually stay out deeper.

For more quality fish i use big soft plastics, jigs, and buzzbaits. Kreature baits are some of my fav's

I'm with Will, you're probably at the wrong depth/wrong location. There's also a possibility that the body of water doesn't hold many larger bass. I think most waters do have larger ones, but I fish a pond near home that's loaded with small bass; I've caught over 250 of them and have seen just two over 14".

Have other people caught bigger ones where you're fishing?

If you are fishing a large body of water one thing to remember is bass school with other fish of similar size so if you catch small fish move to another spot. The lunkers are territorial and will be alone.

                     Good  Luck!

                               Sinker48

a 12 inch bass can eat a 4 inch fish no problem

Could it be that the lunkers have had more time to distinguish between lures and good forage?  We talk about fish that are fished hard being hard to catch because they've seen everything you can throw at them.  Well, a lunker has had years to decide what is worth munching on and what's not gonna put calories into his body.  Try matching your lure as close to possible to the natural forage that is available to him to hit.

bass do learn to stay away from certain lures.i have seen several studies suggesting this.i couldn't tell you if it's a long term thing or not.suposedly a plastic worm is one they don't stay away from.