Best Five

[WRB]

I believe the California record for 5 largemouth bass limit is unoffical at 72 lbs., need to refresh my memory and look it up. Butch Brown posted a 65 lb 5 bass limit on U tube caught at Lower Castaic.

My best 5 bass limit was caught on the upper Castaic lake back in 1991; 11.3, 13.2, 15.1, 12.0 and 17.4 total 69 lbs. Windy rainy cold day and all these were pre spawn bass caught off 1 spot on jigs.

I don't believe we have any lakes in CA with good populations of giant bass anymore.

The best 5 bass limit during a sanctioned tournament was 62 lbs., from Casitas, all swimbait bass, caught by Danna Rosenberg and forgot his partners name.

Tom

[Fish Chris]

WRB, that's freaking awesome ! That must have been a blast !

I've heard stories about SoCal fishing in the 80's and early 90's....

Of course I know SoCal has gotten waaay tougher, just like NorCal has. But what are you going to do ? Fish smarter, right ?

Peace,

Fish

[WRB]

WRB, that's freaking awesome ! That must have been a blast !

I've heard stories about SoCal fishing in the 80's and early 90's....

Of course I know SoCal has gotten waaay tougher, just like NorCal has. But what are you going to do ? Fish smarter, right ?

Peace,

Fish

For some like Butch and Mike Long this decade has been good; Butch made his his catches between 2008-2010. I didn't make the needed changes or spend enough time on the water. Now without trout plants our giant bass populations are crashing. These big bass are getting extremely rare and it's difficult to keep ahead the curve. Good luck and catch some giants.

Tom

[WRB]

When comparing notes about a day's fishing, my friends and I always seem to estimate what our bag would have weighed if we were in a tournament. IE: "My best five was probably 15 lbs, and my big fish was 4 1/2 lbs." How many of you do this? Do you actually weigh your fish, or do you estimate?

I have always had an interest in how much my fish weighed, so I bought a accurate lab quality spring scale over 50 years ago. Today I used a digital certified scale and weigh any LMB bass that may be near or over 10 lbs, spot or smallie over 5 lbs., helps to keep me focused on trying to catch big bass. It can be difficult to estimate bass weight; accurate scale makes easy and it's fast.

Tom

[ww2farmer]

I tend to weigh every fish I catch that looks like it's 3+ lbs, so at the end of a day of catching decent fish I always seem to refer to what my "best five" were.

[FD.]

I weight everything over 5 lbs. The kids and I went out on a private lake about 3 years ago and our "best 5" were close to 36. We had 3 over 8 and 2 over 5 and they were all on a spook. That was the only day I have ever pulled any thing close to those numbers.

[piscicidal]

Like JF said, I always think in terms of "best five". IMO, it is the best measure of what kind of day you had, in that it factors in both quantity and quality (quantity of quality? ) It also gives you a frame of reference against what the tournament/trail guys are doing. If I catch a 20lb bag on Okeechobee and I see that the tournament guys are winning with 25lb bags and 20lb is placing top 5, I know I'm generally doing the right thing. If I catch 14lbs and the tournament guys are coming in with 30, I need to change it up!

I had a 150fish day this July at Loxahatchee that my best five didn't weigh 15lbs. I had a six fish day there in August with my best five going 26, including an 8.5lb. I'll take the 6fish/26lb bag over the 150 fish/13lb bag, everyday!

[Crankenstein Crony]

My best 5 came spring 2011. I went on a trip to St. Clair and ended up with 5 smallies that went over 20 pounds. There were 4 of us in the boat and low weight for the trip was 18.5 pounds. My personal best aside from St. Clair was also this spring on a little lake near my house. I had 18.5 pounds and basically they all came off 1 bait. It was a great day!! Couldn't do anything wrong!!