Are we fishing for bait?

[Big Zig]

Found myself making a run to the grocery store last evening, and ended up in the magazine section (looking for this extra Crappie USA publication I've read about). They didn't have what I was looking for, but the Crappies on the front of this months In-Fisherman caught my attention. Short article on finding/fishing summertime, suspended crappie - nothing mind blowing.
But, a few pages later - laid out on a two page spread was the musky. I've been told that it takes a lot to impress me - I was impressed! The length I've seen before - typical 50 inch class fish (maybe a little longer), but the girth of that fish was incredible. After skimming through the article on crappies, I couldn't help but wonder how many panfish that were on their way to an anglers boat got "redirected" by this behemoth.
I can usually count on having a few encounters with Northern pike each year while fishing for crappie, but it is normally with the smaller 6-9" fish that these prdeators show themselves. The musky spread out before me on those laminated pages could easily dine on a 12-14" slab crappie, making me wonder - are we fishing for bait? :D

[Slab]

Yeah, Muskie get real big. And if you think about it, everything is Bait. Heck, we're only bait for bait, we're "food for worms" when we die!