Catching Big Fish Consistently

[Catt]

“If you do what you’ve always done you will get what you’ve always got”

Doing what you’ve always done can be a negative or a positive depending on what you are doing & how you are doing it. I’ve fished some of the some structure with some the same lures for the past 35+ years with good success in both quality & quantity. So it would be foolish to change either locations or lures, now this does not mean I do not try new lures or new locations.

I think next after location is timing, being at the right location at the right time is something we cannot control other than we can go as often as possible.

Example: there is a particular under water ridge on Toledo Bend that I believed with all my heart held double digit bass but for 12-15 years all we could manage was an occasional 7-8 pound Hawg until my partner caught one over 10 a couple years ago. That ridge has since given up several over 10 including one of 15.03.

What y’all also need to understand is that the percentage of “big” bass on most bodies of water is less that 2% of the population and that is very liberal.

Y’all also need to define the word “consistently”; in 2007 I caught 11 bass over 10 pounds but aint caught one since!

[Goose52]

One thing for sure - we all have different skills, fish different water, and have different perspectives of what a "big" fish is! We even have different visions/definitions of what is a pond vs. a lake (For me, a pond is a couple acres or smaller, a lake is about 5 acres or bigger.)

I don't fish "big water" - just my 11 local neighborhood lakes and 3 ponds. All this water is man-made and ringed by houses. Public fishing access is on the dams, some lakes have other access points. All but 2 of the ponds can be fished by boat. The three ponds are about .5, 1.5, and 3 acres. The lakes run from 5 to 201 acres. The local bass club tournaments are routinely won with 5 to 7 pound 5-fish bags (two anglers) so that's one indication of the size of fish that are typically being caught. The bass club also allows "keepers" starting at 10" - another indication of relative size.

For my water, I've come up with the following fish size categories:

Dink bass - 9" and under

OK bass - 10" - 13"

Nice bass - 14" - 17"

"Big" bass - 18" on up

So, to finally get to Hayden's question (which was: "So, do you guys rarely catch good fish, and catch a lot of smaller ones, or do you catch bigger than average fish regularly?"). I work very hard to catch a lot of small ones. If I'm lucky, I might catch 3 or 4 a month 18" or larger. AND, I fish every day (usually minimum 2 hours up to 8 hours if I'm in the canoe).

For this year, I've caught (1) 9 lb, (1) 6 lb, (2) 5 lbs, (5) 4 lbs, and (16) 3 lbs. Below is my bass count (by length) for this year - 826 bass as of last night. Not as big of fish on average as many on the board catch I expect...

25" 1

24"

23" 1

22" 4

21" 2

20" 6

19" 13

18" 10

17" 12

16" 21

15" 29

14" 44

13" 94

12" 149

11" 173

10" 121

5"-9" 146

[WRB]

The factor that almost everyone over looks is bass are nearly impossible to catch on artifical lures when they are not active.

You can be at the right place at the wrong time with the right lure and be blanked. The key is being at the right place at the right time, then you may have several choices of lures that may work.

I spend nearly as much time trying to figure out when the bass will be active as I do fishing. Once I know when the feeding periods are, then I pick my prime areas to fish and know what to use.

Tom

[gobig]

One thing for sure - we all have different skills, fish different water, and have different perspectives of what a "big" fish is! We even have different visions/definitions of what is a pond vs. a lake (For me, a pond is a couple acres or smaller, a lake is about 5 acres or bigger.)

This was the point I was trying to make.

Now how can you answer or evaluate a question if you don't know what perspective someone is coming from? I do not understand how the difference between a tournament angler and a trophy fisherman can be denied.

The local bass club tournaments are routinely won with 5 to 7 pound 5-fish bags

To these guys 2lbers could mean "catching big fish consistently", where the trophy angler could care less about those fish. A 5lber behaves differently than a 2lber. Another thing tournament anglers do is try to go catch a limit and then find a kicker fish. To the trophy guy catching small fish is the last thing on their mind. There should be no tournament fishermen VS trophy fishermen, only goals with desired outcomes.

[WRB]

Making a comparison between trophy and tournament anglers is like comparing apples and oranges, they are very different.

Tournament anglers must fish at specific times, days and restricted by rules like no live bait. Trophy anglers have only self restrictions and state regulations.

Butch Brown fishes a small 197 acre public lake with less than 3 miles of shoreline with a max depth of 70 feet. The lake has a good population of big bass that are highly pressured by skilled anglers. Butch knows every inch of the lake and most of the bass.

KVD is the best bass tournament angler today and has caught one of the largest tournament bass ever, on a drop shot worm. Both KVD and BB are highly skilled bass anglers, both have the skill it takes to catch adult size bass consistantly, where ever they fish.

Tom

[Goose52]

The factor that almost everyone over looks is bass are nearly impossible to catch on artifical lures when they are not active.

You can be at the right place at the wrong time with the right lure and be blanked. The key is being at the right place at the right time, then you may have several choices of lures that may work.

I spend nearly as much time trying to figure out when the bass will be active as I do fishing. Once I know when the feeding periods are, then I pick my prime areas to fish and know what to use.

Tom

Boy - that's the truth. Even though I'm retired and can fish every day...I can't always fish during "prime time". I sometimes beat my brains out trying to catch a single dink bass when it's the wrong time/wrong place and there's no active fish. Still, it's better to out fishing than sitting on the sofa thinking about fishing...

Sometimes it just goes back to the old expression: Question - When is the best time to go fishing? Answer - When you can!

[K_Mac]

Over the last few years I've learned to slow down and I'm not nearly as driven to catch fish as I once was. What is interesting is that my numbers are at least as good as ever, and I'm catching much better fish.

There are a couple of reasons for this I believe. I am more willing to patiently work a spot. Once I've identified a spot as one that meets the criteria that I'm looking for, I have the confidence to pick that spot apart. Secondly, I know what my strengths are, and concentrate on those. I can, and do catch fish on a variety of baits and techniques, but I know what I'm good at and use those techniques as much as possible.

Having said that, I now fish often with a friend who is a really good shallow water bass fisherman. I am a much better deep water, structure fisherman so fishing with him has made both of us better. It seems you really can teach an old dog new tricks techniques.

One thing is certain: The guys catching the biggest fish in all seasons and conditions are not doing it because of luck. Guys like Big-O, Catt, Dwight Hottle, and many others on this site know what it takes to catch big fish. Put them on any lake in the country and it would not be long before they would be consistently catching bass considered big in that lake.

[BassinMidWest]

Depends on the season!

In the spring I catch em up wards of 5lbs pretty consistently, and get a few 4's most trips.

In the summer, I catch more bigger fish (4 - 6), but much less. For example in the summer I'll catch 10 fish 4 of them will big. In the Spring and fall, I'll catch 20 in a day and 5 or 6 will be big.

[Fat-G]

Lots of really strong information in this thread. You could start a "how-to" book on catching big fish just from this one thread.

I've learned a lot about big fish this year. I've also realized a lot of things about when I have caught big fish in the past that I would have overlooked, even though they are quite simple.

A couple of the things I've noticed:

I have NEVER caught a big fish (6+) on a jig or plastic when I was steadily twitching it. In my experience, big fish will bite a jig when it is not moving, has not moved for a while and you twitch it once, or bump it over a piece of cover.

There is no one lure that will magically catch you bigger fish all of the time. I have caught 6+ fish on anything from a crappie grub, Beetle Spin, 4" finesse worm, Trick Worm, jig, plastic, frog/toad, etc. I think that if you properly present basically any lure to the right fish at the right time in the right location and in the right conditions, she'll bite.

Big fish (for me) usually are caught on days when the fishing is otherwise slow, specifically on a deadsticked jig or plastic.

Big fish are generally loaners in the hot months. I don't think I've ever caught two 6+ fish in the same area in the summer. In the spring, fall, and winter however, you can potentially pull a couple of pigs from the same area. Especially in the winter when they group up.

You can up your chances of catching a big fish by fishing areas that are prime big fish locations, ie. an area where cover, structure, and baitfish all come together.

If you walk up to the spot and spook a big fish, back off and come back later. Only once or twice have I caught a fish that I spooked, and neither of them were worth mentioning.

If you hook a big fish and it comes unbuttoned, you're not catching that fish any time soon.

If your first cast to a known "prime big fish locations" is an errant, mess-up cast which snags the limb or rock to which you were aiming, you can kiss your chance of catching any big fish that was close goodbye.

These are just a couple of things on my list of lessons learned this year. I think it's time to bring this thread back to life since some of us have hard water and are in the cabin fever mode.

[NoBassPro]

My opinion is location and time on the water are key, I believe when it comes to catching larger fish in any given body of water, details can matter, and we often make subtle changes to our presentations without really thinking about it. However, for any rule you want to make about fish and fishing, there's bound to be an exception. Keep fishing long enough and there's bound to be a fish or two you'll catch that will make you wonder how they ever lived that long.

[Mattlures]

I probably went bass fishing 20-25 times this year. I targeted big bass all but maybe 5 of those trips. I averaged about 1 big bass a trip. Big being 7+lbs. When you have been doing it for a long enough time you can cherry pick your trips. You know when a certain bite should happen at a certain lake. After you put in enough time and figure some things out, It gets easier to prdict or at least stack the odds in your favor.

I had to change my entire mentality. In my mind I treated it like a big bass was an entirly different species of bass. Kind of like large mouth and small mouth. I learned to target big bass, much like an angler can target smallies or largemouth when they live in the same lake. The worst thing to think is.....I will chatch a big bass someday as long as I keep fishing. While this may be true, It doesnt have to be and it could take years and even years again to catch another. Its actualy easier to learn to fish for big bass. The hard part is to stop fishing for small bass.

[NBR]

If you want your ego tamed come to NH. I moved here just before retirement and in that over 10 year span I have not caught a bass over 4 #'s. The lakes I fish either don't have largies or they are not as populous as brownies and frankly I don't target greens bass. That is a bit sad but many brownies from 2 to near 4# a day still make me smile big time. Moving to a location with little cover exept rocks, very little wood and sparse weeds le3ft me little to do with my flipping stick but it is serving well with a Carolina Rig.

There are many 5+# bass caught every year but not by me. I almost wish I didn't have that scale on board. I can't make a 3+ a 4 pounder.

[Missouribassman95]

I count a 4 pound fish a huge fish, with a 5+ fish I've only caught maybe twice in my life time. This year was kinda a down year to me, compared to other years. I was pretty darn busy with football, and working so I couldn't get out as much. I could count on one hand how many 4 pound fish I caught.

[redboat]

Since none of our skills change overnight, the size of the fish caught is more a function of the body of water than the skill of any particular fisherman.

Yeah, you guys are making me jealous. I fish lakes in DFW Texas mostly; I consider a 2 pounder huge. On that scale I catch one huge fish a month on average. And that is during the months you can actually CATCH a fish around here - March through June and late September/early October.

The rest of the year I'm convinced the bass migrate to Canada or Mexico.

[WRB]

Yeah, you guys are making me jealous. I fish lakes in DFW Texas mostly; I consider a 2 pounder huge. On that scale I catch one huge fish a month on average. And that is during the months you can actually CATCH a fish around here - March through June and late September/early October.

The rest of the year I'm convinced the bass migrate to Canada or Mexico.

The old rule that 10% of the bass fisherman catch 90% the bass rings as true today as it did 50 years ago. IF you want to catch big bass you must learn to fish for them. Within 80 miles of DFW you have several world class big bass lakes.

Tom

[Bigbarge50]

I count a 4 pound fish a huge fish, with a 5+ fish I've only caught maybe twice in my life time. This year was kinda a down year to me, compared to other years. I was pretty darn busy with football, and working so I couldn't get out as much. I could count on one hand how many 4 pound fish I caught.

I would not feel too bad about this. A 4lb fish is a good fish, no matter where you are. Outside of your real hot spots, it would seem the 4-6lb range is going to be your "bigger" fish with the huge ones being double digits. In the amazing fisheries.... well then the 8-10 lb range are the big ones and the mid teens are the huge fish.

I would love to point out that to those of us feeling terrible about the fish we catch when we read some of the early claims on pages 1 and 2 (not the detailed fishing journals which were awesome btw fellas) that these claims of one out of every ten fish being well over 5 lbs and much more like 10 lbs........ well need a grain of salt there...... and some pictures.

The FLW record set this Feb (so middle of the spawn/pre-spawn so agressive feeding fish) on the big O (back to being maybe the best big bass lake in the U.S.) was set by a local guy who's family (as well as himself) have won multiple events on the lake. The weather was perfect and he set a record at 106 lbs over the 4 day tourney. So we are talking about just over a 5lb average over the 4 days..... Again this is a record setting performance by a local who obviously knows one of the best bodies of water in the country under the best conditions seen.

If people are catching near double digits every ten fish...... well then they need to join the tour because the record setting performance landed him $125,000 and he was not pulling in 10lb-ers every 10 fish. This again.... I must emphasize..... is the best 4 day total ever...... In amazing conditions......

Hope everyone had a great day and tight lines in the new year

[redboat]

Within 80 miles of DFW you have several world class big bass lakes.

Depends what you want to believe in I suppose. Unicorns. Alien abduction. Five pound bass in North Texas lakes.

[Bass Junkie]

Depends what you want to believe in I suppose. Unicorns. Alien abduction. Five pound bass in North Texas lakes.

:laugh5:

That's funny right there

[Big-O]

Depends what you want to believe in I suppose. Unicorns. Alien abduction. Five pound bass in North Texas lakes.

WRB is right... You might want to try Lake Ray Roberts which is 40 miles North of the DFW metroplex or Lake Fork which is only 80 miles East of there. I've caught MANY overs from these two lakes. There are several smaller lakes in the area that have overs as well, but the first two are the big two.

www.ragetail.com

[J Francho]

One thing I've learned is that an ambush point + structure close by + baitfish = a big bass is near.

This relationship alone is gigantic to catching bigger fish. If you think in this frame of mind, rather than fishing in "spots," you're going a long way to improving your catch.

[Bass Junkie]

WRB is right... You might want to try Lake Ray Roberts which is 40 miles North of the DFW metroplex or Lake Fork which is only 80 miles East of there. I've caught MANY overs from these two lakes. There are several smaller lakes in the area that have overs as well, but the first two are the big two.

www.ragetail.com

The master has spoken... All take head.

[redboat]

You might want to try Lake Ray Roberts which is 40 miles North of the DFW metroplex or Lake Fork which is only 80 miles East of there

I fish RR a lot, 20 - 30 times a year. I can catch dinks there consistently but a 2 pounder is rare on that lake these days. Fork DOES in fact have large fish but the success rate is very low. I was out there yesterday in fact; buddy and I got skunked. I usually do a half dozen Fork trips in a season, average catching something about 1 in 4 trips which is better than most do.

By the way - when I go to other lakes outside the DFW area I do better. The lakes in this area have a lot of fishing pressure, plus the drought isn't helping.

[Fat-G]

If people are catching near double digits every ten fish...... well then they need to join the tour because the record setting performance landed him $125,000 and he was not pulling in 10lb-ers every 10 fish.

A lot of people like what you have mentioned here fish one specific body of water and learn it like the back of their hand. They know when the bite should be good, what the perfect conditions to catch a big fish are, and how/where they should do it. Plus, they just don't want to fish professionally. I don't really ever want to fish a tournament other than maybe a small local one here or there, but who knows.I just don't want to go out and try to catch five fish in a certain period of time. I would rather spend all of that time and try and stick a really big fish. "Hookingem" is a tournament guy...he should do very well next season for his college team, and by the time he is a senior I would think he is going to be one of their top fisherman.

Personally, I fish a pond that gave me my PB two years ago. I could pick five days in the spring to fish and feel pretty good about my chances of catching a toad. I've fished that pond for a couple of years now, and know when the big fish feed.

[Big-O]

Each lake has a Walmart or several of them... A place where large fish live, and stay within the size of a Walmart building year around. Access to deep water, variety of good structure and bait. Find the Walmart's in your lakes and find the big fish.

"What we learn to target most often... we will learn to hit most often". Imagine being at a shooting range and having the finest rifle, scope, loads and other equipment that is necessary for long range shooting, readily available and at your side. You can become a TRUE MARKSMAN if you have what I coined years ago to be "The Three P's - Passion, Preparation and Persistance". Most anyone CAN but very few WILL take that road. Those that do, can call themselves a TRUE MARKSMAN, others can call themselves shooters. Remember the THREE P's... they are necessary to be successful with most any endeavor.

www.ragetail.com

[TBendBassin]

I would not feel too bad about this. A 4lb fish is a good fish, no matter where you are. Outside of your real hot spots, it would seem the 4-6lb range is going to be your "bigger" fish with the huge ones being double digits. In the amazing fisheries.... well then the 8-10 lb range are the big ones and the mid teens are the huge fish.

I would love to point out that to those of us feeling terrible about the fish we catch when we read some of the early claims on pages 1 and 2 (not the detailed fishing journals which were awesome btw fellas) that these claims of one out of every ten fish being well over 5 lbs and much more like 10 lbs........ well need a grain of salt there...... and some pictures.

The FLW record set this Feb (so middle of the spawn/pre-spawn so agressive feeding fish) on the big O (back to being maybe the best big bass lake in the U.S.) was set by a local guy who's family (as well as himself) have won multiple events on the lake. The weather was perfect and he set a record at 106 lbs over the 4 day tourney. So we are talking about just over a 5lb average over the 4 days..... Again this is a record setting performance by a local who obviously knows one of the best bodies of water in the country under the best conditions seen.

If people are catching near double digits every ten fish...... well then they need to join the tour because the record setting performance landed him $125,000 and he was not pulling in 10lb-ers every 10 fish. This again.... I must emphasize..... is the best 4 day total ever...... In amazing conditions......

Hope everyone had a great day and tight lines in the new year

Actually thats not the best four day record... it is for FLW but not the best "four day" record. B.A.S.S Lonestar shootout on Falcon lake in 2008 holds that record. four day total was 132.8lbs. 106lbs wouldnt have made the top 12 that tournament. Amistad has busted 106 also.