The key to catching bigger bass

[Glenn]

Here's my take on how to catch bigger bass. Thoughts?

 

 

[Catt]

Minimal output - Maximum intake ?

[Bird]

Makes sense, jigs and crawdad imitations have been a proven winner for a long time. 

 

 

[Deleted account]

Mexico.

[islandbass]

Thanks, Glenn.  It showed up on my YouTube feed and I watched from there. Excellent info packed into a small time frame. ?

[WRB]

“Every time you think you have theses green fish figured out they prove you wrong” Bill Murphy.

Tom

[lynxcat]

The most important thing to catch bigger bass: Fish in bodies of water that have bigger bass. 
 

Technique wise...generally larger baits, jigs, and Chatterbaits. 

[A-Jay]

May come down to what one considers 'Big Bass' ~

My definition includes Green Bass of 7 lbs and Brown Bass over 5 lbs. 

 

Plus size bass for me is all about ~

 1) Being in the right place

 2) At the right time

 3) Doing the right thing

 

 At Times, each of these can seem Very Tricky . . . . 

 

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

 

[gunsinger]

Lesson leaned today. Do all the above and SET THE DADGUM HOOK!  Missed my personal best today because I wasn’t sure I had a fish on. 

[Captain Phil]

"Big Bass" means something different in all parts of the country.   I only fish in Florida, so I can only speak for myself.  To me a big Florida bass is in excess of eight pounds. This wasn't always the case.  Fishing pressure being what it is today has brought this down in recent years.  One thing hasn't changed.   Big bass don't waste energy.   Most anglers don't catch many big fish because they fish too fast.  They want action and are not willing to fish all day for a few bites. If you want to consistently catch big bass on artificial lures in Florida, buy a flipping stick, learn where to use it, use it right and you will.

[Backroad Angler]

Patience and learning bass behavior 

[E-rude dude]

Big Bass in WI inland lakes is anything over 4lbs. Jigs andvdocks is what I wait for all year long July and August. So hard to fish slow up here with our weedy lakes. 

[king fisher]

I'm not sure if I believe the time honored belief that bass some how determine what it eats by how much energy it is going to use up catching it's food.  Small bass chase around everywhere  trying to steel food from each other, when there is plenty of food to catch, and still manage to get bigger.  Bass can waste lots of energy being territorial, and not loose weight.  A released bass doesn't have to go out and eat something right away after a hard fight.

       I believe big bass simply are not hungry as often as small bass.  Large bass are skilled hunters.  They have more experience hunting and can eat much larger and varied prey.  A good hunter does not take very long to kill it's prey so therefore does not spend much time hunting.  A full hunter is lazy, weather it is a bass a lion, or person.  When I am hungry, I will do whatever is necessary to get something to eat.  That may mean drive miles to the store, or thaw, cut, and cook a piece of meat no matter how much work it is.  If I am stuffed with turkey dinner, and sitting on the couch, the only food I may want is a piece of candy, that is easily within reach.

    Big bass are the same. When they are hungry, they will chase down their food and get it regardless of how much energy it takes.  When full all they want to do is laze around, maybe eating a snack if it swims to close to resist.  I not sure if they consider how much energy it will take.

     The problem for fishermen is it is less likely to be in the right place at the right time with a big fish, because they are full more than they are hungry.  A small fish is constantly looking for food, because they are not as skilled at catching their food as their bigger parents.  I have witnessed big bass chase ridiculously small bait, working way to hard to catch a small meal.  Why? because they were hungry.  I have seen big bass go on a feeding spree, and stuff themselves, more than I ever have at Thanksgiving, and I assume experience a similar food coma.  I have also watched big bass let prey swim right by, because they were full.  They didn't have to consider how many calories the prey would produce or how many calories it would take to catch, they simply weren't hungry.

     In order to catch a big bass you have to be fishing where big bass live. You have to present your lure in a way it appears to be a piece of candy to a couch potato, be lucky enough to throw your lure when they are hungry and really looking for a meal, or trigger territorial instincts.  All three will work at times, and a good fisherman can determine which one to use.  Because big bass are sitting on the couch more often than cooking dinner, more big bass are caught by presenting slow baits right in front of their nose

    Of course if a big bass could read this she would probably say I'm in completely full of BS. and should spend more time fishing and less time in front of a computer.

   

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

I'm not sure if I believe the time honored belief that bass some how determine what it eats by how much energy it is going to use up catching it's food.  Small bass chase around everywhere  trying to steel food from each other, when there is plenty of food to catch, and still manage to get bigger.  Bass can waste lots of energy being territorial, and not loose weight.  A released bass doesn't have to go out and eat something right away after a hard fight.

       I believe big bass simply are not hungry as often as small bass.  Large bass are skilled hunters.  They have more experience hunting and can eat much larger and varied prey.  A good hunter does not take very long to kill it's prey so therefore does not spend much time hunting.  A full hunter is lazy, weather it is a bass a lion, or person.  When I am hungry, I will do whatever is necessary to get something to eat.  That may mean drive miles to the store, or thaw, cut, and cook a piece of meat no matter how much work it is.  If I am stuffed with turkey dinner, and sitting on the couch, the only food I may want is a piece of candy, that is easily within reach.

    Big bass are the same. When they are hungry, they will chase down their food and get it regardless of how much energy it takes.  When full all they want to do is laze around, maybe eating a snack if it swims to close to resist.  I not sure if they consider how much energy it will take.

     The problem for fishermen is it is less likely to be in the right place at the right time with a big fish, because they are full more than they are hungry.  A small fish is constantly looking for food, because they are not as skilled at catching their food as their bigger parents.  I have witnessed big bass chase ridiculously small bait, working way to hard to catch a small meal.  Why? because they were hungry.  I have seen big bass go on a feeding spree, and stuff themselves, more than I ever have at Thanksgiving, and I assume experience a similar food coma.  I have also watched big bass let prey swim right by, because they were full.  They didn't have to consider how many calories the prey would produce or how many calories it would take to catch, they simply weren't hungry.

     In order to catch a big bass you have to be fishing where big bass live. You have to present your lure in a way it appears to be a piece of candy to a couch potato, be lucky enough to throw your lure when they are hungry and really looking for a meal, or trigger territorial instincts.  All three will work at times, and a good fisherman can determine which one to use.  Because big bass are sitting on the couch more often than cooking dinner, more big bass are caught by presenting slow baits right in front of their nose

   

   

I agree with quite a bit of this ~ 

A-Jay

[WRB]

The more time you spend on the water targeting the upper 1% of the bass population in the lake everything keeps changing.

We agree that big bass make up a smaller % of the population. Fewer bass to catch.

From my experience big bass behavior differs seasonally and so does the most important factor; location. Impossible to catch a big bass unless it’s looking at you lure regardless of how it’s being retrieved. Most of the big bass I caught the lure was falling down through the water column. The skill I had was casting the lure to the bass and detecting the strike, the bass did everything by eating the lure.

The idea that big fat female bass are slower then the smaller bass is questionable. Watching a big bass chasing down a fast trout trying to escape is a assume sight, faster then you believe. Bass body shape is ideally suited to make sharp turns and they can.

Tom

 

[Catt]

Interesting concepts ?

 

Wonder why Big Momma picks off the slower of the school of Shad & not the leader?

 

Big Momma ain't gonna try to out compete tighteyes she'll simply eat em.

 

Another thing we must consider is availability of food,  some bodies of water have an abundance of food, while others not so much.

 

Then we still have to factor in that bass are predators.

[cheezyridr]

8 hours ago, lynxcat said:

The most important thing to catch bigger bass: Fish in bodies of water that have bigger bass. 
 

Technique wise...generally larger baits, jigs, and Chatterbaits. 

 

i caught my 2nd biggest bass last year on a chatterbait with a bandito bug trailer.

[BrianMDTX]

11 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I agree with quite a bit of this ~ 

A-Jay

As do I. A bass is a predator. In many waters it’s the apex predator. No animal save man wastes time and energy consuming prey when the need to feed is not there, unless it is an easy opportunity to good to resist. If a big bass is not hungry, it’s not liable to take a bait unless it’s too good to resist, or it irritates it into striking it. 

 

Good stuff!