Not many PB threads

[Koz]

When I first joined BR it seemed like there were PB posts just about every week. But for the last year or so I have not seen that many at all.

 

Am I missing something? Has the ecosystem changed? We still have a lot of posts here, so I don’t think it’s a lack of website traffic.

[TnRiver46]

Someone please hold this post underwater and show it to the fish 

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

My last PB bass was June 15 2015 at 6.21 pounds. Ive not really came close to that since. Ive caught one 5 pound bass and just three 4 pound bass the past 8 years and two of those 4 pounders were this year.

 

Here my PB

Was caught with a Curado 50E 12# SniperFC on a Quantum Smoke 7' M/F rod Keitech 3.8" bluegill flash

Still use that combo.

[flyfisher]

The last ten years or so I only take pics of fish that are notable of size or quality or situation.  I don't have pics of my PBs in any species but I know how large they are and am always on a quest for a replacement.  

[Pat Brown]

I caught my PB twice this year.  Once in February 9.1 lbs and once in July 11.5 lbs.

 

Gonna be a while before my next PB post I reckon 😭😭😭😂😂😂

[MIbassyaker]

My last PB was August, 2021. As soon as i get another I'll post it, but when, exactly, is not entirely up to me.

[TnRiver46]

Probably been like 15 years , but I’m bout to go fishing . So there’s that 

[MIbassyaker]

37 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Probably been like 15 years , but I’m bout to go fishing . So there’s that 

 

But...aren't you always about to go fishing?

[Susky River Rat]

I don’t catch fish 

[Dwight Hottle]

We have all gotten so good & raised the bar so high that new PB's are monumental tasks to achieve. That's my story & I'm sticking to it. Right @A-Jay?

[A-Jay]

10 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

We have all gotten so good & raised the bar so high that new PB's are monumental tasks to achieve. That's my story & I'm sticking to it. Right @A-Jay?

You know it @Dwight Hottle

Hunting the 1 or 2 percenters is both hard work and rarified air. 

#staterecordsonly

A-Jay

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I caught my PB twice this year.  Once in February 9.1 lbs and once in July 11.5 lbs.

 

Gonna be a while before my next PB post I reckon 😭😭😭😂😂😂

If you break your PB again, I'm moving to NC 🤣

 

The 11.5 is still the most impressive fish I've seen caught by a member since joining.  

 

[GreenPig]

I'm always looking for a new PB but I may never best my LM that I caught at 4:32 pm on Feb 11th 2017. I'm hunting a Spot PB.

[Woody B]

Like @GreenPig I don't expect to best my Largemouth PB, at least without traveling somewhere.   I think my PB spot is a possibility.  My previous PB Spot was 4 lbs 4 ounces, in Dec 2021.  (The first trip with my current boat)  My current PB is 4 lbs 15 ounces from Dec 2022.    Now it's Dec again.   Bring on the big spots.   I rarely fish where there's any significant Smallmouth population.  My PB Small mouth is 6.25 pounds, from 41 years ago.   The best LM in my current boat is 7 pounds 13 ounces.   The best SM in my current boat was 19 inches long and didn't get weighed.  IIRC I've caught 7 Smallmouth in 2 trips to lakes that have them.   

 

@Pat Brown is always catching hawgs.  He'll probably catch a few more 11 pounders before the end of the year.   

[Swamp Girl]

I broke my PB lmb at least four times in 2023, according to the scale. However, there were fish I didn't weigh simply because I don't like keeping those special bass out of their home for more than seconds. The first bass was 5.49 pounds. The second bass was 6.54 pounds. I also caught a couple long bass (22.5" with pinched tails), while nowhere near as thick as the two bass below, that weighed 6.71 and 6.75 pounds.

 

Then I caught two bass that bulged in every direction that I didn't weigh. Since I played and netted and held all these fish, I could see and feel their weight and the two bulging bass were my heaviest, but since they went unweighed, I don't have numbers to attach to them.

 

Some need those numbers for them to be real, but I remember every precious second I got to spent with them. One of those bass is the third bass below. I caught those two heaviest bass in the dark. Full darkness. In a canoe that's as tippy as sitting on a piece of plywood atop a fence rail. If you've ever rowed a shell with sculls, my canoe isn't far from that.

 

Landing my heaviest bass in full darkness in a slender canoe is challenging enough. So, while protecting them was paramount to me, I also just didn't want to add weighing them to that challenge.

 

 

 

[Bankbeater]

My PB was caught locally. Maybe 20 miles or so from home.  I think to break that I will need to either do a lot more fishing or fish someplace where the pressure is not so intense.

[FishTax]

I'll have one in the next 3 months to post. 😎

 

Trying to speak it into existence, hopefully not a jinx! @Pat Brown inspires me and is a constant reminder that the big girls are all around me I just need to put in the work to find them! 

[king fisher]

It took me 43 years to break my old PB record.  It has been over 3 years since then and no new PB.  I don't think I have another 40 years to wait, so I hope to catch a new PB every time I make a cast.

[gimruis]

August 2006 since my last PB largie, July 2014 since my last PB smallmouth.

 

Both these fish are 21 inches and approximately 6 pounds. Could be a while before I top them again.

 

I agree with @Dwight Hottle, I think so many of us here have such a high standard that the chances of exceeding it is rare.

[RipzLipz]

Caught my PB 7-7 LMB on 26AP14 from a strip pit less than 10 acres & I had just turned 43. Haven’t had another 7 or over since. There are DD in IN but I’d rate them a 7.5-8/10 as far as rarity, with 10 being next to impossible. Plenty of fish under 10 IMO but not easy to catch. Others here at BR from IN probably have a better idea on the DD possibilities as I’ve mostly fished smaller private waters. I did see my dad lose one at Blue Cypress in FL that had to be well over 10. Hard to guess - biggest mouth I’ve ever seen on a bass in person, including a 13-3 they had in a shiner tank at Middleton’s camp at Blue Cypress letting it clear up in color (came from very tannic water).

[thediscochef]

I set my PB almost one year ago (7-10, 12/19/22), flirted with it a little this year (7-1, 7-1, 7-5), and had some other nice fish. But I haven't quite been able to get a new PB past that finish line. I believe I may have lost one or two fish that could have been PB class. Gonna be throwing that jerkbait around in the remainder of 2023 to see if I can make it three straight December PBs. But I gotta say. I'm a realist as much as an optimist. It's possible, if not likely, that I will have a rough go of the next three months 

[Pat Brown]

I caught my two biggest fish in July and February and that came after PBs of 6.86 and 7.0 in April and November of 2022.

 

I have 'big fish tingles' during just about every weather condition and season now and it really helps these tackle companies keep all of my surplus income!  😂😂😂

[RipzLipz]

7 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I have 'big fish tingles' during just about every weather condition and season now and it really helps these tackle companies keep all of my surplus income!  😂😂😂

Looks to me like someone feels like you could still do more concerning the surplus.🤣

[Carolina Pines]

I've been regularly fishing for largemouth since around 2009, but I just recently started targeting trophy size fish in 2022.  I realized it had been over 10 years since my last PB!!

 

I finally got a new PB 7 pounder in December 2022, my previous PB fish was a 6 pounder back in 2010. 

 

Then I got another PB in late February 2023, a 9lb 10oz fish.  

 

In March 2023 I was laid off after nearly 10 years.  April 15th 2023 drunk driver crashed into our home and displaced all 5 of us.  Lots of other weird events as well, life sure is strange how things all stack up sometimes. 

 

Ever since then I've only gotten a handful of fishing trips in.  Dad and I did pretty well inshore fishing this year though during our family's week long beach trip.

 

I'm still chasing a DD largemouth, if none of this other bull**** had happened there's a good chance I'd have one by now!  I'm catching a lot more sizeable fish on a regular basis now that my tactics are improving, so it's just a matter of time.  We're moving back home in a week or two and I'm gonna hit the lake every chance I get... but with 3 kids under 6, I'm lucky if I get on the water twice in a month!  

[RipzLipz]

@Carolina Pines condensed response; belated congrats on the PB, ugh on the old job & unfortunate results of idiots drinking & driving irresponsibly, congrats on new job (other thread), lots for which to be thankful. As a dyslexic friend of mine once said, "sometimes life gives you melons."

 

But 3 kids under 6….I’d be like

 

Best of luck in the pursuit of another giant.