pitchNbass

I was gonna say lip damage caused it to heal that way is my guess. He was injured in some way when it was little, and my guess would be some hook or perhaps it was natural, but damage for sure.

I'll make you feel better. I've never caught one over 10lbs, and I had one roughly 10-12lbs right to the boat after a minute battle horsen her with my 50lb braid, my double palomar knot pulled through the eye of my hook. I now only purchase the reaction hooks with the welded eyes when I fish my big rigs. It was a bitter sweet tho, as I actually got to see the fish I've been wanting to catch, but bitter obviously that I lost it. Honestly I couldn't believe the knot came through like that. THe only picture I got was the one I took of my knot in perfect shape to send to my best friend along with the story about the FISH I lost.

Thanks everyone. Thats not San Diego, it's in Treasure Coast, Florida. I live in San Diego, but I'm out here for work.

My GF flew in and her first day lands this! She caught it on a green pumpkin senko. She just tossed it next to a grass line and the bass crushed it on the drop like they always do with this bait. She went 6.9lbs spawned out.

Awesome! Now that is a 5lb bass. Nice Job!

I have a 175 acre lake here in Florida and it's overpopulated with bass. I've been rehabbing an injury here in FL and I get a lot of afternoons on my boat to fish. I only fish this water so it gets zero pressure. From sunrise to sunset, you can catch 100 bass. When I mentioned numbers I went on the low end . I've been on the water probably 50-60 times. Slow days are 15-20 bass that being cold fronts in Feb. Lately it's been 30-40 fish in an afternoon with off days landing closer to 100. Been in FL since Feb 1st for spring training and it's boring here other than fishing when I'm done at the field. When I say pretty good, it's because my largest fish is 7.8 and I wish I've could beat my last years PB 9.1, but the numbers put a hamper on the quality. Hope this is making sense now... I guess someone saying I'm full of it makes me a lucky man.

mine is going good,but i have to say somebody is full of it Before you open your trap, maybe you should ask me how I've caught over a thousand fish. Wouldn't that be a nicer way of going about it?

This year has been pretty good for me. I've managed six bass over 7lbs, biggest 7.8lbs. Caught about 30-40 over 5lbs. Total probably around 800-1000 bass. Maybe more.

So the lake I fish, in 3 years I've never hooked a fish other than a bass or crappie. That being said me and my buddy headed out on the water yesterday afternoon. I'm using 50lb power pro on my 7'2" jig rod with my shimano curado reel drag set to the max. Basically I've been horsen them to the boat or net with this rig. I'm working probably 12-13 feet of water with a 12" worm 5/0 straight shank with a gambler rattlin weight when I feel a bite and I set the hook. (Let me mention I caught a couple 7+lb bass on this setup just days before.) So I set this hook and immediately almost snap my wrist when this thing starts peeling out my line. I'm talking about drag pull strength that is tough for me to even muscle off my own spool. Obviously I start going crazy, because this (whatever it is) is pulling about 100 times harder than my PB. My buddy is understanding this so he's clearing rods and tackle and helping me try to bring some sort of direction to this fish. After another run, I'm wondering if this is a gator that bit my worm in 12feet of water?! I try to bring him up and I simply can't. Then it makes a incredibly quick run under the boat to head towards the grass line and pulls my 7'2" med-heavy jig rod into the water at a speed towards cover letting me know this is definitely a bass. This is when I start to really go ballistic as me and my buddy are assuming I'm hooked into a world record. Well about another 30 seconds pass in a circle around the boat, I still haven't seen this fish, as it has not even attempted to jump. I'm so confused, and just assuming it is just so massive it doesn't want to come up. Well when I finally wore it down, up through the 16" of visibility water comes a bass with a hook deep into the meat of his upper back. My buddy nets him and we both just sit down in shock. I just never felt so let down in my life. My body was shaking like the worst case of buck fever, could hardly put my words together. I didn't bother to take a pic, didn't even bother to put her on the scale, as I was honestly expecting a bass three times the size. Me and my buddy tho will never forget it. Which makes me wonder how many of you have a story like this? I think what made it so crazy was knowing it couldn't be anything other than a bass. Unfortunately I was right, just didn't expect that kind of foul hook would do such a thing. I've had foul hooked bass on cranks that were fun, but this was in a whole different category.

That bass needed to do more thinkin' and less reactin'. Its what I always say that when I catch the same fish twice, thinking about how a bass only has like a 15 minute memory. Oh yeah! Nice fish! Congrats on the PB. Now put him back in the same spot and throw that jigncraw again tomorrow.

cast a deep diving crank with sharp hook that dives about 10 feet and just work that area like crazy. make sure your digging up the ground slightly, if not use a deeper diver. Was it just the rod? no line? no reel? If not, I would think you'd be hoping to hook an eye on the rod, which might be tough, but if you catch the rod, you could lift it and drag your crank along till it catches. Good luck.

I've lost me some quality fish for all sorts of reasons, but like someone mentioned if it's my own fault I feel it more than if a bass that simply throws a well set hook or crank or one that snaps me off on some structure that I couldn't avoid. Me and my buddy were once fishing some jigs in about 20ft of water up a rocky ledge and he sets the hook and says "NICE FISH!" then snap. Few F bombs later, I hook me a good one, pull her in the boat a 8lber with my buddies jig still in her mouth too. The other day I was fishing and set the hook and snapped my 40lb power pro at my palomar knot with a heavy tube on, then about a second after hook set up comes this huge beautiful bass to throw the hook. All I could do was look and admire then tell myself to check my line more often.

I don't have a problem with guys using live bait. Whatever makes you enjoy the experience is what counts. Some people feel it's more relaxing to sit watch their pole with some live bait on the other end, maybe with a cold one in their hand. But please don't let yourself get into an argument with your friend over it. More than likely your friend won't stand up and say he's a better fisherman than you when he caught more fish on the day using live bait. I've never seen it. He's just using what will let him catch and enjoy fishing for him. There shouldn't be a debate. You can disagree with it, but frankly it shouldn't be discussed. Let those who want to use live bait do so. I've fallen in love with the art form of catching bass on artificial. It is more difficult and I get so much more enjoyment from it. But lets not hate on live bait fisherman. In all honesty, I don't see many live bait fisherman on these sort of websites anyway, because they really don't have the passion for the sport. The most passionate fisherman I've met are all artificial bait fisherman. I know some trophy fish with live bait, but I personally wouldn't want a trophy on my wall that was caught on anything that wasn't my own doing in tricking the fish to bite it.

Definitely, honest fisherman! Those are some awesome fish!

Holy Smokes! I honestly don't know anything about smallmouth bass or northern fishing period, but that seems like some unreal fun! Pretty awesome job finding the fish in that kind of water. I'm impressed.

When you catch a bunch of 1-2lb bass and hook into a 5lber it will look huge. I was gonna guess 4 1/2 lbs.

But worth it right?

Congrats! Awesome fish!!!!

I'd like to get someone who does that kind of research to help me out, but the thing is this isn't some little pond. It's 175 acres with most of the water being 30 feet deep. That is a ton of water. I imagine it would take quite some time to manage something of this size. I mean most of the lakes I fish back home in San Diego aren't even this big. Probably cost a lot of money and time to do it.

I've taken back an off scale before. Of course that was walmart, where you can take back used diapers.

Well those are some of thinnest 5+ I've caught so I guess I shouldn't be concerned. I do know the fish are a lot fatter and healthier this year than last. It's probably due to the fact I've caught so many and probably accidently kill some in the process.

Here is a healthy 7.2, but she was full of eggs. Here is a very unhealthy 5.0lb bass, but this was 2 years ago. The bass seem to be more healthier than the last 2 years.

I'll start keeping fish. I don't know if a 175 acre lake will have a fish kill, there is tons of crappie, bluegill, tilapia and what not in the lake. I mean the fish I catch still have bellies, it's not like they are starving, but they just aren't getting their full potential. I need to get a guy in a electrofishing boat and zap the little guys out. With a little management, DD bass would be routine. Here is a video of a unhealthy 7lb bass that should be a lot bigger IMO. This is one of the worst fish I thought I could give you guys a perpective. Forgive my gf's commentary, she doesn't get to see a lot of the bigger fish I catch.

Nice fish! Keep it up!