OK I can catch plenty of 3-5lbers how to make the move to the big ones??

[32251]

i have posted here about the 50 acre private lake i fish a lot. i have learned the techniques that get me 15 or so a day up to 5 lbs. I have caught one about 10lb, but that is only one in 3 years. The lake record so far is 14lb. There are some big bass in this lake for sure.

Beautiful spring fed lake, threadfin shad, deepest section 18-20ft most of the lake is about 6-9feet pond management company keeps the color of the lake to a nice greenish color.

Been catching them on plastic worms black over red shad color and at night texas rig just moving and casting toward the bank and giving the worm a couple of flicks and then keep moving.

So what would be the way you guys would make a serious attempt at only big fish using plastic worms. Size....technique...speed....time on a spot....depths...etc.

I am willing to devote say 1/2 of my fishing day to just targeting big fish, but dont really have any ideas right now..One thing for sure...what i am doing for the last few years is only getting me up to 5 lbers on a consistant basis. I have read the Big Bass book by Bill Murphy and can do his super slow "stitching" technique.  Just wonder about other approaches.  Thanks for any advice.

[Nibbles]

Have you tried using bigger hooks and baits?

I hear good things about the Fat Ika.

[Shane J]

Yeah, try a 6/0 hook with a 10" Anaconda or Thumper Worm. Should get the attention of some of the bigger girls. Sounds like a nice lake.

[Big-O]

I would say slow down when fishing your soft plastics, easing them along the bottom at a snails pace. Many fish feel the bait around them before they actually see it and if you have already moved it out of their comfort zone, they'll often disregard it.

Fish that aren't actively feeding at any given time will still eat if you provide them with the right opportunity. That is usually a bait that eases right into their safe zone and and says "BITE ME"  And when they feel something crawling along the bottom near them, they will often take the time to ck it out....so I try to give'em the time 

This style of fishing will also allow you to feel the variety of bottom structure that any given area has to offer. Once the bite comes, you know what the fish are relating to and can reproduce your effort more easily.

Hope this helps

Big O

www.ragetail.com   

[Fat-G]

I would say slow down when fishing your soft plastics, easing them along the bottom at a snails pace. Many fish feel the bait around them before they actually see it and if you have already moved it out of their comfort zone, they'll often disregard it.

Fish that aren't actively feeding at any given time will still eat if you provide them with the right opportunity. That is usually a bait that eases right into their safe zone and and says "BITE ME" And when they feel something crawling along the bottom near them, they will often take the time to ck it out....so I try to give'em the time

This style of fishing will also allow you to feel the variety of bottom structure that any given area has to offer. Once the bite comes, you know what the fish are relating to and can reproduce your effort more easily.

Hope this helps

Big O

www.ragetail.com

x2. Pick an area where you FEEL like there should be a big fish (ie. isolated cover, drop-offs, etc.) and fish it VERY slowly. Keep casting to the same spot, and experiment with different twitches, pauses, stops, etc.

Like Big-O says, a big fish is your LOCK, and all of the variables that factor in to catching her are your KEYS.

[zbigbadaaron]

unhappy about catching 5 pounders 

[Mike D from Lunkerville]

i would try the bulkiest jig you can find with a meaty, long trailer... weed out the weaklings ; )

[Catt]

First question: is the spring actually in the lake?

[Hellbenderman]

50 acres sounds like a nice pond...if it's your private pond, but if that pond get's any real pressure, your task is even more difficult because your quarry didn't get to be 10 lbs by being dumb. Somewhere along the way, Mrs. Big *** Bass, learned about your kind and discovered you were the "Anti-food!" She has seen everything in the catalog, and for whatever reason, it's not food. You have to become a stalker...a bassassassin. Be very quiet. Stop announcing yourself. You know the lake...turn off your finder...stop dropping crap and banging stuff. Be quiet. Use the wind to set your boat up in a given wind situation so the wind can move you down a bank instead of your trolling motor. Be invisible. Bigger baits worked very slowly...big jigs, big swimbaits...a ten inch worm instead of a seven inch worm...all of the above mentioned baits and suggestions. One of the nice things about braid is it has no stretch. Try making as long a cast as you can and then letting another 20 yds strip off while your bait just sits. Put as much distance between your boat and your lure as you can. Braid makes that easy. However, if there is any cover between your lure and your boat, and you hook a monster, she will find that tree limb and make things testy...hahaha. You have to become a green beret of bass fishermen. Use something no one else is using, and make it big....and slow...really slow. You're a sniper. Each little twitch is a controlled thoughtful gesture.

Bigger. Explore the pond again...go back over those places lightly fished, and re-examine them. Are you fishing the deepest water in the pond? Be stealthy, be different, be bigger, really know the pond. A ten pound bass is easily capable of swallowing a 10" swimbait...a meal. Which would you want...the ten inch meal or a Rapala Shad Rap? Hahaha. Go to

http://www.mattlures.com/ and look at the size of the fish and the lures they are using. I don't work for Mattlures though I do use his lures...just look at the pictures. There are lots of these things out there. Look at the pictures and believe. If you don't believe what you are doing is going to work, it probably won't. Be quiet. Let us know how you and what you are doing.

[Wayne P.]

Instead of being a bank beater, turn around the present your lures away from the bank.

[32251]

First question: is the spring actually in the lake?

Yes...several of them.....no way to know where they actually are.

[32251]

unhappy about catching 5 pounders

It took me about 2 years to work up to being able to catch the 5 pounders on a regular basis.    I am ready to make to transition to working for the big hogs.

[32251]

Hellbenderman.....the lake is not pressured at all.....very underfished.

[Catt]

At only 50 acres I would set out looking for those springs, the reason being they are providing a constant influx of dissolved  oxygen, cooler temperatures, and all the other nutrients needed of the food chain to grow.

Now how to find them, I would start looking for old topo maps of the area dating back before the pond was built, these can be found at your county court house.

[Nitrofreak]

i would try the bulkiest jig you can find with a meaty, long trailer... weed out the weaklings ; )

x2 Big baits = Big fish... Slow the presentation down and twitch it along the bottom pick the bait up about a foot and let it fall where those springs are that Catt was asking about and I usually add a clicker on my line with these baits just to help get their attention.

[fishfordollars]

Let's see: Up to 15 a day to 5lbs?

Count your blessings. People would kill for that ratio. Enjoy it while it last. Keep your lips tightly sealed or it will soon be over.

Got any cordinates?

[Fishing Rhino]

You may be able to find the springs, but it will necessitate a boat and a depth finder.

My favorite pond is 6 - 7 feet deep away from the shore.  The depth varies very little until you pass over a spring.  There are at least three of them.  The depth at those three springs is 9 feet, and the diameter of that depression in the bottom is maybe 30 feet.

The reason a spring is likely to be deeper is the upwelling water keeps the "hole" dredged.

The question that interests me would be, what is the oxygen content of that spring water?

If you get an opportunity to chart the bottom, do it very slowly.  A small depression can go unnoticed at faster speeds.

[32251]

I am aware of what one of the guys who lives on the lake calls a deep "hole" he catches big catfish there. I will try to chart that area and see what it looks like. Maybe that is one of the springs.

I thank all of you for your help and suggestions. I have one place that I know of for sure where there is a very sharp drop off from about 7 feet to almost 20 feet. It is an old railroad cut that ran through where the lake is now. These two places are going to be the first areas I am going to target. From what I have read, big bass like to always have some deep water that they can get to.

The 5 pounders......when you fish a 50 acre lake for several years, you learn where these fish hang out. I can almost count on catching one at several areas of the lake, around docks and structure that I know about. They seem to just live there year round. I have probably caught them over and over.

[WanderLust]

Black on Black Cavitron buzzbait with a trailer.... Work it late at night or early morning near the most likely spots.

I catch a ton of 3-5 pounders and will continue to catch them... for life.

Would like to join 10# club but 3-4 smallie is a great fish.

[Hellbenderman]

....under fished or not...you still need to become a stalker...a sniper...imagine you need to be as stealthy as if you were hunting that big 12 point buck...because you do...and definitely pull back from the shore and look at deeper climes...smoochies

[Catt]

I am aware of what one of the guys who lives on the lake calls a deep "hole" he catches big catfish there. I will try to chart that area and see what it looks like. Maybe that is one of the springs.

I thank all of you for your help and suggestions. I have one place that I know of for sure where there is a very sharp drop off from about 7 feet to almost 20 feet. It is an old railroad cut that ran through where the lake is now. These two places are going to be the first areas I am going to target. From what I have read, big bass like to always have some deep water that they can get to.

First question: is the spring actually in the lake?

Yes...several of them.....no way to know where they actually are.

This information tells me you should be able to obtain topographical maps or survey maps of the area prior to the pond being built.

These springs and railroad bed would be my starting point in search of large bass, especially if the two are close by one another.

[WRB]

To locate the springs; look for early morning dawn fog patches on the water surface; indicates surface water temperature change before the sun hits the water. Spring water is usually 60 degrees year round, when it comes out of the ground; cooling or warming the water around it depending on the time of year.

It's also unusual for a small lake or large 50 acre pond with a healthy bass population to sustain a thread fin shad population. Thread fin are pelagic fish the need open water with phytoplankton to eat during the day light period.

Lets think about other bait fish, frogs, crawdads, plus the shad as the food chain. You are already catching adult size bass, 3-5 lbs, that can target everything in the food chain. You caught a 10 lb bass, stay with whatever you used for that bass. Fish at night or under ideal low light conditions. I would also try a 6" Lunker Punker in baby bass colors.

WRB

[Raul]

i would try the bulkiest jig you can find with a meaty, long trailer... weed out the weaklings ; )

Count me in, I caught my first 10+ lber with a Jerkbait and my PB (13.86 ) with a Shad Rap I think more about those two fish as lucky catches rather than trageting them specifically, most of my 10-13 lbs fish have been caught with a 3/4 oz jig with a Brush Hog as trailer.

So far I haven 't got good luck with swimbaits for big fish, only once I 've broken the 10+ lbs barrier with them,  the evidence convinces me that swimbaits catch big fish, however the fact that a jig moves at a much slower speed makes me think that those big fish apparently prefer to pounce on the slow moving jig than running behind a faster moving bait like the siwmbait. Go figure.

[32251]

To locate the springs; look for early morning dawn fog patches on the water surface; indicates surface water temperature change before the sun hits the water. Spring water is usually 60 degrees year round, when it comes out of the ground; cooling or warming the water around it depending on the time of year.

It's also unusual for a small lake or large 50 acre pond with a healthy bass population to sustain a thread fin shad population. Thread fin are pelagic fish the need open water with phytoplankton to eat during the day light period.

Lets think about other bait fish, frogs, crawdads, plus the shad as the food chain. You are already catching adult size bass, 3-5 lbs, that can target everything in the food chain. You caught a 10 lb bass, stay with whatever you used for that bass. Fish at night or under ideal low light conditions. I would also try a 6" Lunker Punker in baby bass colors.

WRB

The lake stays fertilized and such....the pond management company introduced the threadfins and they remain plentiful.    My brother who lives on the lake said that before they introduced the shad, that he would always find crawfish pinchers in the stomachs of harvested fish.   After the shad, none.   The management company sent out  a letter to the residents asking them to please harvest the smaller bass they catch or just toss them on the bank.  I have only found shad in the fish that I have harvested. Also fish that eat a lot of crawfish will not have as sharp a teeth from dealing with the harder crawfish.  These bass have incredible sharp teeth. They are only feeding on shad mostly. 

Great tip about the morning fog patches.

[evrgladesbasser]

Hundreds of years of fishing experience devoured in a single thread... I love this site. Thanks all for the helpful information