What's your most memorable bass?

[fresh2salttim]

Mine was my first 3+ pound bass because I was an ignorant kid with a vivid imagination that thought he had just landed a 10 pounder. I recon my young self hollered with joy for a good 5 minutes until I was out of breath. When I took the fish home my uncle had to ruin my parade by telling me that my fish would be lucky to be 3 1/2 pounds.

[king fisher]

[MediumMouthBass]

My 10lber wasnt a very memorable experience, it for sure was a life achievement for me. But there wasnt much of a fight and it was at the bank in under a minute....

 

My most memorable bass catch and most prized fishing story is this:

Several years ago i only fished for trout and panfish, i decided i would like to learn how to bass fish, i bought a few combos meant just for them and some baits too. Even taught myself how to use a baitcaster! I spent many hours a week for several months and caught nothing😌

One day my mom took me to a very big local lake and we bank fished for about 8 hours, once again caught 0 bass.... I was upset and thought maybe bass fishing just isnt for me, so later on i was able to convince her to take me to another local lake to fish for bluegills off the public deck.

I went to the car and removed all the bass gear and loaded it with light rods and a few panfish soft plastics. The area you can cast from this deck was 1-4' at most and only went out 20' and then there was nothing but weeds. It was now dark, and i was only going to cast my Walmart special broken off piece of plastic worm on a Trout Magnet jighead a few more times, and then i felt something! It pulled hard and my drag was screaming!!!! My light action Cherrywood was bending in every direction and this fish was dragging it all over, it finally got it within a few feet of us and i saw it was a bass, and just like that it buried itself in the weeds right in front of us.... We somehow were able to get it out and it was around 3lbs.

 

Took it home and cleaned it up, and my parents enjoyed it. That one bass forged my love for bass fishing and set me on the path im on now.

[fresh2salttim]

4 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

My 10lber wasnt a very memorable experience, it for sure was a life achievement for me. But there wasnt much of a fight and it was at the bank in under a minute....

 

My most memorable bass catch and most prized fishing story is this:

Several years ago i only fished for trout and panfish, i decided i would like to learn how to bass fish, i bought a few combos meant just for them and some baits too. Even taught myself how to use a baitcaster! I spent many hours a week for several months and caught nothing😌

One day my mom took me to a very big local lake and we bank fished for about 8 hours, once again caught 0 bass.... I was upset and thought maybe bass fishing just isnt for me, so later on i was able to convince her to take me to another local lake to fish for bluegills off the public deck.

I went to the car and removed all the bass gear and loaded it with light rods and a few panfish soft plastics. The area you can cast from this deck was 1-4' at most and only went out 20' and then there was nothing but weeds. It was now dark, and i was only going to cast my Walmart special broken off piece of plastic worm on a Trout Magnet jighead a few more times, and then i felt something! It pulled hard and my drag was screaming!!!! My light action Cherrywood was bending in every direction and this fish was dragging it all over, it finally got it within a few feet of us and i saw it was a bass, and just like that it buried itself in the weeds right in front of us.... We somehow were able to get it out and it was around 3lbs.

 

Took it home and cleaned it up, and my parents enjoyed it. That one bass forged my love for bass fishing and set me on the path im on now.

 

Glad that fish was able to infect you with the bass bug. 

[GRiver]

I have never caught a 10 lber…. But I did break my personal best twice in one day…. For years my PB was 5 pounds, then back to back, within 20 minutes of each other, caught a 6.5, then just over 7. 
I fished hard for the next hour or so, hoping to keep the run going, then I just sat a drifted. Listened to the sounds, watched nature for a while, then went back to fishing. 
It was a good day.

[Mike L]

 

March 6, 2018

8:24 am

 

We were at Stick Marsh just floating around when my boater thought he saw a flash head for an isolated clump of reeds.
I told him not to approach from the front or sides but to stop behind the clump because if she was on a bed there I didn’t want her to see us approach, as those reeds were the perfect cover for the boat. 
I stepped off the rear deck and stood next to the drivers seat as again, I didn’t want to take the chance she would see me standing up. 
 

 I lined up my pitch to the bed and threw a 7” Fat Max through a small opening about 5ft past it and brought it up before it hit bottom. 
When she hit she headed out and almost pulled the rod out of my hand. 
When it got about 20 ft from the boat she took a nose dive so fast I thought the rod was gonna break.

As I tried to get her away from the reeds into more open water, She made 1 jump, I heard my boater say “Oh my God”!

 

As I loosened the drag my boater who was sitting on his front pedestal yelled….

”What do I do?!

I said “Nothing! just get up and be ready to move”
 

She took me from the rear deck to the front and back again. 
He grabbed the net and yelled..

“get her closer so I can net her”!!

I yelled back…”NO!! I GOT IT!!
 

11 lbs 13oz

 

 

 

Mike

[Lottabass]

Had open heart surgery several years ago. Before, during, and while recovering my fear was "is this going to end my fishing".

Caught this bass on the first time out after recovery.  I thought, "Whew, I can still do this"!

[Pat Brown]

I have a lot of them - it's why I'm a certified junkie for the bass.  One wouldn't do that to a man.  But when you got a nice pile of stories like this - it gets to be wher ya need to catch em to function.

 

I don't know which of my giant fish truly is the most memorable but in my heart - it's gotta be a topwater story for this to work - here goes.

 

I have caught this particular fish 4 times and hooked her a 5th AND my son has caught her once.  Biggest I ever caught her was in February of 2023 on a swim jig.  9.1

 

I caught her AGAIN that March on a red lipless crankbait and she weight 8 lb 12 oz.

 

Fast forward to July - I decide it's time to do an afternoon fishing trip with Jake - so we pack up and head down to the public pond we fish at nearby.

 

It's a smoldering hot day.  The sun is bright and there's hardly more than a tiny ripple happening when we arrive.

 

It's probably 4 pm and there's tons of people at the pond.  Boats being rented and paddled.  Ducks being fed.  Children running and screaming and playing.  People fishing everywhere.

 

Everyone I see is fishing worms and jigs and crankbaits and whopper ploppers and live bait and I don't see any fish anywhere near the bank (rare when it's as hot and busy as it was that day.

 

I am not sure what possessed me to throw the frog but looking back on it - I think I just wanted to try something different from what everybody else was doing and failing with - basically as simple as that.

 

I had the all white Strike King pad perch tied on to my trusty Falcon 7' heavy fast and I had my 8 speed Shimano SLX spooled up with 40 lb braid.

 

I look at the spots I would normally want to throw the frog - the grass edges - all loaded with people bank fishing.

 

The boat house sits at the center of the park and has a huge dock that sticks out into the center of the pond and to the right of it there's a huge rocky flat that's only a foot deep or so for many feet before it drops off steeply out towards the center.

 

Normally there are a few boats docked - maybe one being paddled around and some people fishing this flat.

 

On this particular day, the boats were ALL being used and as a result, the flat was constantly experiencing people returning rental or just departing - so there were no fishermen.

 

I am not shy about casting baits around rental paddle boaters on a busy day so I wandered over to the flat and waited for the boat traffic to stabilize out on the main water and made my first cast.

 

I had just spooled up the rod so it went further than I remembered it going the last time I cast it and marveled at how tiny and far away my little white frog looked bobbing gently on the surface looked at that moment.

 

I am ALWAYS trying to be intentional with things like topwater and jerkbaits - never mechanical - and so I tell myself 'Pat it's very very hot - go super slow'

 

And I begin my retrieve.  I start with little gentle pulls just to get that frog sliding side to side nicely and I settle on a cadence of pop - wait 3-4 seconds - gently pop again - wait 3-4 seconds - pop harder a couple times in rapid succession - pause 3-4 seconds etc.  I was basically spacing out and just enjoying the weather and having a little slice of water to myself when suddenly (practically a mile away) the water erupts around my Frog and it disappears.

 

At this precise moment my brain decides that we don't have time to reel down and we don't have time to see if she's got it and she's a mile away so we better set that book and set it fast.

 

Well - I told y'all I had just respooled my SLX - let me tell ya - the drag somehow got loosened and the first thing I noticed on that hook set was about as far back as I yanked that rod - just that much braid slipped out of my spool from the drag on that hook set.  I'm turning that reel handle and she's out there wallering and tail walking and now suddenly people are gathering behind me and video taping the whole debacle.

 

Some quick hands and I manage to keep her pegged while tightening my drag star and I manage to turn her towards me.

 

This fish probably jumped 9-10 times clear out of the water and I could tell she was HUGE.

 

Finally after what seemed like a very adrenaline packed 2 minutes or so I get her to where I can wade into the 7" deep water to lip her and that is precisely what I did.

 

When I get my hands on her I realize this is not just a big fish but it is THE fish I caught (my then 9.1 lb PB) that February - now caught halfway across the pond in a completely different area on a third bait!  The frog!

 

She tipped the scales at 8 lb 3 oz on the third time I caught her and I let her go.

 

Kind strangers from the crowd took the photo!

 

This was the moment that solidified the frog as one of my secret weapons for catching big fish when you shouldn't be able to catch anything.  😎😎😎

 

[Jar11591]

There are several that are seared into my memory. But at the top of the list, is probably my 9lb 13oz PB. 

 

February 2017 on a hot, sunny afternoon. 

[gim]

I caught this smallmouth July 2016.  In a small river that averages about 1-2 feet deep and is about as wide a really long cast.

 

We just float with the current from point A to point B and cast to various targets like overhanging shorelines, logs, boulders, eddies, etc.  It actually kinda pulled our 12 foot jon boat around a little too.

 

It's tied for a PB smallmouth at 21 inches.  I've caught some really nice plump lake run smallmouth in recent memory too, but this one means more to me because of where I caught it.

[A-Jay]

First off, I expect to be out of 'likes' by noon ~ so many great bass & stories here.

 

 While I've had my share, my 'most Memorable Bass", 

at least in recent memory, was not one I caught.

But am beyond glad I was there to witness.

Sharing in the new PB experience with Big Fish Jeff and our guide Manual

is something I'll never forget.

Excited like little kids.

So Good.

Not to mention, she was the biggest bass Jeff & I had ever seen.

A-Jay

[Logan S]

My first bass, I caught it on my very first cast.

 

I was maybe 8 or 9 and a family friend moved to house with a pond in the back...While exploring the pond I saw some panfish swimming around and it sparked the idea that I want to try fishing.  I had been fishing a handful of times before and caught some panfish, but this was the first time where I decided that I actually wanted to do it on my own.  So dad digs out an old rod and reel and we head to the local tackle shop where he picks out a few things, one of which was a Mepps Comet.  

 

Next time we go to their house, I head out to fish.  I cast that Mepps Comet straight out to the middle of the pond and after a couple turns of the handle it gets heavy, then all of a sudden a big fish is jumping and splashing and I'm trying to figure out what the heck to do.  I get it cranked in, figure out how to unhook it, and not really knowing what else to do now that the catch is over, I slide it back in the pond and watch it swim off.  It was probably only about a pound and half, but compared to the handful small panfish I had seen and caught before it might as well have been a whale.  I didn't have any deep or profound philosophical thoughts about it...Just sort of a, "wow, that was really fun" feeling.  That's when I got hooked on it.    

[Dwight Hottle]

I have had a few good memories of bass caught but this one stands out for the largemouth category. She went 11-2 my first DD ever on a day filled with great action of all quality bass. We were fishing a super cold front with temps in the upper 30's went we launched. We were fishing Stickmarsh/Farm 13 with Hugh Crumpler a famous Florida guide on Stickmarsh. It was the 2nd day of the front & we had caught only 3-4 bass the day before. We were fishing live shiners on the south end at the water control structure. The secret to our success is that they had opened the gates at the end of first day creating a flushing current that blew most of the vegetation away. On that 2nd day we had more than 20 bass over 5lbs. Numerous 6 & 7lbers with 2 bass over 8lbs & my big girl. 

  

[bassmedic46]

My most memorable experience was my first Bass. I was fishing off of a bridge and hadn’t caught anything all day when all of a sudden I got a bite. It was a brief fight but I did manage to get the Bass up. After that I caught the Bass Fever.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Beautiful fish and great stories everyone!   

 

I could never pick a single fish, to me any fish over about 8lbs is a story and memory deserving of my favorite.     

 

Little surprised by the overwhelming amount of LMB being posted.   Even the  Menderchunk Mastro chose a big ole Gina 😁 

 

I've always believed the most memorable thing in Bass fishing is seeing your first big LM's mouth come breaching from the water.   

[Bluebasser86]

I have a couple very memorable ones.

 

[volzfan59]

Center Hill Lake in middle TN, using an old Quantum 4’ microlite rod and reel spooled with 2lb mono line. I was throwing a black with gold flake 1/8 oz Rooster Tail catching good size blue gill in mid March. A 3 1/2 pound smallmouth jumped on my Rooster Tail and gave me the adventure of a lifetime! Took a lot of playing but I landed and released it. As soon as I got home, I put the rod, reel and lure on the wall and have never used it again. Different house, wall and state but it’s still in retirement right now. That was in 1986 and I remember it like it was yesterday. I’ve caught several largemouth and smallmouth that were considerably bigger, but none more memorable.

[Skunkmaster-k]

The 9#er that I ate was memorable. Not my favorite memory , but crap happens. 

[scaleface]

See my avatar. I caught those in a farm pond using a cane pole. I remember my cane pole breaking while landing one of those bass.  Thats the day that hooked me on fishing.

[BassKat]

Two to report. First is "one that got away" - my PB is 9-10 and have been on a lifetime search for a DD. I was fishing a 16' john with two buddies from HS and hooked a giant. I surfaced the fish so refraction was out of the equation and estimated it between 11 and 12 before it came unhooked. Brutal. The other, my prized Personal Worst (PW) in my profile pic. Fishing an original GLX, I felt a distinct but extremely light tick, set the hook, and impaled that mighty 2.5"er. Anytime friends start swapping pics of PBs, I pull out my PW for a laugh. 

[Functional]

My most memorable one was probably when I was 6 or 7 fishing with my dad. I had always enjoyed fishing but this one was a core memory with him and one that really started an addiction. 

 

We always went camping in the summer months almost every other weekend at a place that had a lake in "upstate" NY and we had a boat there. Me and my father would always go out while my mom and sister went to the beach on the lake. Well I was fishing our standard purple worm and after letting it soak on the edge of some lily pads I start to slowly stroke the rod and though I had hung up on a log. I kept applying tension and started to feel it "float" up like I was pulling up a log. I mentioned it to my dad (we always had a habit of announcing when we caught things other than fish) and when he looked back my rod took a HARD dive down and I pulled hard as I could to set it. He coached me through the whole process as it stripped drag and made hard pulls back towards the pads. It had easily been the biggest fish I had ever felt and the process was new to me. We got it in and it was 3.5lbs, my largest and for the lake we were on still one of the top few we ever pulled from that lake. 

 

A lot of celebrating after that. I was pumped with my biggest fish and he was excited for me. For sure a core memory and a fish that really started something I hope to carry on and share with my kids. No pics, we were more of a family that lived in the moment and only had a handful of pics on holidays and some birthdays. Was nice at the time but really wish I had some more pictures to remember things. 

[WRB]

my PB at Castiac in ‘93 was a amazing bass for power and it’s jumped clear out of the water after hooking about 100’ away. The big girl looked like maybe 12 lbs at a distance. This bass then ran towards the boat then under it and out the opposite side running another 100’,  I knew it was a bass because it jump but fought like a big stripe bass. When I hand landed this bass it looked like a record to me and very exited. 19.3 lbs see my avatar.

Tom

[BassKat]

@WRB Absolutely unreal. Can't even imagine what it was like to have that freight train run under the boat and out.

[Alex from GA]

Mine was my first Shoal Bass.  About 22 years ago friend asked me to go with him wading in the upper Chattahoochee River and I went.  We caught several Shoal Bass that day and I was hooked.  Soon after I bought a kayak for river fishing.  For about 6-8 years I couldn't get anyone to join me, all the kayakers went for striper in the lake, so I went alone most of the time.  Last year was my last kayak excursion due to shoulder problems and age.  

[BassKat]

@Alex from GA Alex, I have a Hobie Lynx that's extremely manageable at just 47lbs in case that might sound like something that could help keep you on the water.