That Big Fish Something

[Swamp Girl]

I was PMing a BR pal and in one of our chats, he posited that some fishers don't have that certain big fish something. I've thought a lot about this assertion and wondered what that big fish requisite is. What do you think enables some to catch big fish and others to swing and miss? I'm basically talking about the @WRB gene. Of course, many of us have never fished a lake with 17-pound bass like Tom has, so adjust the big fish size for region.

 

FWIW, I don't think I have the WRB gene. I simply hook enough five and six-pound bass to manage to get a few in the canoe, but I lose more than I boat. 

[Pat Brown]

Nah, I'd wager you have it.  I think if you're getting bit by the big ones, you're doing the right thing and it's a gear thing probably.  You'll get your gear dialed in soon for the cover you fish it sounds like from other threads.

 

I think it's more of an attitude/level of commitment some have and some can't be bothered with.

 

The folks who make up their mind to find and catch the big ones usually do.  Folks who enjoy fishing but do it when they can and fish the way they like to all the time will probably never get lucky like that or be met with lots of frustration and failure.  The bass in the USA are well educated and the big ones are the smartest of the bunch.

 

These folks who don't fully go all in may however enjoy themselves and catch some fish and even occasionally get a big one to bite and if that meets their expectations and goals, that's a win.

 

But yeah, targeting the big ones is a slow learning curve and takes a lot of work and time on the water and most people would rather get lucky once in a while.

 

 

[Team9nine]

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I simply hook enough five and six-pound bass to manage to get a few in the canoe, but I lose more than I boat. 

Can you describe what this big fish gene actually does? Based on your comment above, it would suggest efficiency; simply landing most of the big fish you hook, versus, say, hooking a lot of big fish to begin with. But your issue isn’t genetics as much as it is physics IMO. 
 

More along the lines of what Pat wrote, the big fish gene sounds more like a recessive trait or a gene defect ? …those that have it expressed are the few who are willing to put up with not catching much in order to catch big - lol

[gim]

1 minute ago, Team9nine said:

simply landing most of the big fish you hook, versus, say, hooking a lot of big fish to begin with.

This is generally my issue.  I don't hook that many "big" bass to begin with.  Rarely do I lose fish, even bigger ones.

 

For reference a "big" bass around these parts is 20 inches/5 pounds.  I've caught 4 this season so far, 2 smallmouth and 2 largemouth.  I'm fairly sure that I did not have any that big hooked and get off this season either.

[Darth-Baiter]

for the record, i dont want the WRB gene.    i like mine.

 

i do however KNOW i have it in me to get onto a big bass..and soon.  i fish often, and i fish good good waters.  i just need to find a time where my trajectory in life, meets a big bass vector.    it is a game of numbers and odds.  you have to be in it to win it.  and i am in it.  

[Will Ketchum]

I think it's just persistence and the amount of time on the water. There's still a lot of smaller ones no one talks about, but they do talk about the big ones.

[roadwarrior]

27 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

 you have to be in it to win it.  and i am in it.  

 

 

                                                         

[Fishlegs]

I am nowhere near the level of someone like Tom, but I have lost more big fish than I like to admit. After I lose a big one I try to evaluate what happened, learn from my mistakes, make gear/technique adjustments, and continue to try. You appear to have all of those traits.

 

The thing that I think has helped me the most is being on the water with people who are better fishermen than me...like @roadwarrior.

[Swamp Girl]

Just now, Fishlegs said:

The thing that I think has helped me the most is being on the water with people who are better fishermen than me...like @roadwarrior.

 

@WRB has credited his mentors too. I think being in a boat with a better fisher could create a quantum leap. I know I learn much faster when I'm standing beside a master. 

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Can you describe what this big fish gene actually does?

 

You raise a good point: Is it convincing them to hit or landing them? I think it's gotta be both, but our perspective can be skewed by watching videos where the fishers land every big fish because they've deleted the footage of lost fish. Environment can skew the stats too. When I fished smallmouth in rocky-bottomed lakes, I caught most of them. I fish weeds now and lose half of them some days. 

[Team9nine]

5 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You raise a good point: Is it convincing them to hit or landing them? I think it's gotta be both, but our perspective can be skewed by watching videos where the fishers land every big fish because they've deleted the footage of lost fish. Environment can skew the stats too. When I fished smallmouth in rocky-bottomed lakes, I caught most of them. I fish weeds now and lose half of them some days. 

Another point to keep in mind that everyone seems to overlook; nearly every big bass angler/guru in history has a story about THE big one they lost, usually of world record proportions - Hannon, Murphy, Westmoreland, Lau, Jones, and on and on. Everybody hooked the world record, but none of them landed it ? It’s not the gene - lol

[Swamp Girl]

13 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Everybody hooked the world record, but none of them landed it ? It’s not the gene - lol

 

I think you're right. It's not those famous fishers could practice on bass that were close to the world record since 20-lb. plus bass are super-DUPER rare. 

 

@WRB, did you ever hook and lose the world record? Or did anyone at BR do so?

 

I only saw one titanic fish in my life, but I didn't hook it. When I was a teen, my older brother and I were fishing a river mouth in Canada when a massive pike launched itself for whatever reason out of the water. It scared us both and we left. On that trip, we'd both landed 40"+ pike, but the pike we saw was far beyond those fish. 

[LrgmouthShad]

This all sounds like crazy talk to me

[Pat Brown]

One thing is for sure.  I thought catching a double digit bass was gonna help put out the fire a little bit.....I am fairly certain it has been more like a bucket of nitroglycerin being casually tossed at a pile of dynamite.  ??

 

My new goal is a lake record or three and hey maybe eventually a state record would be wild!

 

You gotta have goals, no matter how lofty or absurd!

 

I feel very privileged to be someone who has had ample opportunity to do things like dial in my hookset on big fish with lots of types of baits and rods and lines.

 

Having the luxury of hooking and losing big fish and getting to try different techniques and methods of seducing them is the kind of thing you only get into once you're way deep.

 

Most people realize they hooked the fish of their lives and it's already too late and their endocrine system goes haywire and to them it's a fever dream and the thought of staying calm/improving things that happen in that moment is a distant star on the horizon.  That's the main reason we lose big fish.  We usually have lost them before our line goes in the water.

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Pat Brown said:

My new goal is a lake record or three and hey maybe eventually a state record would be wild!

 

Betting against ^this^ would be a sucker's bet. You've got the @WRB gene.

 

1 minute ago, Pat Brown said:

Most people realize they hooked the fish of their lives and it's already too late and their endocrine system goes haywire and to them it's a fever dream and the thought of staying calm/improving things that happen in that moment is a distant star on the horizon.  That's the main reason we lose big fish. 

 

Ernest Hemingway and JFK, Jr. both said that courage is grace under pressure. If you've ever read their life stories, you know that both these men embodied this kind of courage. Now I'm thinking that the big bass gene is just this: remaining cool under pressure. Thanks, Pat. I love your post.

[WRB]

13 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I think you're right. It's not those famous fishers could practice on bass that were close to the world record since 20-lb. plus bass are super-DUPER rare. 

 

@WRB, did you ever hook and lose the world record? Or did anyone at BR do so?

 

I only saw one titanic fish in my life, but I didn't hook it. When I was a teen, my older brother and I were fishing a river mouth in Canada when a massive pike launched itself for whatever reason out of the water. It scared us both and we left. On that trip, we'd both landed 40"+ pike, but the pike we saw was far beyond those fish. 

Yes! The bass I got a clear look at was bigger then any bass I caught. I fishing at lake Castaic at trout point with a friend back-seating. This point has very deep water around with a saddle in the middle area where I hooked the bass. Should have been easy to move the boat out into deeper water but my friend who was running the front of the boat decided to leave the TM watching me fight the bass. The big bass was about 5’ from the boat when I could see the side of the point coming up, we were drifting into shallower water. The big bass turn and that is when I could see the massive girth and ran over the saddle ridge instantly breaking my line...gone!

I believe strike detection is the difference between catching big bass and not. Big bass have massive size mouth that engulf a lure without the angler knowing it and reject it in a heart beat. You must be totally focused on what the lure is doing and make intuitive hook sets because something doesn’t feel normal.

I developed the reel and rod sweep hook set that moves more line faster then a rod lone can do.

Tom

[A-Jay]

The Big Fish Something ?

Not sure what that's about.

But the more big fish you hold in your hands,

the more big fish something you probably have. 

Personally, as a fully addicted basshead, 

I do not believe it's possible to ever have enough.

This may be the polar opposite of that.

YMMV

A-Jay

[the reel ess]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I was PMing a BR pal and in one of our chats, he posited that some fishers don't have that certain big fish something. I've thought a lot about this assertion and wondered what that big fish requisite is. What do you think enables some to catch big fish and others to swing and miss? I'm basically talking about the @WRB gene. Of course, many of us have never fished a lake with 17-pound bass like Tom has, so adjust the big fish size for region.

 

FWIW, I don't think I have the WRB gene. I simply hook enough five and six-pound bass to manage to get a few in the canoe, but I lose more than I boat. 

Most are lacking in time on the water and fishing where there are big fish. 

[roadwarrior]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

@WRB, did you ever hook and lose the world record? Or did anyone at BR do so?

 Maybe...

 

On 11/10/2008 at 12:48 PM, roadwarrior said:

David Hayes caught the World Record smallmouth bass in 1955 on Dale Hollow Lake.

Some believe the next World Record will be found on the Tennessee River:

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/smallmouth_record.html

Almost exactly four years ago, November 2004, my fishing partner and best friend,

Speedy Madewell, boated a 10 lb beauty. I netted the fish and weighed it, he released

the monster! Since that time we have had some luck with other big bass, including the

bronzebacks in my avatar (January, 2005).

Last Saturday Speedy and I fished the river with limited success: an assortment of species

including largemouth, smallmouth, Kentucky bass, striper, cats and drum. We may have

caught forty fish or so, but no size and most importantly, no browns of note. Around 11:00

things changed.

With poor results off either bank and limited water release by the TVA, we moved to the

"middle of the river". Actually, we decided to fish along the river channel, defined by

navigational buoys. The drop is well defined, but relatively small, only 3-5' in 15-25' water.

After landing a few nondescript fish, I got a nice strike drifting along the ridge.

I set the hook hard and didn't budge the fish. However, there was very little fight

and I saw another drum in my future. After 10-15 yards of retrieve, the drum dove

and turned into a big catfish, just digging to the bottom, but no run. As I brought the

fish closer to the boat, Speedy asked, "Gonna need the net?" Without any emotion

I replied, "Yeah, it's big and ugly."

Speedy runs the trolling motor on the forward platform of a BayRanger 2180,

center console. So, with the net on the floor opposite me, it takes

a minute to get set up. With little current, we let the boat drift.

This time of year the water clarity on the Tennessee is about 3, maybe 4 feet.

As my partner came over to my side he asked, "What's ya got?" I replied, in a

steady voice and without inflection, "The biggest flipping smallmouth I have ever seen."

The fish appeared to be a Trident submarine as it rose toward the surface so both of

us could get a good look at her, but then she bolted. She initially ran about 15 yards

forward, then after a 90 degree turn, another 20 yards toward the middle of the river.

My situation was precarious. I'm in the middle of the boat and have to hustle to get to

the front, around and over the trolling motor while at the same time maintaining rod

position with a sizzling drag. I was starting to have some fun!

The pig came up, but did not jump. I got her turned around, but she had already decided

she didn't like the Ranger. When she was halfway back, she bolted again, but this time

dove deep. It took a few minutes to get her a little closer.

Most smallmouth, especially biggun's, tend to fight the best on the first run after a close

encounter with the boat, but even later, they never give up. This fine lady staged at rod

length, tugged mightily and would not come up. I asked my buddy what he thought

I should do? He responded, "Doesn't matter. That fish ain't ready and she's going

to do anything she wants!"

Well, I've caught a few big fish and I was in no hurry. My rod appeared parabolic with the line

straight down into the river. I said to my friend, "This is when you have to believe in your equipment."

And then.......the line snapped.

stupid, Stupid, STUPID!

We weren't catching anything interesting, so although I noticed a burr on my line before

the last cast, I didn't do what I always preach: "If it ain't perfect, it ain't good enough."

When there is any doubt, retie your line, leader or hook.

So, could that smallmouth have been the New World Record? I don't know, but it wasn't boated,

so it doesn't count. You might ask, "Really now, how much do you think she weighed?"

I don't know the answer to that either, but what I can tell you is, she was...

HUGE!

:

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

 Maybe...

 

 

Wow! WOW! What a story. 

 

Kent, the times I want a partner are when I hook a nice bass and she pulls me into trouble, like Tom's monster upthread. I simply can't paddle with one hand and play a bass with the other. I'm at their mercy. 

 

Tom, thanks for your great tale too. I'd pay a thousand bucks to simply have seen what you two saw. 

 

@WRB, I agree that strike detection is huge. I once fished a farm pond in southern Ohio. It was gin clear and I was retrieving my lure parallel to the bank. A bass came out of cover, inhaled my lure, and ejected my lure and I ONLY knew this because I saw it. I. did. not. feel. it.

 

I felt nothing.

[T-Billy]

54 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Kent, the times I want a partner are when I hook a nice bass and she pulls me into trouble, like Tom's monster upthread. I simply can't paddle with one hand and play a bass with the other. I'm at their mercy. 

I've thought of this before Katie. Your biggest asset in accessing those big beautiful bog bass is also your biggest liabilty. That light canoe is the only way you can access those fish, but it really limits the amount of force you can put into a hookset, and also the amount of pressure you can apply to winch em out of the jungle. Kind of a catch 22.

You catch a ton of quality fish, so my advice is just keep doing what you're doing. 

 

 

[papajoe222]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

This may be the polar opposite of that.

YMMV

A-Jay

Always the showman. And no, that fish is a good 12in. shy of being an official dink. 
 

I think the gene you’re referring to is the persistence gene. 
If you’re a quitter, you don’t have it. If,however, as you’re working your jig over a small outcropping of river river rock after five hours of nary a bite and you still envision a monster bass eyeballing your jig,  you got it. 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

I've thought of this before Katie. Your biggest asset in accessing those big beautiful bog bass is also your biggest liabilty. That light canoe is the only way you can access those fish, but it really limits the amount of force you can put into a hookset, and also the amount of pressure you can apply to winch em out of the jungle. Kind of a catch 22.

You catch a ton of quality fish, so my advice is just keep doing what you're doing. 

 

 

 

Tim, you and I think the same way. I've said many times that our strengths are our weaknesses. For example, I once owned a home with porches that wrapped all the way around it. Dream home, right? Well, it was dark as a cave inside because all the windows had roofs.

 

Everything works that way. Pluses are also minuses. Positives are also negatives.

 

Everything wonderful comes with costs and the cost of reaching the bogs in my light canoe is that I don't have the platform to set the hook nor the weight to keep from being pulled ever deeper into weeds. 

 

Weren't Tom's and Kent's stories of world records lost the best? And the worst! 

[Alex from GA]

An anchor helps keep the canoe/kayak stable enough to set the hook and fight the fish without going in the bushes.

 

[Woody B]

I'm certainly not an expert but Katie has the big fish gene.   I have no doubt you routinely catch some of the biggest bass in the waters where you fish.   Like Tim said your access to the water is also a ticket to lose some fish.   I don't lose many, and very rarely lose a decent sized bass....but boat control and positioning is a BIG part of my success.   You can't take your foot and effortless move your boat around or lock your boat in place to help land a bass.   

 

@Pat Brown  my lone DD was over 30 years ago.  I seriously doubt another is in my future.  Spotted Bass have taken over the lakes where I fish.   There's still Largemouth but not in the numbers or size they were before Spots.   The NC record for Spotted Bass is 6 lbs 5 ounces.   I'd like to catch a record Spot sometime.   I've caught several over 4 lbs.  If I caught a record I don't know if I'd turn it in, or just weigh it and release it.   Fish have to be examined by a biologist to certify the record.  A few years back a guy thought he had a record Spot but the biologist determined is was a mix/hybrid from a Spot Dad and Largemouth Mom.  Somehow he/they kept it alive.  It was in the aquarium at Bass Pro Shops in Concord until it passed away.   I think a record would be cool.  I doubt I could keep a bass alive for the biologist.  I'd hate to kill one just to find out it wasn't a record.   

[Pat Brown]

@Woody B that spot record is ripe for breaking but I'm guessing most fish in spot lakes that are getting that big are hybrids of some sort around here.  Seems they need to go ahead and add a category for the Mean Mouth.

 

I feel like a couple more winters like last years and there will be some new state records swimming around in the numbers needed to catch one.  We basically are turning into Florida ?