Question on very large fish

[69tr6r]

Hey everyone, I took my oldest son (10) out with me this weekend to a local pond.  We usually catch a few small bass there, but nothing big and not big numbers of fish either, but it's a quick and easy hit.

So my son was fishing off of a peninsula and I was closer to shore.  He asks me what the fish are called with a black stripe.  So I tell him it's a largemouth bass.  He says he sees one that is this big (hold his hands about 2 feet apart).  So I think he's seeing things of course, but when I take a walk over to him, sure enough, there are not one, but 4 largemouth bass swimming in a school, if you can call it that.  Each bass was well over 20 inches, I would say closer to 24.  I was shocked, I had never even seen a bass that large, never mind 4 of them swimming together.  The water is very clear, and they were in about 2 feet of water, so seeing them was very easy, no mistaking it.  They were just cruising in and out of this little lagoon where I also spotted a ton of empty nests.  Needless to say, we threw everything at them and they didn't even look twice at any of our lures.

So my questions are, do bass that large swim in schools often, or was this a rare sighting?  What do you think they were doing?  How can I catch them?

We saw them around 4 in the afternoon and then went back to the pond at dusk and tried the same area and got nothing.  Tried again the next morning around 9, still nothing.

Thanks in advance.

[NateFollmer]

Bass will normally school until they are around 3 lbs. after that, they are normally loners. Is it rare to see big fish together? No, especially on small bodies of water like a pond, they may school up even after reaching a larger size. There are exemptions to every rule though, nothing is definite with fish haha.

Honestly, they may have been ignoring your lures because you may have been spotted. I've came up on some massive bass that just wouldn't take anything, but weren't spooked enough to leave their spot. They may have been guarding a nest (I doubt it though with 4 of them together) but they usually won't move unless you put something inside their nest.

Big bass are smart, you really have to work hard to fool them. They didn't get big by being stupid  You'll get 'em eventually, just keep tryin'! Try a lure that you think isn't very popular. Maybe they are used to seeing what you were throwing and know not to eat it.

[69tr6r]

Thanks for the quick response Nate.  This is a very small body of water too, so you are right about the schooling.  I definitely think we were spotted.  It was just strange the way they were swimming, like they had intentions, maybe they were backing bait up into the lagoon, but we didn't see any strikes.  But that could be because they were aware of us watching them and were spooked.

I'm going to try something different, like you said.  I really wanna catch one of these monsters!

[NateFollmer]

Did you notice any crawfish? They may have been hitting them underwater. I've never really seen largemouths ambush crawfish in packs but small waters have a whole set of different rules

Now smallies on the other hand, they will school regardless of size. You'll catch dinks and monsters all in the same area. They LOVE crawfish too and I have seen them pack up and destroy crawfish. It's funny how different these two fish are, yet they are so similar.

[Red Bear]

whats the primary bait fish in that pond for the bass? is it bluegill? they may have been looking for smaller fish to round up and feed on, its much easier if they work together. if its bluegill they primarily feed on i would catch some small ones and throw them out on a big hook, the bass wont be able to ignore that bluegill once he starts jerking around on your line, you may even see bigger bass you dont know are there come out and crush that bluegill...just make sure that its legal in your state

[69tr6r]

Hey Red Bear, I would guess that the primary baitfish is bluegill.  I'll have to check if that's ok in my state (CT).  What size hook and how do I hook them?

Your explanation about rounding up smaller fish and working together makes sense.  They were definitely swimming together and going back and forth between entering the lagoon as a group, and then swimming out of it, also as a group.

I have not seen any crawfish in this pond, but it doesn't mean that they aren't in there.

Great tips guys, keep them coming!

[WRB]

How big and how deep is this pond?

Large bass often hunt together by year class, the loner scenario is true when the bass is inactive or holding on a particular ambush site.

Water distorts the fish size; look longer and thinner than they actually are.

Yes, live bait works well and a live 7" to 9" night crawler fly lined (no weight) on a size 1 drop shot style hook, hooked about 1" from the front end, should do the trick for you.

Remember bass in ponds are very people shy, shadows or movement will put the bass off feeding, they know you are there. Stay several feet back from the bank and blind cast to where you think the bass maybe located. Spinning tackle works good for this type of presentation.

WRB

[Red Bear]

Hey Red Bear, I would guess that the primary baitfish is bluegill. I'll have to check if that's ok in my state (CT). What size hook and how do I hook them?

Your explanation about rounding up smaller fish and working together makes sense. They were definitely swimming together and going back and forth between entering the lagoon as a group, and then swimming out of it, also as a group.

I have not seen any crawfish in this pond, but it doesn't mean that they aren't in there.

Great tips guys, keep them coming!

ive hooked them in the tail when ive had the most success, and the back sometimes has worked well if it doesnt kill the fish quickly. i usually just use a 4/0 wide gap worm hook. sometimes you have to be patient and wait a few seconds for them to start eating the bluegill, ive seen them pick it up and start to run as well as just hit it and start to swallow immediately. you dont have to cast out far at all, let it jerk a bit to draw the attention of bass and then let it have a bit of slack line, i like to leave my bail open after the fish jerks a bit on the line, youll know when a bass starts running with it, hold on and be ready to set the hook. sometimes you pull a skinned up descaled bluegill out of the basses mouth if youre not patient enough. but try not to let the bass swallow the hook either. the fact is its very hard for the bass to avoid trying to eat the injured bluegill so long as the bluegill isnt too big for them. the hard part is catching a small enough bluegill to use, for that i use a small abeerdeen hook and a nightcrawler. its only something i do if the bass arent hitting anything else and im just determined to catch atleast one. lots of times i can catch the bass on the abeerdeen hook and nightcrawler. the bass see the bluegill hording around the nightcrawler a gill picks it up and runs with it a bass swoops in, gill drops the crawler and the bass grabs it on the fall. i see all of this fishing clear shallow ponds...

[Mattlures]

How big and how deep is this pond?

Large bass often hunt together by year class, the loner scenario is true when the bass is inactive or holding on a particular ambush site.

Water distorts the fish size; look longer and thinner than they actually are.

Yes, live bait works well and a live 7" to 9" night crawler fly lined (no weight) on a size 1 drop shot style hook, hooked about 1" from the front end, should do the trick for you.

Remember bass in ponds are very people shy, shadows or movement will put the bass off feeding, they know you are there. Stay several feet back from the bank and blind cast to where you think the bass maybe located. Spinning tackle works good for this type of presentation.

WRB

Yep they were hunting and they were catchable.

You have to hunt them. Be sneeky and a fly lined crawler is a great choice. It has worked for me several times. One interesting thing about sightfishing cruising bass with crawlers is, they tend to spit the crawler out after a second or two. Do not hesitate to set the hook.

[69tr6r]

Not sure on the depth of the pond, but it is stocked with trout, so it should be relatively deep.  It's probably about 3 acres, just a guess.  I think you are right about the water distorting the size of the fish because they definitely looked very long and thin.  So they were probably closer to 20" than 24", still a great size fish for the area.

I did try a Berkley Gulp nightcrawler, but I guess if the fish were aware of us they wouldn't hit it anyway.

I'm looking forward to going back to try again with some of this new info, thanks!

[TxHawgChaser1]

try a fluke on a split shot rig... you have to gently flip it right in front of the fishes mouth and keep it there a small twitch or two and he should inhale it.... colors- I like watermelon... I also might try a zoom finesse worm wacky rigged...