Monster Tactics

[HoosierHawgs]

What are your guys go to when fishing for Wall Hangers? I'm usually a numbers guy, but wanted to know what you guys fish with when hunting for some Hawgs?

[Brayberry]

Thick Cover with Jigs

Isolated cover on points

Bigger Baits for Bigger Fish

 

A few off the top of my head

[scaleface]

One of the things I do in summer is fish deep flats . I watch the depth finder for where the thermocline is , the most fish activity and just fish that depth with a variety  of baits .  Night fishing those flats produce big fish shallow , so I back off and hunt  deep during the day .

[Senko lover]

Jigs, buzzbaits, and big worms!

[WRB]

I always fish for big bass and target them with jigs, big worms, swimbaits and deep crankbaits.

You need to fish for big bass where they are located to catch them.

Read Bill Murphy's In Pursuit of Giant Bass for starters.

Tom

[A-Jay]

It's not so much what I fish but where . . . . .

 

A-Jay

[Catt]

It's not so much what I fish but where . . . . .

A-Jay

X2

[the reel ess]

I go to a place I know they are and occasionally catch a big one even when not specifically targeting big 'uns. Fish in winter. Pound the bank during spawn. Fish early and late...even nighttime in the summer.

 

But my wife told me if I got wallhangers mounted I would have to build a shop to put my trophies in. That's cool and all. But I don't have the $$$ for that yet. So I haven't kept any trophies, or even a bass over 3#, in the last 12 years.  It seems counter-productive to take a big bass out of the water where I want to catch big bass. The odds are too stacked against bass growing to trophy size. Plus it's very disrespectful to a landowner to do so. I just take pics and release.

[CRANKENSTIEN]

Big bait, big fish.  It has worked for me, although I've been told many times. Big bait, no fish..   That can be true as well.   I like big worms and big cranks when I am ok with less numbers, but quality fish.  You have to be where big fish are.  In my local waters over 6 lbs is rare and a picture of them even rarer.  

[Topwaterspook]

I agree with the bigger baits theory. A largemouth  bass will eat something 1/3 it's own length.

[Catt]

I agree with the bigger baits theory. A largemouth bass will eat something 1/3 it's own length.

And yet a Jig-n-Craw accounts far more big bass at only 3"!

[Snakehead Whisperer]

In my mind location is key, what bait I'm throwing is secondary at best. I'm usually trying to match the size of whatever the natural forage is, and at this time of year it's usually 4" or less. 

 

Caught most of my big fish on small finesse baits that were less than 5", like a dropshot or a jig and grub. 17lb. snakehead in my avatar pic was caught on a 3" Havoc Sick Fish on a dropshot. 

 

It is kind of difficult to argue with the results that the guys who throw big swimbaits achieve, though. 

[the reel ess]

And yet a Jig-n-Craw accounts far more big bass at only 3"!

I read of a study that showed bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill 9:1. Make of that what you will. 

[RSM789]

I read of a study that showed bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill 9:1. Make of that what you will. 

 

I must have misread that study because I could have sworn it said that 4 out of every 5 bass prefer Trident for their forage that chews gum...

[Bluebasser86]

It's not so much what I fish but where . . . . .

 

A-Jay

True story. You can fish a foot long swimbait until your arm falls off but if don't throw it where the big ones live you'll never catch them. 

 

I do have my favorite baits for targeting bigger fish though. Along with swimbaits I also like to fish jigs and bladed jigs. A good portion of my big fish each year fall for one of those 2 baits. 

[shanksmare]

I read of a study that showed bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill 9:1. Make of that what you will. 

Way back in the mid 1970's, the Massachusetts F&G Dept used supervise tournament weigh-ins and  pump the stomachs of the bass caught. They stopped pumping the stomachs when they found out that 90% of the stomach contents consisted of crawfish.

 

Here in Florida golden shiners and big bass go together like peanut butter and jelly.

[the reel ess]

Way back in the mid 1970's, the Massachusetts F&G Dept used supervise tournament weigh-ins and  pump the stomachs of the bass caught. They stopped pumping the stomachs when they found out that 90% of the stomach contents consisted of crawfish.

 

Here in Florida golden shiners and big bass go together like peanut butter and jelly.

 

^{Way back in the mid 1970's, the Massachusetts F&G Dept used supervise tournament weigh-ins and  pump the stomachs of the bass caught. They stopped pumping the stomachs when they found out that 90% of the stomach contents consisted of crawfish.}

 

^{Here in Florida golden shiners and big bass go together like peanut butter and jelly.}

 

^{Where I fish the most has medium to big shiners. My buddy who has been fishing that place for a decade told me imitate those and that's how you catch them. And he was right. But sometimes the bite slowed because they aren't chasing, and I'd grab a craw imitating plastic or crank and keep going with some success. He said he never knew there were crawfish in that water because he'd never seen one. I told him what a tourney fisherman told me. There's crawfish in all water, even if there aren't bass. So if there are bass, there are craws. Since I learned that I've probably fished a craw more than a worm when the bite slowed.}

[the reel ess]

Most people don't WANT to fish exclusively for monster bass because bites from them are few and far between. And large bass are usually loners. So we look for small fish techniques that will get the occasional big bite because we want to keep catching even when the big bite won't come. I fall into this category. It takes a lot of dedication to go out 3 times for maybe 2 bites.

 

I heard Jimmy Houston say recently to enjoy the small fish because every small fish you catch is just another on your path to the next BIG FISH.

[rippin-lips]

Location,bottom structure, and cover.

I'll second the "In pursuit of giant bass" book.

There's a ton of good info to be taken from it.

[Dogmatic]

Find the spot on the spot, and I throw swimbaits, big cranks, big spoons, big plastics.

[HoosierHawgs]

And yet a Jig-n-Craw accounts far more big bass at only 3"!

Sorry to bring this up so late, but I was just messing with some jigs... You've got to think that even at only 3" the Jig represents a BIG MEAL... The skirt flares and claws float making it look much larger than just it's length. Also, they are easy to eat... It's like a Super Size Value Meal for a bass.

[Matthew2000]

I read of a study that showed bass in captivity preferred crawfish to bluegill 9:1. Make of that what you will.

Oh controlled expirements.

[tnt2671]

the majority of my bigger fish seem to come on jigs ,frogs and t rigged soft plastics, i do enjoy and fish a lot with hard baits which catch good numbers but the bigger fish almost always come on the three listed 

[bankguy315]

Big swimbaits early and late in the year, and large profile jig.

[Fin Stalker]

True story. You can fish a foot long swimbait until your arm falls off but if don't throw it where the big ones live you'll never catch them. 

 

I do have my favorite baits for targeting bigger fish though. Along with swimbaits I also like to fish jigs and bladed jigs. A good portion of my big fish each year fall for one of those 2 baits. 

This^ plus big stick baits. In the last 3yrs with the exception of some fish I caught on toads last summer all of my best fish have come from fishing those four type of baits.

Jigs/swim jigs, bladed jigs, swimbaits and big stick baits. My standing best fish was caught on an 8" BBZ Floater.