How Old?

[papajoe222]

Just wondering what age you were when you caught your PB bass?  You can share the size and/or a pic if you’d like. I’m curious as I was 63 when I caught my PB and 36 when I’d caught my previous one. BTW, they were 7lb.4oz. And 6lb.11oz.  If I can figure out how to post a pic, I’ll add one later. 

[Ski]

1986... I was 30... Am now 65 and the best one since then has been 11.6

[TnRiver46]

I’ve got 3 all somewhere around the same size (8 lb class)One when I was about 15, one when I was 22, and one when I was somewhere around 25-27. I only have pictures of 2. Kind of wish I had measured the one in the top photo, looks bigger now haha. The hat never changes 

biggest smallies have all been around 5-5.5 lbs and I’ve gotten them sprinkled throughout the past 15 years 

[FishinBuck07]

I was probably around 35 and the bass was just shy of 7#.  Still remember watching the line move to the right and when I set the hook her coming up through the matted grass, and thinking to myself oh my don't screw this up dummy!

[NoShoes]

I started bass fishing at 27, I’m 29 now. I caught my PB 9 lber at 28. 
 

Before last summer my PB was around 3.5. Since then I regularly catch 4’s but closest I’ve got to my 9 is a 6. 

[BrianMDTX]

I'll be 61 in September. I caught my PB (6-7 lbs estimated per length as I had no scale) in May 2020, so I was 59. Before that, I'm going to say I think it was 1973. What I thought was, at a minimum, a 3 lb bass, but looking back in retrospect was likely a 2 lb'er.  

[Fishin Dad]

Caught mine at age 49.  6 lb. 10 oz. on a chatter bait.  I was just getting more serious about Bass.  Had chased the state fish (walleye) and panfish forever.  

[Captain Phil]

Started bass fishing when I was 12 walking canal banks.  I'm 74 now.  Until I was about 25 my PB was 6 1/4.  My first big fish was 8 1/2.   One rainy summer afternoon on Lake Okeechobee, I caught an 11 1/4 that I still have mounted on my wall.   This was before catch and release became popular.   While flipping a patch of grass in front of my dock on Lake Eustis, I caught an 11 1/2 which I released after taking this photo.  The boy in this photo is my grandson.  Over the last five months I have been recovering from back surgery.   I am feeling great and will be concentrating on setting a new PB which I hope to reach before I'm 80. 

 

 

 

 

[moguy1973]

I'm 48 now. I was 46 when I caught my current PB largemouth (5.20lb)  I was 45 when I caught my previous best (4.70lb).  I fish a family member's pond that's full of them and they seem to keep getting bigger every year, just haven't fished it much since COVID.

 

 

My PB smallmouth came when I was 42 (4lb 7oz).  Previous one to that was when I was 40 (3lb).

 

 

 

 

 

[scaleface]

I dont know for sure but the one I think was my personal best , in the 8 lb range , I was in my 20s and there is no picture . Caught it behind a levee off the Mississippi river on a jig and pork frog . I never carried  a scale   until recently . The only bass that ever got weighed were in tournaments .

[Catt]

February 3rd 2007 was a nasty cold morning with Northwest winds at 15-20 mph, a slight misty rain falling, and temperatures in the middle 30's. After having launched out of Jack's 944 Marina I made the short (2 minutes) run to the mouth of Bull creek trying to stay out of the wind and some what warm. Having rounded the corner I dropped the trolling motor, picked up my Rat-L-Trap rod again with the thought in mind of keeping moving and staying warm. My third cast was into the mouth a cut leading to a boat shed which I knew had stumps on the west side, after turning the handle 4 or 5 time my trap stopped solid, I tell Pat d**n to close to the stumps so I push the trolling motor handle towards the mouth of the cut while stepping on the switch. At the exact same instance my line starts zinging towards deeper water rod all bowed up & drag slipping; I immediately scream at Pat get the net. By now the boat is moving off to my left the bass is moving off to my right and I'm nearly on my knees in front of the console with the upper third of the rod in the water. Pat net in hand is now on the front deck killed the trolling motor and with a swift motion netted the hawg; which ends up weighing in at 12 pounds 8 ounces.

 

Dang! 14 yrs ago! I'm 69 now!

[scaleface]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

February 3rd 2007 was a nasty cold morning with Northwest winds at 15-20 mph, a slight misty rain falling, and temperatures in the middle 30's. After having launched out of Jack's 944 Marina I made the short (2 minutes) run to the mouth of Bull creek trying to stay out of the wind and some what warm. Having rounded the corner I dropped the trolling motor, picked up my Rat-L-Trap rod again with the thought in mind of keeping moving and staying warm. My third cast was into the mouth a cut leading to a boat shed which I knew had stumps on the west side, after turning the handle 4 or 5 time my trap stopped solid, I tell Pat d**n to close to the stumps so I push the trolling motor handle towards the mouth of the cut while stepping on the switch. At the exact same instance my line starts zinging towards deeper water rod all bowed up & drag slipping; I immediately scream at Pat get the net. By now the boat is moving off to my left the bass is moving off to my right and I'm nearly on my knees in front of the console with the upper third of the rod in the water. Pat net in hand is now on the front deck killed the trolling motor and with a swift motion netted the hawg; which ends up weighing in at 12 pounds 8 ounces.

 

Dang! 14 yrs ago! I'm 69 now!

While reading this I kept picturing Harry and Charlie .

[the reel ess]

I was 49. It was last July. 8.2 lbs. on a gold War Eagle spinnerbait. It was the first time I broke into the 8s. I almost beat it this spring, but that bass didn't quite make 8. That one was on a Whopper Plopper and I caught another 6 pounder in that same spot, same day.

[Mobasser]

I was 28 yrs old when I caught an 8lb 12oz bass. Now I'm 63. Still trying to top my old PB.

[CrankFate]

25

[Dwight Hottle]

My present PB 11-8lbs was caught at the age of 71.  Smallie PB 7-6lbs was caught at the age of 60. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smalliefan2]

62, 8+ on DT 6 old skool crankbait, 6-8 fow, just ticking top of emergent grass. Right across from beach at Chester Frost Park in Chattanooga. Second, at 71 years, 8+, slough near nuke plant , Sequoyah,  green pumpkin baby brush hog, fishing laydowns in April . About 4 fow.

Still looking for double digit.

[Fishnski48]

66 years old at Sugar Lake Mexico  10lbs 8oz

 

[Fishin Dad]

Geeeez, I need to move south in retirement.   I can’t even imagine what an 8+ would be like.  Our state record is 8-15.   I only know a handful of guys who have caught a 7.   My wife agreed we will head south in January and February when we retire in about 8 years.  I hope I can figure out how to grab my PB down there somewhere.  

[newbiedmv]

Around 4.5 lbs in the 90's I was  early 30 something. Only fish I've ever caught on a 3 inch broken back repalla. I saw him coming out of the grass straight and fast. I had a cheap K mart scale.

[gunsinger]

61.  5.54 lb.  It's my Avatar.

[J._Bricker]

 I believe I was around 46 at the time @papajoe222. It was early spring, wind howling out of the NW at 30+ mph and my buddy and I had taken the day off and drove over an hour to the ramp. Then we had a discussion we’ve all had given the circumstances. Going back to work really wasn’t an option, we couldn’t do anything about the conditions, and we’re here so let’s go fishing. 

 I picked up my swimbait rod at our first stop and with the help of the wind I was getting some serious distance on my casts. I watched a fish created a “bulge” in the water that headed straight for my swimbait and landing it was I was surprised to find it weighed close to 7 pounds. Pretty much kept that rod in my hands the rest of the day, and I’m glad I did. When the big girl hit, all I could say was “it’s big, get the net” as the fight was on! 

 After getting her in the boat, she weighed in at 11.7lbs took a quick photo and released…

[NoShoes]

2 hours ago, NoShoes said:

I started bass fishing at 27, I’m 29 now. I caught my PB 9 lber at 28. 
 

Before last summer my PB was around 3.5. Since then I regularly catch 4’s but closest I’ve got to my 9 is a 6. 

I love reading the stories behind the catches, never told mine so thought I’d share that too. 
 

The trip before I caught her I almost missed a fish because my drag was too loose. Hook was exposed but never stuck the fish. When I got home I went through and reset all my reel drags, usually fairly a stiff. The next trip I was barely there 5 minutes when I had already got my frog stuck multiple times. I switched back to my main stay Ol monster, second or third cast I felt the tap and set the hook. Immediately my drag went screaming. I initially thought I forgot to reset the drag on that reel, but quickly realized it was the fish pulling not the reel giving. After a jump that made my heart stop and a dive at the boat that stopped it again my wife had her in the net. 
 

ive heard of buck fever before deer hunting, but never understood it until I saw that fish full body in the air on the jump. 

[Mike L]

 

This was last March at 70!

We were at Stick Marsh just floating around and I threw a 7” Fat Max. 
When she hit she almost pulled the rod out of my hand. 
When it got about 20 ft from the boat she took a nose dive so fast I thought the rod was gonna break.

As I loosened the drag my partner who was sitting down yelled..”What do I do?!

I said “Nothing! just get up and be ready to move”
 

She took me from the rear deck to the front and back again. 
He grabbed the net and yelled..

“get her closer so I can net her”!!

I yelled back…”NO!! I got it”
 

11.34!

 

Ain’t she pretty! ?

 

 

 

Mike

[DitchPanda]

I was 19 when I caught my pb largemouth...8lb12oz...on a crappie jig with a 2in white twister. The few people that saw it before I threw her back said they has fished this area there whole lives and it was the biggest bass they have ever seen. I'm 38 now and in the past 20 years I've figured alot of things out. In the past half dozen years I've caught alot of bass 6lbs and up including 3 in the high 7s low 8s range but my pb is still going strong 20 years running.