Do You Remember The First Time You Caught A Big Bass?

[IamNewbie]

I've spent an upward of almost 200 bucks on lures and always get skunked using them so I always go back to my traditional hook, sinker, float, and nightcrawler and see what I can catch. Well, yesterday, me and my father tried out a new lake and we didn't know what to expect. This lake we went to... actually isn't a new lake, just a new spot to fish on it. The lake spot we normally fish is MUDDY and I mean you can't see past a foot into the water. And it's absolutely INFESTED with Bullheads that are big and fat and juicy. Also a bunch of Dogfish at the dock/pierre we normally fished at this lake. You can only catch 2-3 sunnies if you're lucky atleast. But expect a majority of your bites to be Bullheads or C. Cats or occassionally a Dogfish. But this new spot was the back of this lake and it had about 2-3 feet of visibility, and just across the road was a lake also. They were connected by a stream and a road crossed over it like a bridge. It's hard to explain.

But we were tipped off on a spot on it and we decided to try it. Oh boy, was fun to be ensued. We caught a fish fry worth of Sunnies and we kept them for a fish fry. But I decided I was gonna try out my plastics again and I do not regret it like normal. I decided to try a pack of Rage Craws I bought and haven't tried yet so I was like "Okay something's gotta bite this." and after about 10 minutes flipflopping both lakes on both sides of the road, I suddenly hooked onto a bass on the fall of my Craw about 6 feet out in front of me and it about pulled me in, it scared me. But then I realized I just caught a bass on a lure I bought... and then Bass Fever ensued. I started freaking out calling my dad over to get the net to land the fish and it was BIG. Well big to me, I know 2 pounds is nothing to most of you forum goers, but after catching a lot of 8 inch bass and dinks... actually that's all I normally catch, it's pretty big. I've caught 3 bass that are big to me now, one pounder, a 3 pounder, and now a 2.3lber. I don't carry any scales with me so these are rough estimates.

 

This is the first one I ever caught(On nightcrawler, sadly.) It looks to be about a 1.3lber

 

This is the second one I've ever caught(Sadly.. on nightcrawler.) it was 19 inches long and I roughly estimate it to be 3 pounds.

 

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And I just caught this the other day on a Pumpkinseed Rage Craw. 15 inches, it was a chunker so I'd roughly estimate it to be 2 pounds.

 

I had massive Bass Fever and I think you can tell. I'm just a newbie bass fisherman so if you guys have better estimates, please do tell me! But do you remember the first time you caught a big bass? Any pictures you have to share? Share them!

I also have in my gallery tons of pictures of the dinks I catch. 

[RMcDuffee726]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's some of my better fish.  You have some nice catches!

[Senko lover]

My first big bass was a 2 1/2 pounder on a red Super Spot. Fun fight on a spincast combo. 

[Bass newb]

First big bass came last Tuesday, 2lb 2oz 16.5" plumper. T rig small ribbon tail watermelon worm in about 10-15 ft of murky river water. It was quite exciting pulling him up from the bottom depths and watching my line move back and forth as I reeled away.

[the reel ess]

Congrats. Keep it up with the craws. They seem to be a big fish magnets for me. "Big" is relative. You'll see. Since I'm so old now, I don't really know when I caught my first big bass. It was probably a 3-or-so pounder. I'm sure I thought it was 5 or more.

 

The real secret to catching big bass is fishing where there are some big bass.

[davecon]

I'm in Florida so I have a distinct advantage so the size is not a valid comparison. That being said, the first nice bass I caught was the very first bass I caught. Weighed six pounds. I was only six years old and that was 58 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. Can't remember what I ate for supper last night but I remember every detail of that fish.

Guess catching a nice one at such an early age gave me what you call " bass fever " and it is still an affliction.

I fish mostly for snook nowadays but still have to get my bass "fix" quite often. Guess I'm a bass fisherman at heart.

Keep up the good work but be careful, it can become a lifelong habit.

Keep in mind that there is fishing in life and the rest is just incidental details.

Go get um!

[RoLo]

Any day now.........Aaanny day   

[Bluebasser86]

You can get a cheap digital scale from Wal Mart for $20 and then you can know for sure what they weigh.

 

My first bass that I considered big was on a live crawdad next to a dock. As soon as that craw touched the water the fish boiled on it, looked like it was 10 pounds to 10yo me but the scale said 3lbs.  

[SirSnookalot]

My first bigger bass I can't remember, but I do remember my first bigger pike, which was about the same time, over 60 years ago.

 

My first tarpon was one of my more memorable catches, it wasn't big but nothing breaks water quite like a tarpon.

[clh121787]

a little over 22 years ago and I remember it very well.

[Big-O]

Congrats on your first soft plastic catch... and it's a GOOD one too!

[flyfisher]

I don't remember my first bigger bass but i always want to remember the next one  I tend to remember situations and the effort needed that resulted in a fish more than the actual fish itself but sometimes they come together.

[Josh Smith]

None of those look to be much over a pound, but they're fun to catch! Good job.

Get a scale. Mine used to tell me my bass that size were 2lbs, then I got called on it here. Checking the scale, I found it was worn out. It had been Grandpa's and was an antique.

Lately I've been going to topwater frogs. The smaller bass have a hard time eating those.

As for the first big one, no idea. Been fishing since I was two or so.

Josh

[Bankbeater]

Down at Lake of the Ozarks about 35 years ago. I caught a 4-3/4, 4-1/2, and a 3-1/2 pounder in about 15 minutes using a Rebel crankbait.

[IamNewbie]

My second picture doesn't seem to be loading so I'll just attach it here 

 

[d-camarena]

I caught my first big bass on a yum dinger, pumkin with chartreuse tip. I thought its was close to 10lbs lol it turned out to be a 5lber.

My newphew caught his first big bass last week. He caught a 4lber using a grub with a weedless exposed hook. It was priceless watching him fight the fish, he is only 5 years old. Now hes hooked on fishing and i always gotta bring him on my trips

[Kentuckysteve]

Great day fishing for you.Congrats.Thanks for sharing it.My first big bass was 35 yrs ago.I remember it well.I was using a purple worm because i had just seen Jerry Mckinnis using one on The Fishing Hole.I was fishing in a farm pond with my older brother and i thought i had got my worm hung up on the bottom when it started moving.I did'nt know anything about Drag and my brother kept yelling at me "check your drag.You dont want to loose him".As i got it closer to the bank i kept saying to myself "dont get off,dont get off".I reached down and grabbed it's lip and it tried to shake my arm off.It was about 4 lbs.At the time it was the biggest fish my brother and i  had ever seen other than on tv.When you are used to catching bluegills...that one is a monster.What a memory.

[Jar11591]

I remember the first bass that I thought was big at the time like it was yesterday. I was 4 years old fishing with my dad and I landed a bass that looked huge! I was so excited and I say to my dad: "Hey Dad! How much do you think it weights? Like 80 pounds?!?" My dad replies with a perfectly straight face: "Nah, probably about 2".  It was a HUGE disappointment to 4 year old me.

[monkeyman3dee]

My first big one (maybe about 3lbs) was on a bitsy bug jig. It was my first time fishing one to boot, my adrenaline was pumping when it first jumped out the water, when I lipped it, stared into it's eyeballs!!! 

 

 

Fun, I remember my nerves shaking/tingling, and bragging to someone walking by.

 

 

Fun fun fun.

[IamNewbie]

Oh god, my first plastic was a Yum Dinger in Junebug color... I've had absolutely no luck on that thing. 

 

But it's awesome seeing old and new timers posting their memories! I went fishing the other day and the biggest fish I caught was a 7-8 inch Yellow Perch. What a monster. (For a perch atleast.) I thought it was a little shore walleye at first because it just let my reel it in after it hit my bait. I think the term is "Dead weight". I normally catch 5-6 inch Perch or little babies. I was gonna take a picture of it but it was all bloody after being foul hooked right in the head. I'm not sure if it lived since me and my family left just as I caught it. I was sad knowing that monster of a perch in a little lake didn't live.

I'm gonna buy myself another pack of Rage Craws and I'm gonna buy a pack of Brush Hogs to try out. Last time I went out I had a few bites on a Zoom Ol' Monster Junebug and one on a Trick worm... but none ever commited besides nabbing at it over and over then going away. Sucked, but next time hopefully!

[Dwight Hottle]

I remember my first big bass very well. A buddy & I were rowboat trolling an Akron Ohio reservoir (mogadore) which did not allow any gas motors. We were actually trolling for musky. I was using a large brass june bug spinner with a single hook & a trailing night crawler because I had read that lots of muskies are caught by live bait fisherman using night crawlers. When I got hit I thought it was a musky but when it jumped I knew it was a bass. She weighed 5.25 lbs which was a really big bass for these two teenagers. That PB bass record didn't get broken until 30 some years later.

[scaleface]

First big bass I caught in in my Avatar pic. Cane pole and worm. Been hooked ever  since . Probably two maybe three lbs it may as well been an 8 lber .

[jignfule]

You can get a cheap digital scale from Wal Mart for $20 and then you can know for sure what they weigh.

 

My first bass that I considered big was on a live crawdad next to a dock. As soon as that craw touched the water the fish boiled on it, looked like it was 10 pounds to 10yo me but the scale said 3lbs.  

Yah, since I started using scales I started catching smaller fish. .

[gardnerjigman]

My first bass was in the 6 acre farm pond behind my dads house. I was using the trusty zebco 33 on an ugly stick and a #3 purple mepps. We had one side of the dam lines with old tractor tires (made for some awesome cat fishing). Occasionally you would find a tire that was out further than you thought they were with the mepps, and end up donating it to the pond. 

 

One day I jumped off the bus, ran in the front door, dropped my bag and headed out the back door with rod in hand. Went straight to the dam and launched my first cast. All of a sudden the mepps just stops. Thought for sure I was hung on a tire, even remember having a little "tantrum" as I had left the extra packages of mepps in my room. Then what I thought was a tire jumped... and It was green with scales! At the time I thought it was a 8lber. I'm sure it was pretty close to 3. lol. Man I miss the simple days sometimes.... A kid on a pond bank with a mepps or spook... not knowing how good life really is at the time. 

[Jtrout]

It was a few years ago I went to a pond my buddy knew of and all the other guys who were with just chucked out what they had I had a white chatterbait tied on and was like I'm going for that tree pile over there first cast I felt a thump then reeled it a bit felt a harder thump and set the hook on the bass in my avatar. I was using a spinning rod with the stock trailer it was around 5 lbs