My bass fishing career is winding down or more accuractly wound down.

Having caught lots of giant bass over 15 lbs and hundreds of 10 lb plus bass you would think I have the answers.

I thought I did, the simple fact is I don't.

My success occurred during the pre spawn period and convinced myself using hair jigs that replaced a crawdad was the key to success. Crawdads burrow into the mud near the high water level when the lake is drawn down during the fall in most reserviors was my thinking. Our lakes fill during winter from rain run off. If the lake level raised 15 verticle feet, the crawdads would be leaving the burrows at that depth during pre spawn and the big bass would feed on them. Hair jig with pork craw was ideal I thought and it worked for me.

Why would a big adult bass eat a jig when the real thing was abundant? The answer to that question is the key to catching big bass. The answer is a big bass wouldn't eat that jig if it was alone. Competition for food creates greed, the bass has learned to strike before another bass gets to the prey.

Without a good quantity of big bass in the location your or my odds go down radically regardless of the lure we are confident using. Location, location, location plus a population of big bass is the key to success.                                                                                           

Tom

 

You may have semi-retired from bass fishing, but we sure as heck appreciate you working as an adjunct professor here on BR. The depth of your knowledge for pursuing trophy bass and your willingness to share has greatly benefited most of us on here. 

I have a question for you . There  are very few 8 lb plus bass around here . I've only seen two . Do you think that the biggest bass here that are a lot smaller than the ones you target , have the same habits ? 

You have mostly Northern strain LMB and imo are more aggressive striking artificial lures then Florida strain.

If the habituate doesn’t support  decent population of big bass ( 8 lbs ) then trying to catch a few independent individual bass is difficult outside the spawn cycle.  
Population density matters.

Tom

I’m too really appreciate all you comments. Did it help me catch more fish ? Not really but it sure heck make me a better fisherman. Some of your comments might sound harsh but that because of the level of sincerely toward us. 
Just like old wise guy said (not you)

Give a guy a Senko and he might catch one fish, listen to you and he can fish for a lifetime. LoL?????

I caught my 1st DD bass at age 15 at Lake Havasu off the Lands End dock using a live waterdog (Tiger salamander ) the dock hand gave me. The bass was weighed at the landing and released, it was their pet bass and at that time a lake record. The same year I caught 12 lb bass from the Livingston Rock quarry lake (private property) and weighed on a Langley DeLair scale and released. These bass changed how I bass fished the next 60 years, hooked on big bass.

When Florida strain LMB were stocked in San Diego city lake I made the 320 mile round trip Wednesday, Friday and Saturadys as often as possible and joined the Pieces bass club in San Degio while living 160 miles north. During the late 60's managed to set a lake Lower Otay record that only lasted a week at 14lbs 6 oz on a live crawdad.

Dedication to the point of obsession is required to target giant bass and I was dedicated.

My goal from a teenager was catch the WRB.

Years and years of spending 15 hr days in the rain, wind, sun payed off with catches like a 62 lb 5 bass limit and my top 5 giant bass. It wasn't easy and looking back a nearly insane goal but I wouldn't change a minute of my time on the water for anything except one more day with my son, I would give anything.

Family is priceless, Don't lose sight of that.

Tom

 

I still looking forward to fish at your side and learn from you anytime it is possible. Thanks for all the help and info.

You say you dont have the answers to catching big bass, then you give some answers...

I convinced myself using custom hair jigs with pork rind trailers was the answer. It was diffentately my best skill and confident lure. Was it the answer, no lure is a panacea to catching big bass. 

Lots of bass anglers fishing the same lake at the same time never caught a DD. I thought I knew why for years, now I don't.

Tom

  

2 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

You say you dont have the answers to catching big bass, then you give some answers...

   Kinda like the saying, "The more I know, the more I realize how little I know."     ??   jj

18 hours ago, WRB said:

I convinced myself using custom hair jigs with pork rind trailers was the answer. It was diffentately my best skill and confident lure. Was it the answer, no lure is a panacea to catching big bass. 

Lots of bass anglers fishing the same lake at the same time never caught a DD. I thought I knew why for years, now I don't.

Tom

What’s causing you doubt now after the fact?

Good thread, and thanks for posting this Tom. I appreciate your insight on this, and I'm sure others do also.

On 10/3/2020 at 11:36 PM, WRB said:

plus a population of big bass is the key to success.                                                                                           

Tom

 

So true ... can remember the history of California and its history with DD bass ... folks from all the country and world made trips to ca. to fish for the LMB bass ... good thread ...

 

good fishing ...

1 hour ago, NoShoes said:

What’s causing you doubt now after the fact?

To answer that question it takes hind sight looking back to the mid 70's when I started to promote not using live bait during the spawn cycle. I thought strongly the use of live crawdads, waterdogs, larger baitfish when big bass were very susceptible to being being caught by anglers using live bait would destroy the fishery. By taking this stance it more then likely eliminated my goal of catching a world record bass. My decision only hurt me and didn't stop anyone else from using live bait.

Tom

 

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

To answer that question it takes hind sight looking back to the mid 70's when I started to promote not using live bait during the spawn cycle. I thought strongly the use of live crawdads, waterdogs, larger baitfish when big bass were very susceptible to being being caught by anglers using live bait would destroy the fishery. By taking this stance it more then likely eliminated my goal of catching a world record bass. My decision only hurt me and didn't stop anyone else from using live bait.

Tom

 

 

Outside of live bait, do you still feel your methods were your best shot?

 

You still caught hundreds of bass most people consider once in a lifetime, you still done extremely well even without the live bait. 

Hey Tom that mount you're holding in your profile photo, is that the biggest bass you ever caught?

We tend to use lures that work for us force feeding bass instead of what the bass really want. My choice was jigs about 75-80% of my time on the water targeting big bass. Looking back to the late 80's I didn't use big swimbaits enough. Relying on big worms and jigs more. Should have had Lamiglas make a custom 8' swimbait rod 5 years sooner. Very few anglers were casting swimbait back in the lake 80's, a few were trolling them. Missed that opportunity and knew swimbaits were very effective, just bone headed stuck in a rut using what I preffered.

Tom

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hey Tom that mount you're holding in your profile photo, is that the biggest bass you ever caught?

No that is my 18.6 lb Casitas in '81 , my PB was 19.3 lbs was from Castaic in '93, both fish looked the same. 

Tom

I just realized WRB is the initials for world record bass .

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

I just realized WRB is the initials for world record bass .

Man...your slow...haha..

@WRB your wealth of knowledge has been invaluable here on bass resource. I seek out your posts just to gain insight!

You've had many years on the water and we appreciate all the knowledge you share, especially about catching big bass!

If we only had the foresight we have in hindsight.

I don't regret the decisions made but in hindsight didn't always make the right decisions. Catching a giant bass on 10lb line using 7/16 oz jigs was exciting vs a big swimbait using heavy tackle to put things in perspective. Seeing 18-19 lb bass jump a body length out of the water are memories that can't be replaced.

Thank you God for sharing your special bass with me, forever grateful.

Tom

Large mouth bass up here that are big (5+) are an extreme rarity. Only certain water bodies produce them. I've been trying to figure out what that is. The main conclusion is that they are large, but shallow. And when I look around, there are just lots and lots of fish. Minnows, perch, crappie etc.  

 

I caught my PR out of season. I was pike fishing a jerk bait. I shouldn't have weighed her, but I had to know. 6.2 lbs. I don't know how a bass can be like 13 lbs as 6.2 seemed insanely big. 

 

Same lake and the bass tour, nobody even caught one over 5. Lots of luck up here to get a giant.

 

 

19 hours ago, WRB said:

If we only the foresight we have in hindsight.

I don't regret the decisions made but in hindsight didn't always make the right decisions. Catching a giant bass on 10lb line using 7/16 oz jigs was exciting vs a big swimbait using heavy tackle to put things in perspective. Seeing 18-19 lb bass jump a body length out of the water are memories that can't be replaced.

Thank you God for sharing your special bass with me, forever grateful.

Tom

Pretty d**n cool what you've caught so many giants. That's a lot of hard work and brain power. Not easy to always land those giants too. Whatever bait/technique, it was something that worked well and you can be awfully proud of IMO. 

I live in MA.  My goal is to break 8. Bugs the hell out of me that I haven’t done it.   My buddy has 4 8s in 3 years up here in Ma. He only fished very specific time of year in very specific locations. Sadly I fish the same place as him during the same time. But it’s like he gets them during the afternoon and I’m fishing the morning bite or vice versa. We often fish the same baits.  I’ve had them nose my bait. Follow them or slightly nip it.  But I have to wait a full year to ge them. It’s during the herring run when 1000s of river herring run in to the pond from the ocean. They stack up like cordwood. I hate the fact that I have to wait all year to get my shot! 

On 10/6/2020 at 9:38 PM, scaleface said:

I just realized WRB is the initials for world record bass .

Same. I had no idea until this thread.