Did One Bass Change Your Life?

[BrianMDTX]

I remember when I killed my first buck. A legal 4” spike. 235 yards with a .30-06. It changed me from a casual upland game and sometimes big game hunter into a dedicated deer hunter. Especially with a muzzleloader and more so a bowhunter. That one buck changed my life. 
 

Bass? I liked fishing when I was younger but never really was dedicated. I’ve stated before that I thought lures were a scam as I never caught anything on lures. When I moved to Texas in 2019, I found I had access to numerous local ponds to fish. I did what I always did- I fished with live bait. In particular, nightcrawlers. 
 

Until…that one day I saw my bobber get pulled down, and I set that #6 Eagle Claw snelled hook, and was in for the fight of my life. An old Shakespeare 2052 spinning reel with 8 lb. Stren, an UL Cabela’s graphite spinning rod, and a 6-7 lb. bass on the end of the line. When I got that bass on the shore and in my hands, that old “light switch” went from Off to On like it did with that buck. I still have that old spinning rig, but it’s been overshadowed by many new baitcasting and spinning rigs, tons of lures (I think that bass was in cahoots with the BM), a boat and a heckuva lot of fun. 
 

Yeah, one bass completely changed my (fishing) life. I went from a casual worm dunker to a dedicated bass angler. Anyone else had one bass that changed your life? 

[Catt]

Some where in the mid 60s I caught my first bass on Creme Scoundrel.

 

Been chunkin plastics ever since!

[Susky River Rat]

Nope, just enjoy fishing. 

[Zcoker]

Yes, I can still see it now as clear as day, forty years ago, I was fishing with my girlfriend in a rented Jon boat out at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. I was fishing parallel to a ditch in a deeper cut, maybe five feet, which is actually kinda deep out in the glades. The water clarity that day was clear enough to see the bottom. I was working a Snagless Sally along the ledge while arguing with my girlfriend when, suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw the biggest whitist mouth open up and engulf my lure with such a violent thump that I almost lost my balance. That fish then yanked and yanked and pulled and pulled and yanked and yanked so hard that she finally broke my 30lb mono leader. Probably the biggest bass I've ever encountered. That one fish on that one day changed my life as it pertains to bass fishing. Even to this day, no fish has come close to the ferocity of that one bass. There was no way that she was coming in; her mind was made up. The determination of that one fish to not be caught has stuck with me my whole life. 

[Mobasser]

A big bass I missed years ago. It made me determined to get better at bass fishing.

[dodgeguy]

1967 with an old zebco combo and a worm. Caught a 12 inch bass and that was it.

[Pat Brown]

I have two. One that sowed the seeds and one that eventually sealed the deal. 

 

I remember it so vividly.

 

It was the summer of my freshman year of high school. I was feeling Cool. I was feeling like a real man. I knew this year was going to be different visiting my family up in Michigan at the tip of the thumb and fishing on Lake Huron. I knew this year I was going to get to do some night fish with my dad. He was telling me about it while we were at Walmart buying this year's supply of Rapala jointed minnows and Shad Raps and getting lots of 8 lb. Stren Mono for our Quantum Spinning Rod combos.

 

My Uncle had a 20-ft Jon boat with a little outboard motor in the back and a trolling motor in the front.  We would often troll around in the bays and catch a little smallmouth here or there or a sheep's head and sometimes in years past, the men were really nice and would hand me the pole and let me reel it in.

 

This year was going to be different.  I had my own rod and I was being instructed on where and what to do in the boat and how to help with landing fish and what to say and what not to do. It was all very exciting.  A lot of trust was being put on me to behave right and help the fishing trip go well.  It felt good.

 

We got up there. Maybe first week of July and it was perfect weather.  The smallmouth were spawning on the rocks and we had reports that there were some big ones in the bays that we were fishing. 

 

We decided to get everything loaded up for some real full moon night fishing which I had never done at that point in my life.  Especially not for a bass.

 

I remember how eerie it felt knowing that we were going to be out in the darkness looking for fish with hooks in a boat with rocks beneath us.   But I was very excited by the prospect. 

 

I tied on a swivel clasp (which my dad told me would prevent 'line twist') and a 'Hot n tot' - which I liked the name of - and it looked like a crawfish - which I imagined was exactly what they would be eating under that big bright moon.

 

We got out into the bay as the moon rose in the sky.

 

Bugs were everywhere.  We started puttering out there to the drop off and started making casts with our baits.  Motor off.  No talking.  Just casting and retrieving and the sounds of bullfrogs and bugs.  I did the best I could and made a really big cast as far from the boat as I could towards the 'drop off' - I had been told that big smallmouth  liked to ambush things 'where it goes from deep to shallow'....couldnt hurt right? 

 

Before this moment in my life, I had caught smaller fish before on crankbaits and I knew the feeling of the bait thumping.  As the Hot n Tot' bumped the rocks and began to find purchase in the shallower shelf beyond the apex of my cast, I reeled it down faster until it began to thump and bump HARD into the bottom.  Somewhere in there I felt something that wasn't me THUMP my hot n Tot' very heavily and then I felt my bait disappear.  At this point in time I was unaware that this could happen and was not sure what to do.  I told my dad I had a bite but could no longer feel the fish and I believed it had gotten away.  

 

That's when I SAW it jump.  The fish was much closer to the boat than I thought it was going to be. And MUCH bigger.

 

It launched itself into the moonlight, a site for me and my uncle and my dad who were now shouting and grabbing for the net.  The spectacle of the moment enveloped me.  Time stood still.

 

Next thing I know I'm reeling like my life depends on it and I can hear click click click like a machine gun.  Is that my drag!?!? Could it be my fish!?!?  

 

What seemed like an eternity later, but was probably only a matter of seconds. The biggest smallmouth of the whole summer that we caught was in the boat.  My first and only 4 lb class fish up north.  I remember the turbulence of it and the joy and satisfaction I felt holding it.  I remember not knowing if it was big or not, but I remember after a night of fishing and seeing what my dad and my uncle caught on the stringer back at the house I realized what an accomplishment it was. 

 

I spent a lot of time on that family vacation casting and reeling and catching fish but nothing really compared to the intoxicating feeling that that evening provided me. 

 

I think that evening did two things.  It sowed the seeds for a lifelong passion for bass fishing, but more importantly it sowed the seeds for me to become a big fish hunter.  Alone at night or in the wee hours of the morning stalking my prey in the darkness.  Looking for that one big bite.  Hoping to see that beautiful giant thing launch itself into the moonlight just for me. 

 

That's what I am in it for probably more than anything else.  And this fish set that in motion.

 

The other one?  Well that'd be my first big largemouth -  story I've told a few times here and may retell in this thread another time!  😉😉😉😉

 

[king fisher]

In the summer of 1976.  I was 13 years old.  My mother would drop me off at the local lake, where I would fish off the small dock at the launch.  Some days two brothers that were friends and lived by the lake would walk down and join me, other days I fished by myself.  I fished with worms under a bobber for whatever would bite, and usually came home with a limit of rainbow trout.

 

One day I had been fishing off the dock by myself for most of the day.  Another angler had joined me on the dock and we were watching our bobbers when we saw what didn't look like a carp break the surface near the shore on the other side of the lake.  I new it had to be a bass.  I had a couple of bass lures in my box I had used at another lake when I went on a camping trip with the boy scouts and wanted to try for the bass.

 

One of the lures was a Jitterbug that I hadn't ever had a bite on, but I was sure it would catch the bass I had seen jump.  The man asked if it was legal to walk around the lake to the other side and fish, and I told him I new who owned the land, and I didn't think he would care if we fished off his land.  It was a 30 minuet walk to the spot we had seen the bass.  We had to cross two fences, and climb over a couple rock piles and find a way down a steep bluff to get to the waters edge, but I had been there before and was determined to catch that bass.   

 

We made it to the other shore, and I found a place we could stand on the rocky shoreline.  The rocks were large and jagged making it hard to keep my balance, but I was young and used to fishing from hard to reach places.  The other angler prefered to wade out and stand on a level place in the water.

 

I saw a swirl in the water right where I had seen the fish jump before. I made a cast and slowly starting working the bait back to shore.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Blurp Blurp Blurp splash.  The bass came all the way out of the water and exploded on my Jitterbug.  It was only about 2 pounds, but it was twice the sized of any bass I had caught, and I thought it was the biggest fish in the lake.  It swam over to where the man was standing and he reached down and grabbed it.  I was scared he was going to drop it, so  I waded out to get my bass even though I was going to get my leather boots wet, I didn't care anymore about anything but holding on to that bass.  He laughed and said it was only a fish, but to me it was far more than a fish, it was the holy grail of my life, a giant bass.

 

At that time of my life catch and release was not something I had never considered, so I made a stringer out of a piece of wire I got off of a nearby fence.  The sun was starting to set and I was expecting my mom would be there to pick me up soon.  I made a couple more casts then walked back to the dock to place the bass with my stringer of trout.

 

That bass changed my life.  It was then I new fishing was more important than baseball, bicycles, go carts, or any other thing I liked at that age.  All I could think about was blurp blurp blurp splash.  It was also the bass that introduced me to my life long friend and nemesis the Bait Monkey.  Since then there have been other bass that changed my life, but this first top water bass was the one that started me down a long fantastic road I still travel to this day.

 

This picture was taken during a drought.  The water in the lake was a foot higher when I caught the bass.  It was two high to cross on the rocks in front of the dock.  We had to walk to a bridge, cross, then walk around to where the small bluff boarders the water.  I spent every day I could sitting on that dock watching a bobber.  The dock washed away in a flood, but I still fish from the bank when I go home to visit. 

 

[fishballer06]

I can't say one fish changed my life forever. However I can remember as a kid (maybe 12 or 13) going on a fishing trip to Canada with my father and grandfather. I had very little money and I spent some of what I had to buy a spinnerbait that I saw in a tackle store. Up until that point in my life, I was just a bobber fisherman. First day out I tied that spinnerbait on and started chucking & winding. After a short time, I caught my first fish, a bass probably close to 5 pounds. 

 

I think that was the "aha" moment where I converted from a bobber fisherman to a lure fisherman. 

[Bankc]

Not in any way that I'm consciously aware of.  But anything's possible! 

[A-Jay]

Each and every one of us that chases these little green/brown fish

has a special story about how we got started. 

Many of them have been shared in this forum: including mine. 

  After catching my very first bass, to say I was pretty pumped would be a serious understatement. 

Of course I didn’t exactly know it at the time (or maybe I did)

it was a life changing perhaps even defining moment. 

Either way, from that point on, bass fishing consumed me. 

It was all I could think about and I could not wait to do it again.

5 decades later, most of that is the same, except for one deal.

I have become semi-obsessed with Big Bass.

Both locally & abroad. 

And if I'm very lucky, every once in a while, I catch one.

It Always totally rejuvenates my fishing fever to a most wonderful level.

At some point, I expect to be living completely on past accomplishments

and reminiscing about The Good Old Days.

But don't feel like I'm there just yet, so I keep casting. 

The latest log went on the fire last just over a month ago.

A brown bass over 7 lbs will do that.

Every Time.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

What a great idea for a thread. I've really enjoyed these stories. Thanks, @BrianMDTX!

 

I was raised in a just built suburb, so at the time, there were still-glorious fields, woods, barns, creeks, and ponds* just beyond the tract homes. My brother and I strapped our Zebcos and short fiberglass rods to our bikes just after the rain and rode miles, scouting for farm ponds. They'd overflow and we were looking for the tell-tale trickles. 

 

We spotted some and approached the house, but first, my brother combed his hair and I ran my fingers through mine, our version of putting lipstick on a pig. The woman inside saw us grooming and was amused, as were half-feral, a tangle of scabs, scars, and scratches. 

 

We had a couple bobbers, a few worms, and two rods and reels built for bluegills and not much more. Well, I found much more when a fine bass engulfed my bluegill and ran with it. As she ran to the deep, I back-pedaled up the bank and our combined pull popped the bluegill free.

 

She wasn't hooked, but I was. 

 

 

 

*Sadly, those once-glorious fields, woods, barns, creeks, and ponds are long gone and I wonder if there's a scabbed kid who'll have to pedal farther than I ever did to reach the green and blue place where the fields still stretch and creeks still gurgle.

 

 

[Functional]

I dont have a fish that started it for me. My father fished and since before they knew I needed glasses I was going with him. For me I stayed in it for the memories it brought back camping and fishing with my dad and uncle and a big part of why I still do it. Not to sound too hippie about it but it makes me feel connected to all of that and what I consider a good childhood.

 

Part of that changed for me when I hooked into my current PB. Up until then it was something for the memories, to relax and to be out in nature. Now its all of that but trying to get better to really hunt down bigger bass. It kind of takes some of the sweetness away from the "smaller" fish and make them seem more like practice leading up to a main event. Dont get me wrong its still tons of fun, I just know my own personal bar has been set higher because of that experience. 

[WVU-SCPA]

The majority of my fishing life bass were really just a bycatch.  From boating to bait casters it was all foreign as my 1,000's of fish came from waders and fly rods. 

 

My future brother in law invited me to fish a weeknight lunker tournament after 2 casual outings that I guess he thought I was competent enough to catch fish.  I brought a 17" fish that was on its death bed with high hopes to the scales that evening, but that feeling still remains 7 years later.

[WRB]

I have brought up a bass named Moses a few times. This bass changed how I fished for a lifetime.

I triton catch Moses for 2 summers at Big Bear lake and finely caught the big bass. I was so excited and ran with the bass back to my grandma’s cabin to show off fish. Gram told me to clean the bass and we would have the fish for dinner.

It broke my heart to clean Moses and the experience changed how I would fish forever.

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, WRB said:

I have brought up a bass named Moses a few times. This bass changed how I fished for a lifetime.

I triton catch Moses for 2 summers at Big Bear lake and finely caught the big bass. I was so excited and ran with the bass back to my grandma’s cabin to show off fish. Gram told me to clean the bass and we would have the fish for dinner.

It broke my heart to clean Moses and the experience changed how I would fish forever.

Tom

 

What a great name for a bass, Tom. I can see why cleaning ol' Moses broke your heart. After two summers, Moses was as much an unpetted pet as quarry. 

[Dwight Hottle]

I can think of several bass that changed my life but only two in my formative years. I first started fishing with my dad & brother using a row boat on a local lake in NE Ohio. Our equipment consisted of store bought cane poles that were prerigged with some kind of twine on it and a hook & a bobber. Our bait were red worms that bled mustard when you impaled them on a hook. We caught bluegills, perch & some small bass. I enjoyed the experience & wanted to upgrade my equipment as I matured. I was not satisfied with just a cane pole for equipment. After saving  for a while I got my first spinning rod & reel, a small tackle box & a few local lures made by the Fred Abrogast Co based out of Akron Ohio. I vividly remember catching my first bass on an artificial lure. I was casting a hula popper In an area of lilly pads near the shoreline. The instructions were to cast the bait out & let it sit until the ripples from the bait landing disappeared. Then you were supposed to pop it & wait again & repeat. After two pops or so a chunky 2-3 lber  inhaled it & I set the hook & both the bass & I were hooked. That bass was one I will always remember because it was a good size trophy for me at that time & was my first bass on an artificial bait. 

The 2nd bass that I vividly remember occurred when I was in high school. A buddy & I headed to a local reservoir that was the main water supply for the city of Akron. We rented a row boat because gas motors were prohibited. We had heard that the reservoir had been stocked with tiger muskies for the last few years to help control the local pan fish population. Back in those days after reading Field & Stream & Outdoor life magazines for several years we knew that muskies were highly prized game fish & a fish of a thousand casts. So the plan was to alternate rowing by trolling for them on the outside of the weed beds in open water. I had a large brass June bug spinner tied on with a trailing night crawler on the long single back hook. I had read that muskies liked night crawlers so I wanted to increase my odds as best I could. We row trolled for about an hour & a half before the big moment occurred. I suddenly got bit, set the hook & the fight was on. The fish at the other end of my line felt really big & I was sure it was a musky until it jumped out of the water behind the boat. We both saw it was a bass & excitedly exclaimed how big we thought it was. I  finally got it back to the boat & netted it. We both thought it was bigger than it actually weighed. We took it to the local bait shop to get it weighed. It weighed 5.5 lbs & it was going home with me to get mounted for the wall. It was a PB that lasted for many years before I got one bigger. It's the only bass I ever got mounted.  

[Swamp Girl]

@Dwight Hottle:

 

Quote

...bled mustard.

 

Quote

...out of Akron, Ohio.

 

Dwight, I taught writing to about a million kids. I'd teach them in larger groups of 500-1000 and also in smaller groups of 100-125. I would always tell them that to write well, one has to see more, hear more, and remember more because the reader won't see you as a reliable witness unless you were paying attention. I think a lot of anglers make good writers/storytellers because if you don't pay attention on the water, you won't succeed. Well, your details above are both good writing and proof that you're a reliable witness. 

[btoups]

I come from a family of commercial fisherman.  Mainly shrimpers and oystermen.  I've been fishing as far back as I can remember.  Most of my fishing when I was a kid was with my grandmother.  We would fish mostly from the land around their fishing camp and would keep whatever we caught that was edible.  Mostly redfish, speckled trout, drum fish, etc.  This was basic fishing with dead shrimp for bait.

 

Every once in awhile, we would go freshwater fishing from the land in some canals around my grandparents home.  This again was basic using either dead shrimp or worms for bait and simple equipment like cane poles or spinning gear.  We would catch a few small green trout(bass) as my grandma called them.

 

One day I got bored of fishing with worms and found a small rusty beetle spin in an old tackle box.  I tied it on and cast it out and this small bass just crushed it.  I remember feeling the hit from that bass even though it was probably close to 40 years ago.  

 

From that day on, I was hooked on bass fishing.  I also figured out that I could get saltwater fish to also hit artificial lures, which changed how I fished to this day.  I wouldn't catch as many fish as the people using bait, but to me feeling the hit on an artificial lure was worth it.

 

I've been hooked ever since.

[Jar11591]

That first bass I ever caught definitely changed my life in the way that I became a life long bass fisherman. 

[JJP]

Can’t say one bass changed my life but the 2013 fishing season was a year to remember. I had 20 fish over 5lbs with multiple 6’s, 7’s and my PB over 8lbs. All these fish were caught between March and June in New York. One of my favorite lakes experienced an unusual golden shiner run. The bass had the shiners pinned in a few areas of the lake and at times the scene looked like bluefish and striped bass attacking bunker. It made the obsession become an addiction.  I’ve tried to replicate this the last 10 years but never even came close. Each year I fish this lake hoping it will happen again but it hasn’t. Fishing is a real Grind in my area but if you put it in your time and do your homework it can be rewarding. 

[T-Billy]

44 Easter Sundays ago I caught my first LM on a Big-O from my uncles pond. 18.5" - 3.5#. Been hooked ever since. I've been hooked on fishing since my Grandpa first took me when I was four, but that first bass really lit a fire that's still burning more than four decades later, and that memory is still vivid in my mind.

[A-Jay]

14 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

44 Easter Sundays ago I caught my first LM on a Big-O from my uncles pond. 18.5" - 3.5#. Been hooked ever since. 

I love this kind of stuff ! 

Nicely Done Sir.

A-Jay 

[Columbia Craw]

Mine is not the first bass I ever caught. It’s the first bass on a Texas rigged worm. It was the most eye opening bite I’d ever had to that point.  It truly changed the way I thought of a bass.  It’s fixed in my memory, which I have going for me.

[The Budget Angler]

For me, it was my first bass.

 

I was 5 at the time and had been soaking worms for sunfish since before I could remember.  The family was visiting my grandparents in northern CA and we were staying at a place with a tiny pond out back.

 

My dad broke out his rod and started casting a t-rigged senko (I didn't know what either of those meant at the time) (knowing him, it was probably Green Pumpkin).

 

I just kinda looked at him while he fished and then watched him catch a few bass (I was still busying myself with the bluegill), and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to catch a bass.  My dad tied on a bullet weight and a hook before threading the soft plastic onto it and instructing me on how to retrieve it.

 

Sure enough, on that very first cast, I felt a thump.  My dad started hollering at me to set the hook, which I did.  A very short fight later let me meet my first bass, a spunky half-pounder.

 

I don't think I fished for bluegill again that trip.

 

From that point on, I fished almost entirely for bass (and mostly with a senko until recently), until I moved up north where there weren't many bass.  Even then, I made absolutely sure that I had places in mind that held bass and made sure to coerce trips to them out of my parents.

 

Now that I can drive myself to my fishing spots and can afford a little bit more gear, I still cut my teeth for those bass, always hoping for that big one.