Catching 12-14" Bass?

[gim]

There was a local tournament here held on Saturday on a pressured lake and the results were putridly bad.  Someone posted that half the field of 20 didn't even catch 5 legal bass.  The person I know who fishes in it caught 5 bass for less than 6 pounds.  So ya, in this case, a 5-fish limit of 14 inchers would have gotten you in the money.

 

I think this is more the exception to the norm, but also a real life example of that it in fact can happen.

[J Francho]

I've won a few evening tournaments with just three big fish. Been beat by a small bag of big fish as well. 

[WRB]

Goals are mind sets to keep you focused tournament fishing as time is restricted. 

No experience with kayak fishing that also limits where you can fish, starting choice I would think is more critical then faster bass boats. 

I once fished a tournament and only had 11.2 lbs for 5 bass and considered releasing them and not weighing in. My partner wanted to weigh in so we did and placed 2nd! Always weigh in!

Tom

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, WRB said:

Always weigh in!

This is gold.  I've heard so many times of teams dumping a small bag only to find out they could have placed in the money.

[Choporoz]

Always weigh in.....AND don't just toss those first couple 12 inchers.  I know I did it my first season....didn't bother to photo those early-in-the-day, barely-legal fish, and then fail to limit.  Too confident and impatient....lesson learned 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

didn't bother to photo those early-in-the-day, barely-legal fish, and then fail to limit.  Too confident and impatient....lesson learned 

That reminds me of the final day of the 2015 Bassmaster AOY at Mille Lacs when Seth Feider had a commanding lead after the first 2 days.  His first fish on day 3 on live TV was like an 18 incher/3 pounds and he didn't even bother keeping it for the weigh in!  He held it up to the camera, said "this isn't good enough" and then kept right on fishing.  I thought that move might back fire.  Turns out that he was right and weighed in another day of 5 fish/25 pounds anyways for the win.

 

Moral of the story: we aren't Seth Feider.

[KSanford33]

Just now, gimruis said:

Moral of the story: we aren't Seth Feider

This!

[Dirtyeggroll]

Catching a limit of 12-14" bass to fill your card then going hunting really depends on the lake. At a local like I fish. I can go out and catch 100 12-14" fish on about any given day fishing a dropshot on submerged vegetation lines. 8 out of 10 days will not catch a fish large only doing that. To catch the bigger fish you have to go off shore and fish a moving bait or big worm in the ditch vegetation and will be lucky to catch one or two over 15" but will not likely catch the 12-14".

 

It depends on the lake.

[wanderful]

On 7/25/2022 at 4:10 PM, Dirtyeggroll said:

Catching a limit of 12-14" bass to fill your card then going hunting really depends on the lake. At a local like I fish. I can go out and catch 100 12-14" fish on about any given day fishing a dropshot on submerged vegetation lines. 8 out of 10 days will not catch a fish large only doing that. To catch the bigger fish you have to go off shore and fish a moving bait or big worm in the ditch vegetation and will be lucky to catch one or two over 15" but will not likely catch the 12-14".

 

It depends on the lake.

Any chance you'd share that local lake? I'm on an awful dry spell and would love to visit a body of water that might increase my luck - even if they're just dinks.

[casts_by_fly]

On 7/8/2022 at 3:56 PM, J Francho said:

That technique has been around a long time.  It works really well on super tough days, rarely consistent.  Problem is you're gambling on not missing the window when big fish are biting.  Consistent tournament winners catch bigger fish on average than the rest of the field.

 

My experience in kayak tournaments is that you need to be striving for 100" to win.

not so much around here. 80” will win nearly every tournament.  The most recent one took 77” but second was 34” and 27” took third. If you can get five 2.5 lb fish you’re winning or placing almost every tournament. 

[J Francho]

Not gonna work here at all.  Most everyone in this area would be hitting Conesus, where 4 hour evening tourneys can take over 20# to win.  Move east and just pick a different water, like Champlain or The Larry R.  Go a little west, and you have Erie to contend with.  I lost a good many online tournaments with totals in the 90s.

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

Not gonna work here at all.  Most everyone in this area would be hitting Conesus, where 4 hour evening tourneys can take over 20# to win.  Move east and just pick a different water, like Champlain or The Larry R.  Go a little west, and you have Erie to contend with.  I lost a good many online tournaments with totals in the 90s.

 

I could see that with the waters you have up there.  For a month long online tournament I could see 90" plus taking it here.  I'd have to look at my pictures, but I know I'd have a >90" July.  April I had that.  In a 1-day tournament though, its really hit or miss.  April tournaments do well as you'd expect.  One of my local lakes had one back in April and the top three were 81-83" for a 300 acre lake that maxes at 6' but is mostly 4-5' and flat bottom bowl.  A lot of the lakes though just don't have the volume of bigger fish to support it.

[casts_by_fly]

On 8/9/2022 at 8:15 AM, J Francho said:

Not gonna work here at all.  Most everyone in this area would be hitting Conesus, where 4 hour evening tourneys can take over 20# to win.  Move east and just pick a different water, like Champlain or The Larry R.  Go a little west, and you have Erie to contend with.  I lost a good many online tournaments with totals in the 90s.

 

On 8/9/2022 at 10:35 AM, casts_by_fly said:

 

I could see that with the waters you have up there.  For a month long online tournament I could see 90" plus taking it here.  I'd have to look at my pictures, but I know I'd have a >90" July.  April I had that.  In a 1-day tournament though, its really hit or miss.  April tournaments do well as you'd expect.  One of my local lakes had one back in April and the top three were 81-83" for a 300 acre lake that maxes at 6' but is mostly 4-5' and flat bottom bowl.  A lot of the lakes though just don't have the volume of bigger fish to support it.

 

I caught another 18"+ last night (from the lake that gave up the last two of them) in a quick evening session and it got me thinking about this thread.  I went back through my pictures for July and it was close to 90".  Mindful that I measure against my paddle right before the fish goes back and I only check to the nearest half inch, I had 87.5" in July.  May is the same.  Biggest fish came in March in 40 degree water (a 4-03 smallmouth).  August is off to a good start with an 18.5", but I'm still searching for the 20's this year.