I've been fishing a private lake for the past 2 months in hopes of catching the bigger bass in there and learning new techniques. The problem is I can't seem to break the 3 pound mark. I've caught some up to 3-1 and seen a 4 but nothing bigger. Most of the bass I catch are 1-8 to 2-8. Not many smaller or bigger. The place is great for numbers but not size. I've tried everything from cranks, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater, all sorts of soft plastics, and even swimbaits. All the same. These fish all seem like clones!! I'm getting to the point that I don't think there are many, if any, 5+ pound bass in there. Is that possible? I have to research the age of this lake because I don't know how old it is or when it was filled with bass.

The good part is I'm learning a lot and gaining huge amounts of confidence in soft plastics. Over the past 2 weeks I haven't really thrown anything else!

Heck,just go to the nearest trout stream,jerk a few dozen out and chuck 'em in the lake.Those bass will grow like crazy.

Seriously,it could be that there are too many bass in that particular water and competition for food is a problem.That happened at a pond my buddy owns.They initially stocked 5,000 bass fry with the hopes that 2,000 would live.They did.Now there is not one fish in that pond that is over 14-15".......biologist says there are too many bass and recommended harvesting some each trip.

Just an idea.I dont know your whole situation.  

it really depends on the acres of the lake and fish per acre and also forage per acre. There is an article out there some where and probably several of them but i beleive the one i am thinking of is from doug hannon. In this he talks about growing or managing your own bass waters/ private ponds or lakes. He talks about how to test the forage and sample fish and all that jazz. Not sure how serious you are about it but there is info out there on how to educate yourself and fix the problem. fyi

I had fished a mini lake like that before and trust me when I say that there are going to be bass in there that range from 2lbs to 10lbs.  You will need to fish those smaller fish out in order to 1.) get to the bigger fish and 2.) allow some of the smaller ones to grow bigger.  If you don't do these two things then you can bank on it that the bass will remain the size that they are.  Also remember that the smaller fish are quicker and more stupid than the bigger fish.  The smaller fish will get to your bait quicker than the bigger ones.

There are many reasons why the mean size of bass may be small in a given body of water.

Two of the most common causes though are inadequate predation and excess plant life.

In the north, pike are sometimes introduced into a lake where the bass are stunted.

Since pike themselves are highly prolific, this isn't the best solution.

In the south, man is among the chief predators of bass, where underharvest can lead to stunting.

When too few bass are removed, the end result is a multitude of "runts".

Excess weed growth, like hydrilla infestation makes it too easy for prey fish to elude bass.

The bass continue to propagate but become acclimated to a low-calorie diet,

with a poor expenditure-to-reward ratio. Here again, the result is stunting.

Roger

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll keep fishing it to see what I can come up with. It's not like the fish eat whatever you throw at them, although at times it seems like it. I've had to work pretty hard some nights to figure them out.