Over 1000 10+lber.'s this old gent could teach us all somethings

[0119]

Check out www.gon.com/article.phpid=2352

This guys story holds many lessons for all of us.

Link doesnt work for some reason.  Its under the recent issue.  A fellow named Pat Cullen in Valdosta Ga.  using only black buzzbaits fishing at night using a Abu 5500C3 on an ugly stick.  Great story

[shimmy]

sidenote, they were pretty much all private ponds. And yes, that does make a difference!

[Bass Tracker 20]

Wow That guy is amazing!  I bet he is full of storys

[basspro215]

Wow That guy is amazing! I bet he is full of storys

is that sarcasim i here

[bassnbtom]

whoa I don't understand I'm in valdosta! I would like to know where he fishes!

[0119]

I dont see where a private pond has anything to do with it.  It wasnt bill dances closed to the public strip pits full of structure.  Most if not all farm ponds are shaped like a dinner plate or shallow bowl.  Zip for structure.  I think an interesting side note is screw the almighty bait monkey.  Aint no need for a steez or stella or even a st. croix.  Plain old walmart tackle can get the job done.  Not that I would do that.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Private pond has everything to do with it. :

Try holding that kind of track record on a crowded public lake where you struggle to catch 5 dinks all day.

[Daniel My Brother]

If the only thing you get from that article is that he's fishing private ponds, you're missing out on a lot of good information.

GREAT story. Thank you for posting

[shimmy]

it is an incredible feat, however, i read the story a while ago and am jealous of people like this fortunate enough to fish private ponds in Georgia. My only point was there is a reason he caught more ten pounders than any other elite tournament angler in the world and it's not because they are not using buzzbaits and ugly sticks

[fourbizz]

No one, and I mean NO ONE, has ever been the big bass bad *** that Butch Brown is. He himself has over 1000 doubles, up to 19.3 lbs, fishes ultra high pressure SoCal lakes, uses artificials,and is a very genuine and nice guy to talk to.

[Mattlures]

Bizz I gotta disagree with you. I think Butch is #2. Mike has a 20 and several high teens, plus he dominates the tournaments. Many times he wins team tournament fishing by himself and he usualy wins by 5+ pounds.

Plus he ownes most of the lake records in socal.

He has caught trophy bass out every lake here at least 20 different lakes. He is also extremly versitile. He has lake records sight fishing, on swimbaits, on jigs and on senkos.

No disrespect for Butch though, I do think he is a stud

As for the article, I am sure the old guy is a great fisherman but his success is centered around the private ponds. Imagine how many huge bass the guides have caught on Baccarac and El Salto

I do like his choice of baits though. The buzzer is one of my goto night time big bass bait.

[0119]

If public waters are so hard to fish I'll take them any day.  3 days fishing in Kentucky Lake last week with over 50 bass each day.  More bass over 3lbs. on average than any days on any waters Ive fished down here with these so called monster strain bass.

[Mattlures]

3 lbers are irelevant to the acomplishment. 3 lbers live everywhare a bass lives. They are young and dumb. Anybody can catch them and anybody who has fishes has caught them. He fishes private ponds with little preasure. It makes a huge difference. I am sure that he would still catch big bass in public lakes just not as many. He uses a proven big bass technique. Buzzers at night are a great choice. Plus he fishes a ton and I am sure he is very good. The numbers are just decieving becuase of where he fishes.

[Taylor Fishin 4 life]

ha i live in valdosta

[0119]

My point is not about 3lb.er's its about pressure.  I fish swamps, ditches, sloughs and back creeks with no pressure and find it funny how a trip to a huge public water like Kentucky Lake yielded such great and frankly easy results.  Comparing the old timers situation to anybody or any fish from california is whats irrelivant.  Freakishly huge fish borne of a peculiar situation where they were humanly introduced is like comparing Valdosta bass fishing with bluefishing in New Jersey.

[Daniel My Brother]

Finding the private water to fish is obviously part of the hunt for him. He doesn't own these lakes, he finds them on a map and puts in the time with the owners to gain permission.

The lakes may be private, but you and I have the same chance of gaining access to them as he does.  He's just better at this than most.

There are dozens of threads on here every season from people wanting to know how to catch big bass. Maybe the best answer would be to learn what kind of beer the farmer up the road drinks.

[Randall]

I don't knock the guy for his catches and I liked the article but private ponds and lakes if you fish the right ones are much easier to catch big fish from. I fish a small lake at night a couple times a year. I can get a 10 pounder most nights in summer and an eight pounder almost everytime I fish it. It's just not the same as fishing pressured public water during the day and I don't fish it to often because it's pretty easy to catch the fish there. It's not as much of a challenge to me but it is still fun to catch them. I have a buddy out fishing there now and I would bet he already has a couple eight pounders caught on a buzzbait or swimbait. Last week he sent me a photo of a ten pounder they caught at the ramp on one cast before they ever put the boat in.

[Mattlures]

My point is not about 3lb.er's its about pressure. I fish swamps, ditches, sloughs and back creeks with no pressure and find it funny how a trip to a huge public water like Kentucky Lake yielded such great and frankly easy results. Comparing the old timers situation to anybody or any fish from california is whats irrelivant. Freakishly huge fish borne of a peculiar situation where they were humanly introduced is like comparing Valdosta bass fishing with bluefishing in New Jersey.

Ok comparing LMB from Ca to Ga LMB is like comparing them to tuna???? alrighty then.

Anyways CA has nothing to do with it and I never made the comparison.

My point was that his numbers are decieving because he fishes places that have little presure. That makes a huge difference weather its in GA or CA or Japan.

If he was to catch those same numbers on public lakes then he would be a champion.

He obviously know how to fish and target big fish but again the biggest part of his success is his access to privite ponds that hold a lot of unpreasured big bass.

If I fished lake Baccarac in Mexico 300 days a year how many 10+lbers would I have after a decade? or 3 decades? I give him props, He put in th ework to find all those ponds and gain access. He isnt cathing them because he is lucky. He knows what he is doing, but he defenately has better oportunities the 99.9999999999% of the rest of the bass fisherman in the world.

[paul.]

fascinates me how sometimes we wanna put asterisks beside accomplishments we will never approach ourselves.  maybe it's just easier to do that than to admit how we wish we could do something like that, but never will because we don't have the opportunity and/or the ability.  as far as i have read, this guy never cheated or did anything even questionable with his fishing.  he just went out and worked hard at something he loved using the methods that made him happy.  and he's caught over 1000 trophy bass.  regardless of whether we wanna recognize or not, and regardless of whatever asterisks we wanna put by this man's name, this guy has done something incredible.  and regardless of what constitutes a "trophy" bass where we happen to live, 1000 trophy bass is a number most of us will never even sniff.  why can't we just be happy for the guy?   i say fish how and where you wanna.  enjoy yourself and use the tactics that you like as long as it's legal.  and then recognize other people's right to do the same without trying to minimize their accomplishments. 

[BassThumb]

Good article. Thanks for posting this. It's a great accomplishment, regardless of the circumstances. Although, I think it's ridiculous to discount the fact that they are from private ponds. C'mon...seriously. Those are virgin bass we're talking about.

This link works:

http://www.gon.com/article.php?id=2352&cid=153

[0119]

And Mattlure my point is pressured waters have nothing to do with it.  The term pressured water is only an excuse not a reason for a lack of success.

And my point was farm ponds more than not have no structure and are harder to fish than structure ladden waters.  And my point was a $400 Steez or Calais doesnt neccessarily help you get success.

[Catt]

Pressured VS Un-Pressured bass are totally different animals

There are guys I know here in Southwest Louisiana with DD catches in the hundreds from private pay ponds, lakes, & marshes. But put them on Toledo Bend or Rayburn they struggle to boat a limit.

[Boogey Man]

Kudos to the guy.

Imagine how big those bass were be if those ponds were stocked with rainbow trout.

[shimmy]

And Mattlure my point is pressured waters have nothing to do with it. The term pressured water is only an excuse not a reason for a lack of success.

And my point was farm ponds more than not have no structure and are harder to fish than structure ladden waters. And my point was a $400 Steez or Calais doesnt neccessarily help you get success.

Given your logic, i can't tell if you're arguing just to argue or if you really have no idea. If you don't know the difference between a georgia private pond and kentucky lake as well as other pressured public waters then this argument is useless.

[Fish Chris]

Around here, fishing in private ponds would make a HUGE difference alright....

I mean, if that all you ever fished, you'd probably never get a 10 lb'er !!! 

Seriously though.... their might be a private pond or two, somewhere up here in Nor Cal, managed specifically for a handful of giants, where the small fish are constantly caught and removed, and lots of attention is placed on a fat, constant, food supply.

But WAAAAY more common in the private ponds around here, are decent numbers of easy to catch 4 to 7 lb'ers.

You want good numbers of 10+ lb'ers in these parts, you need to go to heavily pressured, public waters, where mostly dinks get caught (and hopefully removed) while giants pig out on hatchery trout, and don't get caught by the average angler near so often.... and the guys that do catch them with regularity, usually have already learned the importance of releasing those giants.

It's human nature to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

But as far as I'm concerned, certainly with trophy bass fishing in Nor Cal, those private farm pond owners can just stay over there catching their 4 to 7's. I'll fish the heavily pressured, public waters for my 10 to 15's (or bigger ) thank you.

As for Butch Brown vs. Mike Long..... Ahhh geeez. Both of those guys are big bass gods. Both have caught far more 15+ lb'ers than I have. And (to back my point) both have caught the vast majority (maybe all) of their huge bass in heavily pressured public waters.

BTW, I've never fished So Cal, but from what I hear, there are a LOT more 10 to 15+ lb'ers swimming around down there, than their are up here. Maybe if I had lived in So Cal, instead of Nor Cal, I'd have 200 DD bass, instead of 89. But I can pretty much guarantee that both BB and ML would still be way out in front of me ! Those guys are just bad a$$ trophy bass guys !

Peace,

Fish