RIP Bob Crupi

[Pat Brown]

I've been seeing it on Facebook all over the place including a post made by his wife that he passed away yesterday, so I thought I'd start a thread in honor and memory of one of the greatest trophy hunters who ever did it!

 

I'm sure @WRB can contribute more detailed first hand accounts of Mr. Crupi's exploits on the water but for starters, he holds two of the top 25 bass ever caught, the California state record (unbeaten since 1991) and the only bass fisherman to certify two fish over 20 lbs in one lifetime.

 

Bass resource solutes you Mr. Crupi.  Rest easy.

 

 

[WRB]

Bob Crupi was a cop so deserves credit for being a public servant. 

Crupi was a live bait angler so that tarnished his reputation because he was accused for creating by jealous bass anglers claiming falsely he was using live trout. Any time I watched Crupi fish he was anchored up and flat lining live crawdads and I am sure that is how he caught his giants.

Bob Crupi was a quite man never talked much and kept to himself so I never really knew him.

RIP Crupi.

Tom 

[RipzLipz]

I can remember reading about Mr. Crupi & Dan Kadota in Bassmaster magazine in the early 90’s, soaking up details how they fished for those gigantic bass. Never bothered me how he or Kadota did it - the results spoke for themselves. Seeing that pistol grip baitcaster brings back memories.

 

RIP Mr. Crupi & thank you for your service & contributions to this sport.

[Team9nine]

I still have my “Bodacious Bass” VHS tape that I purchased from the Castaic Mini Mart back in the day. Always great rewatching it. Even got to converse briefly with Dan Kadota  online this past year. So sad to see these great names in fishing history passing.

 

[BASS302]

I have a BASS 1992 Tips and Tactics magazine that has the article "The Quest For The World Record."  There's a paragraph in it that states when he caught the 21 lb (not the 22 lb) it "anchored a 72-pound, five-fish limit."  Wow!

[RipzLipz]

Found this vintage clip on YouTube of both Mr. Crupi & Mr. Kadota from a fishing show. Not affiliated or promoting anything, just posting in honor of both of them. Seemed fitting given the circumstances. Unreal at the small hooks they were using on a split shot rig! Be sure to watch after the cooking portion.

Note: this had to be shot in the 90s rather than 80s. Mr. Crupi caught his 22.01 goliath in the 90s, IIRC.

[GRiver]

Wow he caught some huge fish.

RIP

[Big Hands]

R.I.P. Bob Crupi

 

I ran into him once BITD at the Turner's Outdoorsman (local hunting/fishing chain here in SoCal) in the San Fernando Valley and chatted with him for a little bit. He was nice enough to talk to me for a bit. 

 

I have seen that he had been selling (maybe breeding) pythons for sale and had ads up on a python website. 

 

@Team9nine you've been to the Mobile Mini Mart back when it was the Mobile Mini Mart? 🤘 Excellent!

 

@WRB showed me the spot earlier this year where Bob landed his history making behemoth. I had mistakenly thought it was on the other side of the cove, but it turns out it was the exact same point I caught my own PB on in 1993.

 

Those were the days!

[RipzLipz]

1 hour ago, Big Hands said:

R.I.P. Bob Crupi

 

@WRB showed me the spot earlier this year where Bob landed his history making behemoth. I had mistakenly thought it was on the other side of the cove, but it turns out it was the exact same point I caught my own PB on in 1993.

 

Those were the days!

Living in Indiana all of my life, I envied those of you fortunate enough to be there & experience what I feel was history being made at that time. I had to read about it, often many months or a year or two after actually occurring. The 3 anglers who pursued Dottie were also anglers of which I thought very highly - at least for all I was able to know about them. Stand up guys who could have tried to fool the world but chose not to do so.

 

Not that my experiences or accomplishments compare but there’s something to be said about those who pursue incredible fish such as those caught during that period - the time & dedication it took & how those fish got to those sizes. It’s always fascinated me.

 

Was anyone else who watched the video surprised at how "light" of a rod they were using? I would have expected something more in line with todays swimbait rods but much shorter, as 6’6" to 7’ rods were probably the longest commercially available rods back then. If I recall correctly, we were just beginning to get away from pistol grip rods, as shown in the uppermost image @WRB posted in the late 80s & early 90s. Maybe I’m mistaken?

[Pat Brown]

And with monofilament line 😭😭😭😭

 

I honestly like a more moderate tip and monofilament line.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.  Probably most state records were caught on rigs like that!

[Team9nine]

5 hours ago, Big Hands said:

@Team9nine you've been to the Mobile Mini Mart back when it was the Mobile Mini Mart? 🤘 Excellent!

Been to CA, got to fish Lake Mission Viejo with Troy Folkestead for big bass when it was in its prime, but never visited the Mini Mart. I called them when I found out they had the tape and they were willing to ship it to me 

[WRB]

14 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

Living in Indiana all of my life, I envied those of you fortunate enough to be there & experience what I feel was history being made at that time. I had to read about it, often many months or a year or two after actually occurring. The 3 anglers who pursued Dottie were also anglers of which I thought very highly - at least for all I was able to know about them. Stand up guys who could have tried to fool the world but chose not to do so.

 

Not that my experiences or accomplishments compare but there’s something to be said about those who pursue incredible fish such as those caught during that period - the time & dedication it took & how those fish got to those sizes. It’s always fascinated me.

 

Was anyone else who watched the video surprised at how "light" of a rod they were using? I would have expected something more in line with todays swimbait rods but much shorter, as 6’6" to 7’ rods were probably the longest commercially available rods back then. If I recall correctly, we were just beginning to get away from pistol grip rods, as shown in the uppermost image @WRB posted in the late 80s & early 90s. Maybe I’m mistaken?

We were using trigger stick design rods 6’10” to 7’ with full cork handle w/ short fore grip.

I used Lamiglas  custom rods and both Crupi and Kadoda had a deal with Loomis.

We all were using premium mono or copoly Trilene and maxina 10 or 12# line.

In the 90’s we used Loomis 8’ swimbait rods and Shimano Calcutta 250 reel with 20#  mono.

Tom

[RipzLipz]

28 minutes ago, WRB said:

We were using trigger stick rods 6’10” to 7’ with full cork handle w/ short fire grip.

I used Lamiglas  custom rods and both Crupi and Kadoda had a deal with Loomis.

We all were using premium mono or copoly Trilene and maxina 10 or 12# line.

In the 90’s we used Loomis 8’ swimbait rods and Shimano Calcutta 250 reel with 20#  mono.

Tom

Be glad you don’t live near me - I would wear you out & talk your ear off.🤣

 

I’m curious as to the approximate timeframe the large bass began to be caught out there (when did it start for you & the others)? If I recall these were mostly if not all F1 hybrids, were they not?

[WRB]

The original FLMB were planted in San Diego city Lakec Upper Otay 1959 , started planting those FLMB in several city and county lake a few year later. That  initial FLMB topped out    In 1973 with Zimmerle’s 21.3 lb giant.

The DGG then started planting lakes by request from the Upper Otay population to lakes Castiac, Casitas, Isabella in 1973. Not sure when NorCal lakes and the Delta received their initial planting.

The secondary planting lake had Northern strain LMB so F1’s would the 1st generation from spawn for both FLMB and NLMB intergrades. Pure FLMB appear to out weigh F1’s continues to lose vigor with each older generation . Figure max weight age 10-12years, max life spawn around 15 years.

Tom

[RipzLipz]

@WRB

What food source do you feel or know to be fact that contributed to those CA bass getting that large? Trout alone? Feel free to expand on other factors that also contributed to their large sizes. Genetics & longer growing season (weather related) are probably the most obvious or so I’ve often read.

[WRB]

Both lakes Casitas and Castiac were producing big Northern strain LMB prior to stocking FLMB in the early 70’s. My PB NLMB was caught at Casitas 12 1/4 lbs and was 28” long.

Hat hart raised Rainbow trout were being planted before the FLMB were introduced. Basically the NLMB had the same prey available as the FLMB; trout,bluegill, Red ear sunfish, crappie, Threadfin  shad, young of the year carp and catfish.

Castiac also had fresh water sculpin.

When compare* my 18 lb 11oz FLMB vs the 12 lb 4 oz NLMB the difference is obvious....body mass and girth! FLMB eating the same prey grow heavier, not longer.

I never noticed NLMB chasing and eating planted Rainbow trout during decades of bass fishing and working as a teen ager at a boat landing where trout were planted. Florida LMB are genetically wired to eat Golden Shiners that have similar body shape to rainbow trout and that maybe the factor why NLMB didn’t prefer trout as prey and FLMB definitely did.

Tom

* photo published in Lunker Lore, Josh Alwine.

 

[btoups]

Thanks for sharing.  I could read all day about these giant bass and how they came to be.

 

[RipzLipz]

18 minutes ago, btoups said:

Thanks for sharing.  I could read all day about these giant bass and how they came to be.

 

Same here - or any lake that has been known for trophy fish, different things that have been done, etc.

[Big Hands]

On 11/22/2023 at 10:47 PM, RipzLipz said:

Was anyone else who watched the video surprised at how "light" of a rod they were using? I would have expected something more in line with todays swimbait rods but much shorter, as 6’6" to 7’ rods were probably the longest commercially available rods back then. If I recall correctly, we were just beginning to get away from pistol grip rods, as shown in the uppermost image @WRB posted in the late 80s & early 90s. Maybe I’m mistaken?

 

I caught my first double digit on 6 lbs Ande monofilament on a spinning rod that would probably be considered M-ML. My rig of choice was a 4" Roboworm paddle tail on a Gary Klein Weapon hook, 6 lbs mono, a Mojo slip sinker with a small piece of natural rubber band double knotted around my line as a sinker stop with about 24" to 30" between the sliding sinker and the hook. Basically an ultralight Carolina rig.

 

I tried 4 lbs and 8 lbs monofilament for split shot and slip shot.

 

My PB (just two ounces shy of 13 lbs) was caught on 10 lbs Ande monofilament. Other I have caught were on heavier line and rods. I considered 10 lbs monofilament to 'heavy line'.

 

I did finally get a 6'6" Fenwick trigger grip straight handle and it was wonderful to fish with. Pistol grips were the rage (5'6" to 6', LOL) and I kept hoping that somebody would wake up and ditch the pistol in favor of what is still in favor today, the straight handle trigger grip casting rod.

[WRB]

7 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

Same here - or any lake that has been known for trophy fish, different things that have been done, etc.

PM sent with photos

Tom

[RipzLipz]

15 minutes ago, WRB said:

PM sent with photos

Tom

Saw it & sorry for not responding sooner - dozed off watching TV. 😂

[RipzLipz]

1 hour ago, Big Hands said:

 

I caught my first double digit on 6 lbs Ande monofilament on a spinning rod that would probably be considered M-ML. My rig of choice was a 4" Roboworm paddle tail on a Gary Klein Weapon hook, 6 lbs mono, a Mojo slip sinker with a small piece of natural rubber band double knotted around my line as a sinker stop with about 24" to 30" between the sliding sinker and the hook. Basically an ultralight Carolina rig.

 

I tried 4 lbs and 8 lbs monofilament for split shot and slip shot.

 

My PB (just two ounces shy of 13 lbs) was caught on 10 lbs Ande monofilament. Other I have caught were on heavier line and rods. I considered 10 lbs monofilament to 'heavy line'.

 

I did finally get a 6'6" Fenwick trigger grip straight handle and it was wonderful to fish with. Pistol grips were the rage (5'6" to 6', LOL) and I kept hoping that somebody would wake up and ditch the pistol in favor of what is still in favor today, the straight handle trigger grip casting rod.

That’s just awesome. Cool giant bass stories. I believe my first baitcasting rod was a 5’6" pistol grip from BPS. Today few of my casting rods are under 7’.