Good post. Good questions.
Here in Montana tailwater fishing is different than every where else.
The fish seem to want itty bitty bugs longer (bigger older fish still
want to eat bugs)
and they get hammered, so you have to proceed slowly, with stealth.

But those same fish will still hit spinning lures and big stearmers,
especially on cloudy days. Stuff that stinks always works. Although
I must say I think bait fishing can be tough on bright sunny days too.
At least that's what I gather from bait fishing gossip. Haven't
actually
fished with bait in a long time.

So maybe these have to be seen as different behavior patterns.
Chasing a spoon is different response that eating invertibrate drift.
So it cannot be compared. In the invertibrate drift context, a #22
zebra midge (in a tailwater) is more spot on than a #14 fuzzball.

I read in a academic fisheries paper, published by a post doc PHD
at the Florida Marine Institute, that big bonefish graduate from small
crustacea to eating mostly Toadfish (like sal****er sculpins) over a
certain
size threshold. Large shrimp flies don't work as well as smaller ones
sometimes.
But guys who toss 4 and 5" jig head twister tails sometimes catch a
half
a dozen bonefish an hour. So.....even bonefish prefer small and big,
but don't like medium.