Catching big fish: Luck or Skill?

[The Baron]

Boy, lots to chew on here.

 

I feel like catching big bass is about knowing where they live, so knowledge, and of course skill to know how to present the right bait to them at the right time. A little luck never hurt, but I rely mostly on the latter and my results show it.  I’m working on the knowledge and skill though.

 

I believe you’re right @Swamp Girl about size in the north.  Talking largemouth, anything over 4# here is a very good fish but you can expect a good angler to catch one regularly.  Over 5# is a really good one, but likely happens a couple times a year for an experienced angler.  Over 6# is a once/season event for a very good fisherman who spends a lot of time on the water but could be a once in a lifetime fish for the average angler. Over 7# is a freak.

 

The blessing for my area is the same weights apply for smallmouth.  In fact, 4’s and 5’s are very common on Lake Ontario / the St. Lawrence River, with 6+ not at all uncommon.

[gim]

1 minute ago, The Baron said:

Talking largemouth, anything over 4# here is a very good fish but you can expect a good angler to catch one regularly.  Over 5# is a really good one, but likely happens a couple times a year for an experienced angler.  Over 6# is a once/season event for a very good fisherman who spends a lot of time on the water but could be a once in a lifetime fish for the average angler.

 

I'm generally in agreement with this.  I have never caught a largemouth over 6 pounds in over 20 years fishing here though.  I've come close many times, including twice last season.

 

Honestly even a 3 pounder is a much better fish than average here too.  You bring in a 5 fish limit of 3 pounders and you generally will do pretty good in most non-pro tournaments here.

[KSanford33]

3 hours ago, Fried Lemons said:

When you say big, how big are we talking? I fish swimbaits a lot and one thing I've noticed is nothern guys tend to want to throw the 6-7" baits because they think their fish aren't big enough to tackle the true big baits. I've had the most success with baits in the 8-10" range. My most productive glide bait is a Deps 250. This may be counterintuitive but when the fish are really eating big baits you get more bites by upsizing instead of downsizing. 

You make a good point. I consider big baits to be in the 6-7” range here in NY. I have bigger baits, but I usually only throw those when I’m going for pike or musky.