Biggest Fish Months

[N Florida Mike]

Im curious to know what months ( or seasons of year if you don’t remember the month )  your top 5 largest bass were caught in ?

Mine were: ( Starting at PB on down)

December

January

July

June

Late May or early June.

I think it’s interesting that I have caught a lot more fish over 4 pounds in the spring than the other seasons, but none of the very largest ones.

[Dwight Hottle]

Mike sometimes the biggest fish are caught when your available to fish. My best months for smallies were always April & May for trophies. Large mouth have been November & December. 

[N Florida Mike]

Where you live matters too (N vrs S) Probably not many fish are caught AT ALL in the dead of winter in the northernmost states.

Glad I dont have that problem.? 

[roadwarrior]

Smallmouth  January (Tennessee River)

 

Largemouth  January (Lake ToHo, FL)

 

 

 

[Catt]

Tournament

August 2005: Team tournament, 5 bass @ 33.37

August 2003: 5 bass @ 30.667

Non-tournament

August 2007: 10.66, 10.89, 8.99 = 30.54; finished with 5 bass @ 42.46

 

Love the Dog Days of Summer ?

[Mike L]

1 in January / Okeechobee 

2 in February / Okeechobee, Toho

1 in March (pb) / Stick Marsh

1 in June / Okeechobee 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Mr. Aquarium]

May-September! Caught a 6.3 in April before. I have caught a large fish in super early March, I know it’s one of my biggest ever. But my scale was broken. 

[BigAngus752]

My PB was in June

2020's biggest was July

2019's biggest was October

My biggest fish are always June/July.  2019 was a fluke because I was killing time while my wife visited relatives and I drove over to bank fish at a marina.  I'm sure that big bass was a release fish from a recent tournament.  

 

But wouldn't your likelihood of catching a big bass in a certain season be relative to what type of fishing you prefer/excel at?  

[Mobasser]

For me, mid March to Mid April.

[roadwarrior]

35 minutes ago, Mike L said:

1 in January / Okeechobee 

2 in February / Okeechobee, Toho

1 in March (pb) / Stick Marsh

1 in June / Okeechobee 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

Woo-hoo!

I'm fishing two days at ToHo and one day at Stick Marsh/ Farm 13

in three weeks! Hoping to latch on to another DD.

 

BTW, did you catch them on minnows, artificials or both? Would you

share lure suggestions?

[MIbassyaker]

1. September

2. September

3. July

4. August

5. May

 

September looks even better considering when I'm most available to fish. Here is each month's share of my total fishing hours since 2013 when I started keeping records:

MAR: <1%

APR: 3%

MAY: 17%

JUN: 29%

JUL:  21%

AUG: 18%

SEP: 10%

OCT: 2%

 

 

[TnRiver46]

I don’t really keep track but December is far and away the winner for me

 

[N Florida Mike]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Tournament

August 2005: Team tournament, 5 bass @ 33.37

August 2003: 5 bass @ 30.667

Non-tournament

August 2007: 10.66, 10.89, 8.99 = 30.54; finished with 5 bass @ 42.46

 

Love the Dog Days of Summer ?

Just curious- how much of that was night fishing?

13 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

1. September

2. September

3. July

4. August

5. May

 

September looks even better considering when I'm most available to fish. Here is each month's share of my total fishing hours since 2013 when I started keeping records:

MAR: <1%

APR: 3%

MAY: 17%

JUN: 29%

JUL:  21%

AUG: 18%

SEP: 10%

OCT: 2%

 

 

That’s interesting. September is my worst month for any size. 

[Spankey]

If a personal best is to be broken I expect it to be in September or October. The history (my history) for it has been there. I'll take any month because every time I'm out, I'm out to fish for a personal best. I really don't keep much in the way of statistics. It is just the way it works out for me. I'm fishing in the Northeast.

[A-Jay]

~PB Brown Bass ~ September (Spinnerbait)

~State side PB Green Bass ~ May (Jig)

Next three are all Brown bass caught in

~May (Jerkbait)

~August Topwater)

~May (Jerkbait)

A-Jay

[gim]

LMB - May or October

SMB - July or August

 

November - April really isn't an option here because most waterways have ice and/or the season is closed.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

Just curious- how much of that was night fishing?

 

All of em! ?

[Mike L]

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

Woo-hoo!

I'm fishing two days at ToHo and one day at Stick Marsh/ Farm 13

in three weeks! Hoping to latch on to another DD.

 

BTW, did you catch them on minnows, artificials or both? Would you

share lure suggestions?

I’m jealous!

On Toho look for shell beds that have some hydrilla nearby in the main lake. 
 

If you launch from Big Toho Marina come out and head about 2:00 and start looking. First thing I would do is Burn a top water across the shell then drop it in once you hit the hydrilla line. 
Watch the line once you drop it. 
They will follow it in and blast it once it hits the grass.
If there is eel grass tho don’t slow down!!
My 10.2 came on a June bug magnum Speed Worm with a 1/8 pegged weight on 80lb Power Pro. 
Gold and orange traps around the edges and trough the eel grass can be killer this time of the year also. 
 

There will be fish on beds in 2-5 fow. 
For those I always use a white creature bait. My current favorite is a Rage Bug if they want a little action or a RI Sweet Beaver if they don’t. 
 

You can lock into a few of the other lakes if you want if it’s slow and you’re time restricted. 
—————————————————————

At the Stick I would start in the SE and SW corners first thing in the Farm.
Be careful there are stick ups all through there. No reason to speed. 
I haven’t been there since last summer so I don’t know what the water level will be, if it’s high it will make the trees hard to see. 
 

I got my 11.34 on a 7” red shad Fax Max ribbon tail with an unpegged 3/16 weight on 16# Sniper.

I started at the NE shore line running the entire lake making long casts. 

If you fish the Stick, go right off the ramp and start just past the bird sanctuary there should beds all the way to the dam on the far end. 

 

 

 

Have fun and let me know you did. 
 

 

 

Mike

[roadwarrior]

Thank you!

 

[WRB]

All 5 of the listed in my avatar are pre spawn jig fish caught between late Jan-early March. Water temp 58-60 degrees, Weather light rain, time between 7A-10A, moon phase 5 days around full moon, depth  between 15’-20’.

Tom

 

[J Francho]

My second largest NY LMB is from prespawn, a particularly warm April.  The rest of the top five are from peak summer, mid July to mid August.  Mostly caught in the middle of the day.  My biggest SMB came in early winter/late fall.  A couple came during spawn, but again mostly mid summer.

[DitchPanda]

Depending on ice out I'd say April or May...my second choice would be October. Caught 4 over 6lbs this year...3 of them in about a 6 week time period From early April til the 3rd week in May...that included this years PB of 7lbs. Then I went all the way until October until I got another 6 on a spinner bait...a few days after that I had one well over 5 break my spinner bait. If I had to guess...and it would be a guess because I haven't always kept track...I'd say of my 15 biggest bass ever at least 7 or 8 have come in April or May including my PB. I've got several in October...a random one here or there in summer...also one close to 8 on a jig in November. But year in year out under normal winter to spring transition/ice out conditions if I could only fish 2 months a year it would be April 1st thru May 31st.

Also as a side note we all have big fish baits we lean on...big worms,jigs,swimbaits etc...my 4 big ones this year came on a spinner bait, chatter bait, jig and lipless. Which brings up a point to me...yes some baits like a jig produce better size average fish...but I think all baits are big fish baits when presented right under ideal big fish conditions.

[Catt]

Big bass can be caught any month of the year, many anglers choose pre-spawn/spawn because they're all in the same areas feeding or nesting.

 

During the Dog Days of Summer or Dead of Winter the majority of em are on offshore structure.

 

Either case we know where to start looking!

 

And then there's fall, they're everywhere feeding on everything.

 

Big Momma that's caught in March was there in December, just a little further off the bank.

[Trox]

My biggest fish are typically caught when I'm wearing a heavy jacket. That's a very short, sparatic window here in south Texas though (mostly cold fronts) i.e. was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on christmas getting hot on the boat, and now it's 35 degrees outside... 

It's funny though, I tend to catch more 4-5lber during the dog days of summer, in winter its either 1-2lbs or 7-8lbs. Still chasing that 10...

[Bankbeater]

I don't fish if there is ice on the water, or if the wind chill is too cold.  November, December, and January are the only months that I have not caught decent size bass.