Did You Land the Largest Bass You Ever Hooked?

[OCdockskipper]

For me, the answer recently changed from Yes to Maybe.

 

I have landed 5 largemouth over 7.5 lbs, by the time they reach that size, their heads are noticeably different (larger).  I had hooked & lost fish in the 4 to 5 lb range, but never lost one that made your jaw drop when they broke the water.  My luck with landing any fish that possibly could break my PB is most likely rooted in that 98% of my fishing is on a lake with very little cover that the big ones can break you off on.  That was until last month when I made a trip back east, the first leg which landed me in Georgia.

 

I was lucky to get a chance to fish two small private lakes, both about 5 acres.  The first one was heavily wooded, so I was using 65lb braid to horse the fish out of cover.  The 2nd one had much less timber and I was told by the owner that it wasn't fished much & that the bass in it were stunted.  Therefore, my first cast was with a ZMan TRD, which resulted in an 11" bass.  Got bit on the 2nd cast, but missed him, caught replicas of the 1st fish on the 3rd & 4th cast.  I had 8 lb line on so the smaller fish still put up a fun fight.  My 5th cast resulted in bite, I set the hook and it barely budged.  My first thought was "Please be a bass" and about 10 seconds later, she wallowed up to the surface proving she was.  Her head was every bit as big as any of my previous big fish, but I didn't get a good look at her frame.  I continued the fight, but she decided to head over to the only log in the water within 40 feet.  I couldn't stop her, she peeled off drag and got there.  I was fishing from shore, so my options were limited, I kept pressure on her & tried to guide her out.  She finally ended up breaking off my leader against the wood, so I never found out if she was over that 8lb 6oz mark that is my PB.  I fished that lake an hour more that day and for about 90 minutes the next day, landing over 40 bass & a dozen bluegill the size of ones face, but no hawgs.  She was definitely "Queen of the Pond" & now she has a TRD as a lip ring.

 

So what is your answer to the question,Yes, No or Maybe?

[Dwight Hottle]

My answer would have to be maybe. I have lost several bass both largemouth & smallmouth that I have never seen but knew they were big fish by the sheer weight and the way they fought. All of them left me with a bad taste in my mouth and the desire to keep on fishing. 

[Catt]

Nope

 

Been wrapped up, broken off, & had to cut braid!

 

Love it when I set hook & they set hook back!

Edited April 9, 2017 by Catt
Operator error

[the reel ess]

No. It went under the boat and straightened out a hook. Strongest bass I ever hooked by far. 

[WRB]

No! Lost 2 bass that were over 20 lbs judging from the length and girth over 30" long and wide body. Clearly got a good look at the 2nd giant I lost a Castaic in '94 back seating from a friends boat who got excited and forgot to run the TM out into deep water. The big girl was about 6' from the boat, she made a hard run over a ridge we had drifted too close too, broke the line instantly.

The 1st was at Lower Otay in the late 70's and I didn't see this fish, the angler in a anchored boat fishing crawdads did see it and almost netted it tangled in his anchor rope, it broke off. 

The big ones sometime don't get away but both these did......

Tom

[OCdockskipper]

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

No... I didn't see this fish, the angler in a anchored boat fishing crawdads did see it and almost netted it tangled in his anchor rope, it broke off. 

 

I would think that angler probably felt as bad about it as you.  Having a chance to net a fish like that for someone else and then having it break off must have left him crushed.

 

By chance, did you know him prior to this encounter?  Was it a one time encounter with him or do you two know each other now?

[scaleface]

I cast a jig n pig over a   log , felt a hit  , set the hook and had a big  one on . I already had her turned so I reared back on her and she come out of the water . In mid air I pulled her over the log and she got off . I''m pretty sure it was bigger than anything I have caught to date . I had a deep one snap my line last summer . It might have been some other species but it was like setting the hook on a log .

[WRB]

20 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

 

I would think that angler probably felt as bad about it as you.  Having a chance to net a fish like that for someone else and then having it break off must have left him crushed.

 

By chance, did you know him prior to this encounter?  Was it a one time encounter with him or do you two know each other now?

His name Ron Hugget and worked at a local bait shop, everyone knew Ron at Otay. He tried and was a good judge of bass size, he caught a lot big fish at Otay and couldn't get over how big this bass was. Wasn't his fault the bass ran under the anchor line, it was me who hooked the bass and didn't control it.

The Otay bass I didn't get a good look at, the Castaic bass is the one that keeps me up night!

Tom

[biggiesmalls]

As of now, I have landed the biggest bass I have ever hooked. He was a 6.5, I'll admit I "cheated" a bit and got him on a live bluegill - although I didn't know he was there, and I was dropping them on a ML spinning setup to catch some giant sunfish and smaller bass, since I got tired of throwing frogs at the *** pounders. 

 

I was standing on a big concrete pipe, as soon as he saw that bait struggling in the water he darted out, grabbed it, headed for the other side of the pond, and then ran back into the pipe as far as he could before I horsed him back out. That was probably the closest I have come to having a fish break a rod. 

 

A buddy of mine said he's seen a 10+ moving around in the pond in front of his house - I might just have to head out with a snake or a big worm and see if I can't snag him

[RoLo]

 

Not even close!

 

One day I lost a 17-lb 15-oz bass right next to the boat

It's good I didn't boat her though, because then I'd know what she REALLY weighed   

 

Roger

 

 

[Airman4754]

No. I lost a double digit fish in a shallow, weedy, heavily trout planted lake off shore. When I saw it swim by the boat I panicked and loosened my drag. I thought it would break my 10lb fluoro leader. It wouldn't have.

 

Took me down to the bottom and wrapped me into something in about 8' of water.

[RMax]

If the monster of the Delaware was a bass, then no.

Otherwise, yes!

[Raul]

How can you know it was the largest if you didn't land it ? 

[OCdockskipper]

19 minutes ago, Raul said:

How can you know it was the largest if you didn't land it ? 

 

That is where the Maybe comes in.  Sometimes you can't know.

 

However, in many cases, depending on what ones PB is, it is easy to know if a fish you have on and get a good look at is larger or smaller than that.  For me, until last month, I had never hooked, seen & lost a fish that was in the 7-8 lb class or bigger.  All of my lost fish were definitely pounds less than that.  Conversely, I also knew my first 8 lb fish was bigger than my PB at that time before I got her in the boat; she was in a completely different class than any other bass I had caught up until that time.

 

Now I am in the Maybe category.  The lost Georgia fish may have had a big head & been skinny, not eclipsing my PB or she may have been a full bodied female, full of roe topping the DD category.  Heck, that fish may have even been a relative of George Perry's fish and a new World Record to boot...but for now, she is just a Maybe.

 

[newriverfisherman1953]

Nope!  Every single one I loose is the biggest one I ever hooked!!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

[WRB]

All the giant bass that I have been blessed to put in the boat and weigh didn't look as big as they actually were. When you clearly see a bass that looks a lot bigger in the water than any other bass you have caught.....you know.

Tom

[Raul]

36 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

 

That is where the Maybe comes in.  Sometimes you can't know.

 

However, in many cases, depending on what ones PB is, it is easy to know if a fish you have on and get a good look at is larger or smaller than that.  For me, until last month, I had never hooked, seen & lost a fish that was in the 7-8 lb class or bigger.  All of my lost fish were definitely pounds less than that.  Conversely, I also knew my first 8 lb fish was bigger than my PB at that time before I got her in the boat; she was in a completely different class than any other bass I had caught up until that time.

 

Now I am in the Maybe category.  The lost Georgia fish may have had a big head & been skinny, not eclipsing my PB or she may have been a full bodied female, full of roe topping the DD category.  Heck, that fish may have even been a relative of George Perry's fish and a new World Record to boot...but for now, she is just a Maybe.

 

 

MAYBE ---- > DON'T COUNT.

[Deleted account]

Yes, but lost wife's PB at the boat, probably a shade under 7. Her biggest is 5 1/2. She didn't really mind, it bothered me to no end. I have lost some tanks (there is this 8 or 9 lber that I've lost three consecutive years in the same spot. It's weird, sometimes I mind loosing a fish, and sometimes I don't, and it really doesn't have to do with the size.

[A5BLASTER]

For me it would be a big NOOOO.

 

This year it happened at the island's next to North Toledo Bend park in early January.

 

Was fishing a hump with a Crig baited with a 8inch zoom lizard in watermelon red, felt the hit and it didn't feel like a big fish, reeled down and set the hook and the rod nearly came out my hands when she jerked back and took off running away from me.

 

We did battle for a few, she made several good runs then I got her turned and coming up, she came up a few feet from the boat on her side and I could tell she would have been very much bigger then my PB of 9.14, went to get the net and she went to jumping and next thing I know my hook and wait hit me when she throw it.

 

Backtrack to the previous year only this time closer to my house at 1:40 in the morning full moon fishing a grass flat with a ribbet frog, soon as the frog broke free from the grass I saw the biggest explosion on a frog I have ever seen, reeled down counted too two felt her and did everything I could to cross her eyes when I set the hook, it was the hardest pulling bass I have ever felt even till today, got her close to the boat she was jumping and splashing about my freind went to net her so I thought, he reaches down to lip her and miss's the fish she went down and ran my line against the prop of the motor and go away.

 

Won't put a weight guess on either of those two bass but I'm confident enough to know they were well past the ten pound mark.

[IndianaFinesse]

Maybe.

[A-Jay]

Yes ~ I'm 4 for 4 on Trophies ~

A-Jay

 

[JBradley500]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

No! Lost 2 bass that were over 20 lbs judging from the length and girth over 30" long and wide body. Clearly got a good look at the 2nd giant I lost a Castaic in '94 back seating from a friends boat who got excited and forgot to run the TM out into deep water. The big girl was about 6' from the boat, she made a hard run over a ridge we had drifted too close too, broke the line instantly.

The 1st was at Lower Otay in the late 70's and I didn't see this fish, the angler in a anchored boat fishing crawdads did see it and almost netted it tangled in his anchor rope, it broke off. 

The big ones sometime don't get away but both these did......

Tom

 

Just curious, but do you remember what line you were using those times? I couldn't imagine trying to work a 20lber on anything short of 50lb modern braid 

 

[everythingthatswims]

Yes. The fish that (measurements-wise) was probably over the 10lb mark that I caught last February was definitely the biggest bass I have ever hooked. Kind of disappointing after you get one that big and realize how slim the odds are of breaking it again. Hope it happens for me one day though!

[Catt]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

All the giant bass that I have been blessed to put in the boat and weigh didn't look as big as they actually were. When you clearly see a bass that looks a lot bigger in the water than any other bass you have caught.....you know.

Tom

 

 

And some of the lightest bites I've felt!

[OCdockskipper]

4 hours ago, Raul said:

 

MAYBE ---- > DON'T COUNT.

 

Yes it does.  If you aren't sure if a fish that you hooked & lost was bigger than your PB, then your answer is Maybe.  

 

This topic isn't an exact science, it is a friendly discussion where people can pass on fishing stories.  No problem if you don't want to participate, but no need for you to try to drop a turd in the middle of the thread...