What's your percentage of big bass?

[Swamp Girl]

By whatever metric YOU use for big bass, what percentage of your total catches are big bass? Please share your big bass cut-off. I understand that for some of you like @Fried Lemons, your big bass percentage will be higher by dint of throwing big lures, reducing your smaller bass catches. Others, like @Zcoker, will have a higher cut-off by dint of their latitude and their strain of bass. If you want, share your methodology.

 

My big bass cut-off is 4 pounds. They're northern strain largemouth and as about as far north as one can go in the lower 48 states. 

 

On average, 3% to 5% of my total catches are big bass. I have had a few better sessions, of course, and many sessions with zero big bass, but multiple 3.5-pounders, which are close, but don't count.

 

My methodology is easy, because in my trip reports, I record my total catch for each session, as well as bass over four pounds. So, I just run the numbers.

[Crow Horse]

I'd estimate it would be around 15%-20% with an explanation. 15%-20% of bass greater than 4#'s is not because of some high skill level I possess (although I would like to think that). It's because of the pond I fish holds larger bass and I fish for them. It's pretty rare that I catch a dink.

 

I can't overstate this.  It's because of the water I fish and NOT an expert skill level. I will say that I pretty much do better than my 2 fishing buddies and they tend to catch smaller fish which most probably is because of the different strategies used.

 

I'm a large lure = large fish guy which I believe really plusses up the percentage. More often than not, a larger bass won't be gut hooked (although they could be) and unhooking with a large lure and there is less damage to the fish and me. Smaller lures tend to get gut hooked more often which makes releasing them problematic.

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Crow Horse said:

I'd estimate it would be around 15%-20% with an explanation. 15%-20% of bass greater than 4#'s is not because of some high skill level I possess (although I would like to think that). It's because of the pond I fish holds larger bass and I fish for them. It's pretty rare that I catch a dink.

 

I can't overstate this.  It's because of the water I fish and NOT an expert skill level. I will say that I pretty much do better than my 2 fishing buddies and they tend to catch smaller fish which most probably is because of the different strategies used.

 

Crow, if 15 to 20% of your bass are plus-four-pounders, how many are plus-five-pounders?

 

That's a heckuva pond you fish! I fish fertile water, but have never fished any water with that percentage of big northern bass, not in Maine, the Midwest, or Ontario.

[Tennessee Boy]

It's a simple question but the answer is complicated.  It depends on where I'm fishing and the time of year.  I would say a 4 pound smallmouth and a 5 pound largemouth is a big fish.  I live east of Nashville and in the waters near me these fish are rare.  I would say 3 percent of the fish I catch around here are big fish.   Several times a year I drive to the Tennessee River and the percentage probably doubles.   In the winter the percentage goes up to around 10%.   If I specifically targeted big fish on the Tennessee River in the winter,  the percentage would probably be over 50%.  I haven't fished the Tennessee in the winter in recent years but when I lived in North Alabama in the 90s that was the case.  

[SkippinJimmy]

Obviously “big bass” is relative.  Living in Texas, a big bass for me would be 8+ pounds and while I don’t know my percentage, it is most definitely below 3-5%.  
 

IMO, we tend to be overly focused on the weight of the bass and not give enough credit when some of these 6-7 pound bass in one area may be as much or more impressive than a DD in Texas.

I guess I should qualify that it is way below 3-5%

[Catt]

Totally depends on the body of water!

 

Everyone knows Toledo & Rayburn's reputations. I look at them like this, a daily bag limit for LMB is 8 per day with a minimum length of 14" (2-2 1/2#). Sounds easy? Try it without FFS or a guide. My daily average over 52 yrs is 11 bass per day with a 3 1/2-4 # average. Kicker fish are anything 7#+. I usually average one every trip.

 

Lacassine wildlife refuge is federally owned & is closed Oct 15th - March 15th. Stocked with Florida strain, 6-7# are common, several double digits are a caught yearly. 

 

Calcasieu & Sabine Rivers are Dink Fests, 3+ is big. 

 

[A-Jay]

Unless I am fun fishing with my wife in the Old Town Canoe or perhaps in search of lunch #walleye,

every time I launch the Pro-V Bass, I am specifically targeting 'big bass'.

My own size scale for the Lake Menderchucks Smallies is:

4lbs is a nice one, 5 lbs is a big one, and 6 plus lbs is a trophy. 

I have no interest in sore lipping a bunch of 2 lb trophies in training. 

I have many completely fishless trips.

I Do Not catch a ton of bass, especially compared to many of the proficient sticks on this forum.

Feast or famine comes with the territory.

But when I get it right my 'percentage' is mostly respectable.

I'm  usually fishing for ONE Bite. 

Sometimes I get more. 

So if 5lbs is a Big fish for me, I'd go with maybe 40 %.

But the trophies can & do add up over time . . . . . 

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

46 minutes ago, SkippinJimmy said:

 

IMO, we tend to be overly focused on the weight of the bass and not give enough credit when some of these 6-7 pound bass in one area may be as much or more impressive than a DD in Texas.

 

Totally agree. The relative rarity of my four-pounders marks them as big bass...for my latitude because right now, I could drive my car across all the waters I'll fish come spring and spring is a long time coming. 

 

So, thanks, Jimmy, for acknowledging that a four-pounder is a bigger deal in Maine than Texas. Ours aren't as big, but they sure are pretty. I didn't understand why @AlabamaSpothunter commented about the health of Maine bass at first, but after looking at hundreds of photos of southern bass and comparing them to my bass, I came to see what he saw. For whatever reason, Maine bass are thriving. Here are three different-sized bass, but all so plump and healthy:

 

 

Out of reactions already, but when I read @A-Jay's 40%, I literally said:

 

[Crow Horse]

55 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Crow, if 15 to 20% of your bass are plus-four-pounders, how many are plus-five-pounders?

The percentage drops off significantly. I think we have to keep in mind that we're talking percentages and not total numbers. If I only catch 2 4#er's in a 7 hour session, that's 100%. Some would think of that as a poor showing but I'm happy with that. I do catch crappie, perch & pickerel but they aren't my target species.

 

I discovered this pond almost 10 years ago and caught some really large bass for the area then but that has trailed off. I can only hope that these 4#-5# bass survive and grow larger.

[A-Jay]

15 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Out of reactions already, but when I read @A-Jay's 40%, I literally said:

 

Thanks but just to maintain a relatively clear perspective,

you catch more bass in your fish month of fishing,

than I do ALL YEAR !

A-Jay

[MIbassyaker]

"Big" for me seems like 4lb or larger.  I catch about 1 or 2 in that class pear year, which ends up being around 1%.

 

I posted this at some point, a year ago or so, looking back at my records of bass caught over the last several years -- less than 5% of the bass I catch are even 3lb, which would be around the 18-inch mark.  

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Thanks but just to maintain a relatively clear perspective,

you catch more bass in your fish month of fishing,

than I do ALL YEAR !

 

Yeah, but I'm a busy boater and you're a Kraken hunter. 

 

Me:

 

 

You:

 

[WRB]

Percentages should be based on bass population size. You can’t catch big bass if they aren’t where you fish.

When our SoCal Lakes had high population of big bass in the 80’s-90’s DD bass made up a good percentage of the lakes population. Today the DD bass are rare making a very low % of the population well under 1%. A big bass today is 7 lbs a good size bass 4 lbs. catching bass between 4 lbs to 7 lbs doesn’t happen more the 25% of 8 hrs time on the water.

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

21 minutes ago, Crow Horse said:

I can only hope that these 4#-5# bass survive and grow larger.

 

Fingers crossed for you, Crow!

 

As you might know, my pond is full of three to three-and-a-half-pounders. My fingers are also crossed that they grow into four-pounders.

 

6 minutes ago, WRB said:

catching bass between 4 lbs to 7 lbs doesn’t happen more the 25% of the time.

 

That's still great fishing from my perspective, Tom.

[Jar11591]

My cut off is the same as yours. 4lb and up are the big bass around here. I thin a similar thread was posted last winter, and for me that season I had a 10:1 big fish to overall fish ratio. Gonna try to find that thread. 

[Rockhopper]

In my neck of the woods, 4# smallies and 6# lmb's I consider trophy size. One, and only one particular lake I frequent has a large population of big lmb. When fishing there, my trophy fish percentage is about a third of my catches. Every other body of water in my area my percentage is very low. 

 

A 6+# bass here is like catching a DD in Texas or Florida. 

[WaskaCrank12]

I like @MIbassyaker graph - I have only been fishing now for 2 years yet I have kept a note book recording catches - and since it's minus 36 wind chill today I just might crank up the fire place and make a chart....

What is considered "big" is certainly relative to state/location and lake - I believe the heaviest recorded largemouth in MN is 8 lb 15 oz's (23.5 inches long) and largest smallmouth 8 lbs. In comparison the MN Walleye record is 17lb 8oz (35.75 inches)

 The vast majority of catches for me have been 14 to 16 inches long - with the biggest smallmouth being 18.5 inches and largemouth 19.5 inches....I will make a chart and see what the percentages look like.

[TnRiver46]

If it’s dec-feb, most fish are decent size. If it’s may-august, they are usually dinks

[MediumMouthBass]

3lbs is considered big in PA so thats what i use to go off of.

3 years ago about 10% of the bass i caught were big. Biggest one was a 4lb smallmouth.

2 years ago i found a new smaller lake, about 90% of my bass catches were between 3-3.25-3.5-3.75-4-5-6-10lbs. Only a few smaller bass here and there.

Last year it was just a few 1-2lbers and a 3.25 since i only fished a few times the whole year.

[T-Billy]

 I consider 5# big, and my best year, I had 5 over 5# and one over 6#, so the percentage of big fish is a single digit number. I only know with muskie because I register my catches on the ODNR lunge log, to help them with their data, which in turn helps the stocking program. Last year roughly 20% of my muskie were what the ODNR calls "huskies", 42" or larger. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I consider 5lb+ fish to be big Bass.     I consider any Bass over 3lbs or 17.5" to be a quality catch though, and if I wanted to get a full picture of how well a lake's Bass population is, I'd start at that point.    Once a Bass gets to about 17.5", it's got a great chance at becoming a big Bass.   To me that's the number where you see a dramatic drop off in numbers of fish in a particular size class.   

 

In the month of January I've caught a total of 163 Bass thus far, of which 9 were over 5lbs

 

9 divided by 163 =  5.5% 

 

You can take that deeper......

 

4 fish over 5lbs =  2.45%

3 fish over 6lbs =  1.8%

1 fish over 7lbs  = .613%

1 fish over 9lbs = .613%

 

Those numbers likely hold pretty true outside of the months of October, November, and December.   It's ridiculous how hard 5lb+ fish are to catch in those months for me.   

 

If we really thought about the percentage chances of catching a 8lb NLMB, or a 10lb southern fish, we'd never go fishing.   We're talking lottery winning percentages when it comes to catching those caliber fish outside of few places where they exist in stupid numbers.  

[GaryH]

Time of year and location is the main factor. Sizes vary drastically. 

 

[gim]

2 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

My cut off is the same as yours. 4lb and up are the big bass around here.

 

Same.  Both lm and sm bass.

 

This is a difficult question for me to answer with any factuality though.  I'll try to take an educated guess based on 2024.

 

Largemouth big bass % catch rate is probably 1 out of 7.  My rate for smallmouth is probably slightly better, 1 out of 5.  The primary location I target smallmouth has a larger percentage of fish that are bigger compared to the lakes I frequently target largemouth at.

[SkippinJimmy]

3 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

So, thanks, Jimmy, for acknowledging that a four-pounder is a bigger deal in Maine than Texas. Ours aren't as big, but they sure are pretty.

There is really no comparison…and what good would it do if there were?  I didn’t add my PB to my profile because beyond me, does it really matter?
 

I am fortunate to live in a state that produces good size bass but just because my bass weighed X, that in no way minimizes someone else’s bass that weighed Y.  I am not much of a picture taker and the scale rarely leaves the box.  But if someone else chooses to share a 2lb bass or a 12lb bass that was meaningful to them, that makes me happy.

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, SkippinJimmy said:

I am fortunate to live in a state that produces good size bass but just because my bass weighed X, that in no way minimizes someone else’s bass that weighed Y.  I am not much of a picture taker and the scale rarely leaves the box.  But if someone else chooses to share a 2lb bass or a 12lb bass that was meaningful to them, that makes me happy.

 

Now I'm your fangirl.