How In The World To Catch 17Lbs Bass....twice????

[aceman387]

All 5 giant bass listed are jig fish caught between Jan to Mar, pre spawner's, that is when the girls are catchable out west.

The mount is my 19.3, the live bass photo isn't very good quality, although it's somewhere on this site.

Butch gets his bass into the boat a lot faster then I can, much heavier tackle.

These giant bass are strong and will jump occasionally. I fish with light line 10# to 14# FC with a 5 power jig rod, Daiwa TD HTSA older reels that I plan to retire this year and my own hair jigs with custom pork trailers. The depth is usually about 12' to 20' range, casting around 90' to 120', due to clear water and wary big bass. I use my reel and sweep hook set, only way to get a hook set at long distances.

Lot of hours between big bass strikes, decades on the water.

Keep attention to details, knots, hook points, line, best rods you can afford and smooth casting retrieving reels, a high quality FC line.

Don't loose focus on each cast, it can be exhausting trying to keep your concentration.

Good luck.

Tom

Have you ever thought about writing a book Tom? It would be good reading.

[Bluebasser86]

This video makes me sick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwWblafrE_w

[bigbill]

Moby Bass? You should reach down to pick up one in the twilite? I never seen a bass that big before till now. The only place I ever seen fish that big was in the saltwater.

My mentor, my older brother before he passed away always told me to stay going and sooner or later they would turn on. He never talked to me about whales.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I know Butch is a "legend" and all, I cant discount that or the fish he has caught ..... but from the videos I have seen I don't care for the attitude.

 

I had the same feeling initially too but trust me, it is/was off base. Very good dude.

 

He's humble, helpful and one hell of a stick. Not just with swimbaits either.

 

Don't forget the age old saying, "It ain't bragging if you back it up."

[Brian Needham]

Fair point Speed, and coming from I guy like you, I may very well be mistaken.  

 

I wouldn't even be classified as a novice in the swimbait world, so I defer to you.

thanks for the info.

[00 mod]

One of Tom's big bass, he will tell you which one and the story!

 

Jeff

 

[Diggy]

I think he is lathering up his swimbaits in KC Masterpiece or Sweet Baby Rays.....has to be the difference!

[SPEEDBEAD.]

^ Ah, the good ol' days.

 

I've seen a couple of Tom's pics. Legit, 100%.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Bluebasser86, that video is NUTS!!!

[WRB]

That is my 18.6 lb FLMB from Casitas back in '81. Hair jig w/ pork trailer, 12 lb Trilene XT, 4500C, Lamiglas jig rod. This bass was a pre spawner in 17' of water off a major point. Made a long cast and she ate the jig on the fall. Although it's tail was so worn, it did jumped a body length out of water...spectacular! This bass also made a run under the boat and out the other side for nearly 20 yards. I thought this bass was a world record bases on the head and shoulders until it was in the boat. Very exciting bass, old girl that had lost some weight but still had a lot of grit.

A rent boat angler took the picture as I was getting ready to release this bass and didn't get a copy until several years later, otherwise no picture of this bass.

Tom

[David P]

Check out Mike Long, he's another one of the big bass legends. He's got TWO over 20lbs! And hundreds over 10. 

 

 It takes a specific dedication, skill, knowledge, etc.

[buzzed bait]

Videos of Butch are unreal

 

Tom those numbers of yours are unreal!!  Awesome!  

[senile1]

Anglers like Butch and Tom deserve their kudos for lots of hard work to catch bass that the vast majority of us only dream about.  Most of us would be happy to catch a DD one day.  Butch catches 5 in a day.  Of course their area has more DD bass, but the majority of California fisherman aren't catching these behemoths.  These guys are elite in that regard.

[WRB]

There are a lot if dedicated trophy bass anglers around the country. California, Florida, Texas are 3 states that have or had giant bass populations, bass over 15 lbs. the bottom line is you must have giant bass populations is good numbers to be able to catch numbers of these very rare bass. You can spend a life time trying to catch a DD bass and not achieve that goal if the lakes you fish never produce bass over 10 lbs.

Fish Chris is another member of this site who consistantly caught giant bass, Big O is catching lots of DD's and just a matter of time until that elusive 15+ strikes. Big O is spending lots of time targeting big bass and that is the key; gotta fish for them where they live.

I started fishing for the world record bass back in the 50's when I read the story about George Perry's 22.25 world record from Montgomery lake, GA in 1932. The summer I graduated from high school, packed up my car and drove from California to Georgia's Montgomery lake to fish for WRB, the lake wasn't there anymore, dried up! So I fished Florida's lakes and rivers for a few weeks and learned something; summer wasn't a good time to fish for big bass and Florida had lots of bugs, snakes and alligators.

At the same time period Orville Ball was stocking Miramar and Upper Otay lakes in San Deigo with FLMB!

Returned home, went back to school and keep fishing for that world record bass, came close and believe I had potential fish hooked, just didn't put one in the boat....still trying for a 20+!

Tom

[00 mod]

Big O is catching lots of DD's and just a matter of time until that elusive 15+ strikes. Big O is spending lots of time targeting big bass and that is the key; gotta fish for them where they live.

 

 

 

I am not 100%, but I think Big-O has one over 15.  Hopefully he will chime in here.....

 

Jeff

[WRB]

I am not 100%, but I think Big-O has one over 15. Hopefully he will chime in here.....

Jeff

Jeff, thank you for posting that ugly photo.

I am going by the statement made in rigging RsgeTail Thumper worms; my Pb is 14+ lbs.

Like to read Big O's commits, he is a good big bass man and can give some good advice to those trying to catch these giant bass.

Tom

PS, that's a giant smallie in your a avatar, details?

[RNSkeeter]

All 5 giant bass listed are jig fish caught between Jan to Mar, pre spawner's, that is when the girls are catchable out west.

The mount is my 19.3, the live bass photo isn't very good quality, although it's somewhere on this site.

Butch gets his bass into the boat a lot faster then I can, much heavier tackle.

These giant bass are strong and will jump occasionally. I fish with light line 10# to 14# FC with a 5 power jig rod, Daiwa TD HTSA older reels that I plan to retire this year and my own hair jigs with custom pork trailers. The depth is usually about 12' to 20' range, casting around 90' to 120', due to clear water and wary big bass. I use my reel and sweep hook set, only way to get a hook set at long distances.

Lot of hours between big bass strikes, decades on the water.

Keep attention to details, knots, hook points, line, best rods you can afford and smooth casting retrieving reels, a high quality FC line.

Don't loose focus on each cast, it can be exhausting trying to keep your concentration.

Good luck.

Tom

 

When you are catching these fish, do you KNOW they are down there when you're fishing for them? IE do you find 'em on the sonar? Or do you KNOW the spot has big fish, and you just happen to hit a DD on that particular day? Just wondering to what level of specific intention are you fishing for a DD and do you think it requires specifically fishing for them to get 'em.

[bgraham91]

Butch Brown's PB is 19.3 lbs to the best of my knowledge.

My top 5 are;

17.4 Casitac

17.4 Castas

17.6 Castiac

18.6 Casitas

19.3 Castaic

Butch catches close to a100 DD's a year, since 2000 and I am lucky to 5 a year since 1995. Next time I talk to Butch will ask him how many 17+ he had caught, my guess a lot more than I have!

Tom

I'm coming next March for guide lol. Congrats on the nice fish.

[J Francho]

When you are catching these fish, do you KNOW they are down there when you're fishing for them? IE do you find 'em on the sonar? Or do you KNOW the spot has big fish, and you just happen to hit a DD on that particular day? Just wondering to what level of specific intention are you fishing for a DD and do you think it requires specifically fishing for them to get 'em.

 

Bill Murphy's Pursuit of Giant Bass book would be an excellent primer in learning what is different about the very largest fish in a particular lake.  I know one of the bigest things I key on on are structure that SHOULD hold fish, but I very infrequently catch on.  Big bass are territorial, and feed rarely.  So you are basically hauling wate while fishing them.  I know Tom believes, as pointed out in his "Misconceptions" thread, that some fish can only be caught during the prespawn or spawn.  I tend to agree, but this doesn't discourage me from continuing to work these spots.  A few have succumbed to the lure of the jig and the swimbait.....

[J Francho]

PS, that's a giant smallie in your a avatar, details?

 

I think that's one of my fish.....Jeff just superimposed his ugly mutt face over mine, lol.

[WRB]

When you are catching these fish, do you KNOW they are down there when you're fishing for them? IE do you find 'em on the sonar? Or do you KNOW the spot has big fish, and you just happen to hit a DD on that particular day? Just wondering to what level of specific intention are you fishing for a DD and do you think it requires specifically fishing for them to get 'em.

Giant bass are top predators where they live and tend to repeat feeding habits and locations seasonally. Like must predators they are dominate where I fish, unless the lake is shared with striped bass. Casitas doesn't have stripers, Castaic now has stripers, but not when I was catching giants there. This is important because you need to know what fish is dominate, allowing the bass to go where ever it wants to go. With practice you can look at a good topo map and have a good idea where pre spawner's and spawner's will be located based on the type of lake and prey available.

To answer your question, I always approach a spot thinking there is big bass in the area. This means you do not want to alert the fish to your presence or spook them, they can be very wary, a learned response is they stop feeding and move into deeper water. Slow down a approach with stealth, like you are stocking a trophy animal, because you are!

I try to visualize the bass looking for prey, then present my lure to mimic that prey anticipating the strike. If anything feels odd, I crank the reel a few turns quickly and set the hook if there is any resistance. This is my normal approach to high % locations, I only meter the area with sonar after I have fished the spot to determine if any bass are there or suspended nearby. If I meter bass, then I return anywhere from a few minutes or hours depending on what I metered. I usually have a milk run of known spots and fish each one with the same approach, if knowone is fishing the spot.

Keep in mind these lakes are small and high pressured by knowledgable bass anglers, often a few pros. There are very few secrets today, so you just blank out the other boats and keep focused. Bad weather is your freind during pre spawn, it keeps a lot of anglers off the water and quites down the ecosystem. Fewer boats increases your odds and the bass tend to stay active for longer time periods.

Every giant bass that I have caught wasn't a loner, it was feeding with other big bass, unlike the popular thinking big bas are loners. If you catch a big bass, keep fishing!

Tom

[SPEEDBEAD.]

<----Taking notes.

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain in such detail.

[J Francho]

Tom....stupid question time....

 

What about lakes where bass are NOT the top predator?  What happens when species that commonly intersect a bass's like musky and northerns?

[WRB]

Tom....stupid question time....

What about lakes where bass are NOT the top predator? What happens when species that commonly intersect a bass's like musky and northerns?

My first experience with lakes that had both pike and muskies was Lake of The Woods in Ontaario.. Being a bass angler I found the big muskies where big bass should be located, musky was the top dog there. The pike tend to be more od a school fish and roamed around more, however also used the prime outside weed edges, reefs, points and island ends where wind current or raising or flailing water levels tended to stack up the baitfish. The locals didn't think Lake of the Woods had any big LMB, only rarely caught any, mostly Smallmouths. I started to see some LMB along the inside weed breaks, open water between the weed beds and shoreline in shallow water. I caught several 4 to 6 lb LMB with soft plastic worms T-rigged along the inside weed breaks, knowone was fishing for them!

Striped bass are school feeders and faster than LMB and also tend to take over the best feeding zones. If lakes have stripers, the big bass tend to be tighter structure or cover. The bass will mix in with stripers feeding on big schools of baitfish, but they have a hard time competing with a school of big stripers.

Tom

[bigbill]

I caught large chain pickerel like 29" to 32" where I have caught DD bass plus big salmon too. Like I said before these small places get the winter runoff from larger lakes. I'm not sure how big our bass can be up in the northeast but I'm convinced in what I have caught and what swims by me at the drop offs like they own the place. I didn't think

about catching nor targeting no bass till I pulled up my little 10lber. She had a mouth that made me happy I wasn't a small duck on the water. I just go to fish now in the same spots if a bigger one bites so be it. I still believe in what I'm seeing and caught in the bigger bass, that we have bigger bass across our country and there not being caught or targeted. It was on my fishing frenzy of fishing 24/7 non stop every early am.

You need to be motivated and decaded to bass fishing. I eat and sleep bass fishing when I'm in my frenzy, that means no TV and bed early. Just stay going and fish hard.

My hats off to the fisherman who catch the bigger ones too. I know the hard work it takes and the dedication you put in.

Like I said before the smaller bass aren't keeping the bass population up its these bigger gals who are making the millions of bass fry and I hope they grow up to be like mommy too only bigger.

Just stay fishing no matter where you live in any pond or lake just stay going as much as you can. Bigbill