What is your favorite moment while catching a Big bass

[AV8TOR]

The first glimpse of the fish closely followed by holding it in my hands. 

[burleytog]

Sharpening the filet knife.

[5bass]

Sharpening the filet knife.

Stir that pot Burley!! 

[burleytog]

Sharpening the filet knife.

Stir that pot Burley!!

Heating the oil?  :-/

[acmaul13]

The strike is definatly a good starting point,the fight is even better,to land a lunker look at it and say Thanks to the Fishing Gods before you let it go to fight another day,PRICELESS Dam near as good as well you know the other fishy thing :

[J Francho]

Sharpening the filet knife.

Stir that pot Burley!!

Heating the oil? :-/

Before:

After:

No, I did not eat my son.... ;D ;D

[Gangley]

the tap, without a doubt, the tap.  When your fishing a worm and the tap feels like somebody hit your rod with a bat, thats what drives me nuts.  I probably spend 20 minutes a day thinking about the taps that I have felt in the past with big lunkers.

[bigbill]

Now catching bass i've had two great, awesome moments.

1. Its landing a 10lber at dawn, first light.  I never seen a fish this big in freshwater.

2. My second time is watching a bass in the lilly pads working over the baitfish and landing it and still seeing the lilly pads being torn up while the bass was in my hand.  That tells me there is more than one bass there.  I did catch a 6lb 1oz bass there first.

[SMfisher]

one of my favorite moments is when the SM jump, when they jump at night you can tell by the sound of the splash if the fish is a big one.

[Lund Explorer]

Sharpening the filet knife.

Stir that pot Burley!!

Heating the oil? :-/

The Dust..... Don't forget the dust.  A little flour to start, and add in Lowry's season salt and lemon pepper to taste.

Note to Franco:  For fish chief, not the boy!

[BassThumb]

Probably setting the hook, or when I lip the bass. Unless I'm fishing topwater, then it's the strike.  Especially when you get a good look at the bass before you feel it.

[b.Lee]

The realization when I set hook & the bass sets hook back...you know it's a Hawg

I like that, never thought of it that way

[tritz18]

The scream of the drag as the fish goes towards deeper water or tries to get into the lily pads!! 

[jignfule]

When you set the hook and it's so sold that you think it might be a log and then the line starts moving.

[Jigfishn10]

All of the above are very exciting experiences and I enjoy it all. My best experiences have come while sight fishing and this past week I've been fortunate enough to have landed a dozen fish while sight fishing.

Bluegill are still spwaning and bass have been within the spawn beds. I was fishing a single blade spinnerbait just under the surface most of the times and would watch those bass from approx 20' away chasing and hitting my bait. You watch the bass just under the surface leaving a v-wake. Once that fish got close, your heart starts pounding and all you can think of is not setting the hook too early...and yes, that did happen a couple of times. One particular fish was at least a 5 lber I saw chasing. I watched her start to hit and pulled the trigger on the hookset too fast.

[cart7t]

It's gotta be when I reach for my Grandpa's rusty old stringer.  There are just so many memories.. 

[NasTMcfingas]

The realization when I set hook & the bass sets hook back...you know it's a Hawg

x2 couldn't of said it any better!