Whats The Story Behind Your Personal Best? 2024
NCLifetimer reply :
So we can see about how big most people's personal best is, but their is always more of a story then that. So lets hear it...
I caught my PB(8lbs 5oz) in a farm pond on land that has been in the family for about a hundred years. A creek was flooded about 20 years ago to make the 4 acre pond. Lots of memorable afternoons fishing on the banks of that pond. Caught on a shallow crank bait next to some flooder timber about 2 weeks ago in early December of all times of year. Their has got to be a 10lb'er in their somewhere. I won't talk about my personal best in a actual lake... 
Goose52 reply :
LMB - 25" / 9.06lb - caught this past February on a Z-Man TrailerZ Chatterbait tossed with a spinning rig that cost less than $100 for rod, reel, line, and bait.
The full story was here: http://www.bassresou...page__p__756243
Packard reply :
I just started getting in to bass fishing this year and I fish mainly from my Ocean Kayak Prowler Trident 13. I was fishing with my dad who has the same kayak as me on Lobdell for the first time. I was throwing a T-rigged gycb senko and felt a bite. I set the hook and the fight was on. My dad didn't realize that I had a fish on and casted his crankbait over my line..... I freaked out and the fish dove into the weeds. He just buried his head in there and I manged to pull him out after tons of pulling and cranking my 6' M rod. I got it to the kayak and netted him. He was a 21" 6lb LMB which is above average for Michigan. (State record is 10 or 11lb I think) It was my biggest LMB and I was ecstatic. It was the biggest bass me and my dad had caught all season. I hope to beat it next season.
deep reply :
My PB came from my local lake. And I caught that fish twice! In three days. The first time, I caught her on a senko, and I didn't have a scale on me that day. The next time I hit that lake, I armed myself with a scale; just in case. Guess what, I caught that fish again, on a 1/4 oz jig with a chigger craw trailer, from the same general location. It was a very distinctive-looking fish; so I knew it's the same. No pics though. It was getting pretty dark, and my cellphone camera sucks even in the middle of the day.
The biggest "legit" fish I caught was a 7# 11 oz. She ate an LC Gunfish. It's strange, but 4 of my 5 biggest fish came in on deadsticked topwaters. Big fish don't like to work hard!
Jigfishn10 reply :
I caught my PB about a week and a half after ice out this year. I had just made a spinnerbait in which I tied on a rabbit strip (zonker strip for the fly tyers here) for a trailer so I wanted to try it out just to see if the rabbit strip had any action to it. I took only my rod and that spinnerbait and spent about an hour when I felt like I snagged. I usually reel right thru most snags with a spinnerbait, but for some reason I popped my rod tip and low an behold I had a fight on my hands. I had no scale but it measured out to 23 1/4" L x 21" G.
BTW, the rabbit strip had great action for a trailer.
Bass_Fanatic reply :
I was fishing the first week of March on a lake that is known for white perch, not bass. I had found a shallow creek channel (5 ft.) running through a flat full of button woods. I caught a 6 and a 4 right off the bat. Then at about 9:30 I flipped a Rage Craw by a cypress tree in the middle of the channel and hung a pig. Got her in the boat and weighed her in at 8lb 14oz. It was my PB. I was debating on mounting her, so I put her in the livewell. Fished a little while longer there then ran across the lake to a cove with the same type of cover. On my way in there I scared a big fish off of a cypress tree, but figured it was a gar, but on the way back out I snuck up to the tree and she was back on the bed. I could tell she was huge so I began casting to her. After an hour and a half, she finally bit a clear flake trick worm that was soaking in front of her for 5 minutes. Got her in the net and knew she was bigger than my 8 lb 14oz fish. I then realized that I had left my scale on my back deck when I ran across the lake and it had flew out of the boat. I had to drive to the marina and get them to weigh her for me. She came in a 10lb 1oz. I threw back the 8lb 14oz fish and mounted the 10lber!
Scorcher214 reply :
Was fishing a buzzbait for the first time and was catching them left and right. Was fishing from shore and saw a tree that had fallen into the water, Buzzed it over the top of it and boom went the dynamite. Didn't have a scale back then or any kind of camera with me. Lifted it up and tried to put that feeling in my head. Went home and stopped at a party store to get some ice, lifted and 7lb bag, and right there I knew I had caught a 7lb bass in Michigan, watup!
SDoolittle reply :
On 12/17/2011 at 10:01 AM, NCLifetimer said:I caught my PB(8lbs 5oz) in a farm pond on land that has been in the family for about a hundred years.
Same here!
My brother and I had a few dozen minnows that we were planning to use for crappie fishing at the lake, but for some reason we decided to stop at the pond en route. We caught a bunch of small bass, and I was ready to go. I didn't like wasting all our minnows on those dinks, but my brother was having fun, and he talked me into staying for a little longer. I was bored with the live bait fishing, so I picked up a baitcaster and tied on one of those cheap, $1.00 Wal-Mart spinner baits. My first cast was wild and landed in some thick vegetation. As soon as I pulled the spinner lose, a big fish engulfed it. I didn't get much of a fight out of her. She buried herself in the weeds, and I had to horse her out along with a huge clump of weeds. I knew it was a big fish, but I was thinking maybe five pounds. It wasn't until after I removed all the vegetation that I realized she was much bigger. She went 7.5 lbs.
38 Super Fan reply :
Earlier this year I went fishing with my Father to a small pond we'd never fished before, I had no idea what, if anything, was even in it. I just started out tossing a little 1/8th ounce Orange Rooster Tail to see if I could maybe catch a couple bluegill, I think I caught one Bluegill, then a couple little Largemouths, and then a big 6lber nailed that little rooster tail. I couldn't believe it, that fish shattered my old PB.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I caught my PB my first trip to Comendero in Mexico. The lake was 42 feet high (yes 42) We were literally fishing treetops of huge trees that had leaves and everything and it made for really tough fishing. I was fishing a Rapala Skitter Pop and had just caught a 7 pounder and was still pretty high off that when a big fish followed my bait to the boat while I was reeling in. I didn't get a good look at it because it was getting late and starting to get dark but I could tell it was huge. I quickly grabbed a rod with an 8" Zoom Lizard and dropped it straight down. It sank about 3 feet and stopped. Knowing it was probably at least 50 foot deep where the boat was sitting I hammered the hook home and she was immediately on the surface. She tailwalked to the front of the boat and then towards the back of the boat and my guide was ready with the net, fight probably lasted less than 10 seconds. She was very, very skinny but weighed 10lb 2oz, probably would have been 13 or 14 pounds if she wasn't so skinny.
My best from the states came from a tiny 30 acre state lake in Kansas. There are several brushpiles on the lake and it's only about 3-7 feet deep through a majority of the lake. We were playing follow the leader with the only other boat on the lake and came to a brushpile that I knew was sitting right on the edge of a good drop. The other boat had already fished it but didn't pull anything out so I pitched my YUM wooley hog into the tree. I hopped it a couple times and carefully slid it up and over a limb. As soon as it cleared the limb I got that bite that you just know is a big fish because your whole rod jumps. I hit her hard and she dove under the boat and then jumped and tailwalked by the side of the boat. My friend just stared at the monster mouth shaking back and forth until I said "I might need the net for this one!" He jumped down and grab the net and quickly scooped her up. She was probably one of the nicest looking bass I've ever caught and at 7lb 14oz is still my best one outside of Mexico.
slonezp reply :
KY Lake. Was fishing with my son and my dad on our annual trip. My dad and I were crappie fishing while my son was casting for bass. He was catching bass after bass and razzing us. I kept telling him it's quality, not quantity.Within 2 hours after we started fishing I landed this girl on a crappie minnow. Between 6-7lbs.
That trip was the best trip we had with dozens of bass in the 3-5lb range.
5bass reply :
Mine came from a local golf course pond. We had got there about high noon and the sun was beating down. The bluegill were spawning and on one side of the pond they had their nests in one isolated area, it had to be 15-20 beds with bluegill sitting on them. We had fished around the pond and caught a few smaller bass but we noticed one big bass was continually running up on those gill beds and terrorizing them. I threw every bait I had at that bass, casting all around the deeper edge of the beds to no avail. As soon as we would leave that area, we'd see the water cutting up while that bass had made another swoop through the beds. Long story short.....I caught that bass with a bluegill, on the outside edge of the beds on the first cast. 9 pounds. 20 years ago.
ww2farmer reply :
I topped my old PB of 6lbs 2oz with a 6-10 just this fall. We were rained out at work by noon, so I hit the lake after lunch, I started off deep, smallmouth fishing, but after 2 hours with out a bite I bailed on that, water temp was 50-51 so I went shallow looking for LM, just hitting different depths till I found some. I ended up with what would have been a 20+ lb mixed green and brown fish sack that day with that big fish.
Red reply :
I don't know the weight of my PB cuz I don't have a scale. I caught several this year that would rival the one I caught a couple years back. The most memorable one was caught on a Cavitron buzzbait with a skirt that I tied on. My buddy and I were literally about 20 feet from the ramp right after sundown, we were going to leave. I said, "one more cast" and nailed this one right along side the ramp over a small brush pile.
flippin and pitchin reply :
Geez Cliff, nice one. My PB LM is a tie at 7-13. The first one was in 2 feet of water in July about 25 years ago. I little tuft of water celery, an in-ine buzz bait. 28-1/2 in. long and skinny as a rail. I picked up another 7-13 this past April on a spinnerbait at Clear Lake. Much shorter and a belly bigger than mine. My PB smallie is a 5-5 and I got her in April on a Normans DLN in 10 feet of water on a sand flat with scattered boulders. Obviously, from what else i've read here, I need to fish more ponds ?????
Hyrule Bass reply :
caught my personal best of 20 inches 4 1/2 pounds in September of this year on a drop shot with a night crawler at Smith Mountain Lake. I was night fishing off a dock. Just out of reach of casting distance from the dock is a creek channel. then to the right there is a point running out towards the creek channel and several tree stumps. The water was kind of low that weekend, i caught her in maybe 3 feet of water out towards the point and tree stumps.
My personal best on artificial is 4lbs 20 inches from a pond. caught her on a weightless baby rage craw, swimming it across the top of the water with the two pincers creating a wake from their flapping. that was also this year in the summer. also caught the same fish in February on a husky jerk and didnt take a weight.
RyneB reply :
personal best was last year. I was fishing a strip mine in the dead of summer. Blue bird skies and about 100 degrees. I was casting my Rage Eeliminator to a shallow point. I turned around and threw horizontal to the bank but the cast took off on me and sailed farther than expected. I was working the Eeliminator back on top in 32 fow when i had a huge blow up. It ended up being an 8 lb lmb that had another giant swimming with it. I dont imagine the fish was hanging out on top. Visability is 20 plus feet so im assuming he came from the depths. Iv had a place in my heart for the Eeliminator ever since.
Jim H. reply :
Strange but trrue. My PB tournament bass was 7lb15oz winning me the big bass money and with 2 other nice fish, winning the event.
My actual best was never weighed and cost me a friend! Our club was sponsoring a charity tournament and the evening before, my friend and I were just boating around the lake enjoying a brew and watching the sunset. Suddenly we saw a big fish strike a skipping shad. I stopped the boat and my friend made a very long cast with a topwater bait. The monster blew up on the lure but didn't connect. I had a tiny crankbait rigged on a spinning rod with 8lb test and made a cast near the spot... and the battle was on. She was in the brush, then around the trolling motor. and back into the buckbrush. Finally I was able to lip her and got her into the boat. She was HUGH!
My friend was stunned and said "My God, that's the biggest bass I have EVER seen. That sucker has to be well over 10 lbs (the lake record was 8 1/2 lbs)."
My thoughts at the time was : "So what? I don't want to eat this fish and I can't afford the bucks to have it mounted, so what AM I going to do with it? I decided to let it go.
Then my "friend" says "of course you are going to release it, right?"
So I did, and he hasn't spoken to me in the last 20 years.
psuangler91 reply :
I'm not sure exactly which was my personal best but they were both around 4 pounds. the first one was caught in Canada on a 9" Yum Dinger T rigged and dragged along the bottom under some lilly pads, He was a monster to me then and I thought he was at least 5 cause I had never caught a fish even close to that before but we weighed it at 3.9. The Second was caught the day before my first tournament during practice. My partner was in the front of the boat and we were both throwing spinners at a cluster of bull rushes on Clear water lake in Michigan. He was hitting it with a chartreuse and didn't pull anything out. Then I took my turn and I had a white single colorado with a chartreuse grub trailer. I threw in between the edge of the main clump and a small bunch of rushes just off that. He hit it right as it passed between the two and I instantly knew it was a good one. I actually was thinking maybe it was a pike. He was rippin drag and I was trying as hard as I could to pull him in without horsin him. whenever I pulled him up next to the boat I was so psyched I lipped him and pulled him up and my partner and our boater were both smilin and high fivin me. I'd say he was 4 and a half but my boater kept saying 4 flat. Anyway, next year I'm determined to get a five.
psuangler91 reply :
On 12/18/2011 at 12:44 PM, Jim H. said:Then my "friend" says "of course you are going to release it, right?"
So I did, and he hasn't spoken to me in the last 20 years.
So he's mad that you caught what he thought should have been his fish or he's mad you let it go and didn't get it mounted? That is weird, sorry to hear that
Randall reply :
My story was posted here a little over a year ago. I tell the details of the story later in the thread on the third page.
Greed reply :
This last spring I stumbled upon a school of prespawn females moving shallow to feed. Long story short is that it was a magical and I managed two four pounders in two casts, my pb at 6#, and multiple three pounders before and after. Not too shabby for an hour fishing session before I had to go to work.
zip pow reply :
My pb came on guntersville in the spring had just bought my first bass boat and was just going to the lake to make sure everything worked on it I carried one rod and a trap made first cast caught 9lb10 oz hog I was glad I bought the boat.
WRB reply :
My PB was caught March 1993 from lake Castiac. The day was light rain and light wind, 2 days before the full moon, ideal conditions for giant pre spawn bass. I was fishing a major staging point that I had fished earlier at dawn without any success and returned about 9, slowly worked my way close enough to where I thought a big bass may be located and made a long cast about 90' with my hair jig/Super pork trailer. The bass was in about 17' of water when the strike occurred; a nothing strike the jig just stopped falling sooner than expected. Reeled the line tight and sweep the rod back into a solid hook set. The bass made a short run then came up and head shaking half body jump and dove back down into deeper water. I knew the bass was a giant, but was surprised when she came into few about 6' deep below the boat and turned to make another run; I was sure this bass was in the 20's and a possible world record.
She turned out to be 19.3 lbs on a certified scale; 28.5" long with 28" girth.
Tom
Goose52 reply :
Everyone has had great stories so far...but I gotta say that I REALLY enjoyed Randall's and WRB's - you guys are 'da man! (da men... 
)
Gangley reply :
There are several ponds that I frequently drive by on my way to the In-laws residence, but I never considered fishing them because as far as I knew they were shallow drainage areas that were no more than 3 feet deep. While driving by one afternoon I decided that since I had a pole with me I would try it out just for the heck of it. The water was literally 3 feet deep all the way across, the color of chocolate milk, and choppy as heck because of a strong wind blowing. I fished for about an hour or so with a jig and never got a bite so I decided to pack it up and head home. As I was walking back to the truck I came across an older gentleman throwing a casting net out. I casually asked him how things were going and he said "just fine, trying to get some baitfish to fish with". I asked him if he fished the pond a lot and he said that he had fished it for 4-5 years and caught a lot of nice bass from it. Finding that hard to believe but not mentioning it, I asked him how big and he said "several in the 10-11 lb range, but nothing over 5 or 6 lately". I chuckled on the inside thinking that the older man was exagerating slightly and then asked him where. He replied "right here". Upon hearing this I smiled, nodded my head, and was about to move on when he busted out a cellphone and started showing pictures of some HUGE bass. I couldnt believe it! I thanked the guy for the conversation, wished him luck, then headed back to the truck thinking that next time I would bring a few different lures and try some other things out. As I got closer to the truck I decided to try one other spot for a few minutes just in case. I flipped the jig to an underwater culvert and let it sink to the 3 foot bottom and rested it there for 2-3 seconds before doing two quick short hops. At the end of the second hop I felt a SOLID thump and set the hook hard. It felt as though I set the hook into a power line pole. The line didnt budge and the lure never moved so I instantly assumed that I hung up on something and began to let the expletives flow until the line started moving off to the side. I quickly regrouped and started reeling in until the Curado's drag system began to scream in submission. She decided to calm down, after letting her run for a bit, and I lipped her out of the water. She was by far my new PB and I was stoked. She came in at 7.8 lbs or 7 lbs 13oz depending on how you measure.
The old man came over, looked at it and said "thats nice, but there are much bigger in here than that, keep at it and you'll find them"
I'll be trying, I promise you that.
Raul reply :
No great story, no I did this and did that and so on, my PB ( 13.86 lbs ) was caught in Lake Emilio Portes Gil ( better know as San Lorenzo or Xicotencatl ) more than 20 years ago, I did nothing fancy, the lake has huge beds of elodea, the lake was low so it´s really cast to the openings and hopefully you´ll catch something before your lure gets tangled in the vegetation, I grabbed my trusty Rapala Shad Rap and cast it to a large opening, had barely began reeling when wham ! and the fish immediately ran into cover, no fight, I had to pull it from the weeds ( I bet it was a mass of 40 lbs of weeds ) after removing the weeds there she was, the truth is that the only satisfation was when I weighted her, other than that it was quite dissapointing.
clayton86 reply :
My 8lber PB came 2 summers ago bank fishing. I hit the spot right infront of the parking lot soon as I got there. I was walking around and had a snagproof boss rat tied on when I seen what I thought was a decent carp mulling around in the grass about 6th off the bank in a foot of water. I casted well past the "carp" at the time to the stump and Lilly pads. As I brought the mouse past the dark blob it just exploded all in an instant i thought that's it a carp set the hook and dragged it onto the bank in one sweep. I just looked down at a heap of grass with a piece of tail hanging out I started to pick the grass around it and then I seen that head and mouth I went totally Ike passing boats were looking as I was freaking out. It was so fat and big made that big rat like like a baby mouse in it's mouth. I had a passing stranger take a pic with my phone. I haven't had luck at that lake sense.
kanasbassfisher08 reply :
me and my wife always plan on going to the lake of the ozarks at least once a year and it was early june 2 years ago. the first morning was a bit disappointing only one dink on a popper and was really expecting a good buzzbait bite but no. so i decided after the morning to just flip docks all day and only one out of a brush pile at the end of the dock. so day two was a bit better catching 3 or 4 on a buzzbait and a couple more dinks on a popper. so again after the morning i decided to hit some new docks way on the other side of the cove and my second dock i flip i pulled up and felt weight and saw my line move for a couple feet thinking it was to late i set the hook and ways and it felt like the 2lbers i been catching most of the day til i saw it in about 4 feet of water and i started fighting it like the fish it was and after about 5 mins it let me get a hand on it to scoop it in the boat it was just shy of 8.5lbs. the funny thing was i had a new fansy camera phone that i took the picture with and i released it and went back to the house to brag about it and couldnt find the pic so i been trying to find that lady for proof but very nice fish!
Nitrofreak reply :
My PB of 8 1/2 lbs came from lake Anna this past year.
It was a father/daughter day and a tough day to fish but my teenage daughter was KICKING MY BUT !!!
The first half of the day the score was 4 to 4 with her's weighing in at a respectable 14 lbs 2 oz mine was a little over 5 lbs, we set down had a couple of sandwiches and she is just hammering me with smiles and was not being too shy about who the better fisherman was so far...lol, the last half of the day continued to be the same for the next hour or so until the fish quit biting, after about an hour of no fish she decides to have some fun with me and starts casting her line right on top of mine and catching either my line or snagging my spot.
The end of the day comes... which is something I wish would have never happened but she called last cast and she runs to the front of the boat cast's her line just to the left of where I wanted to be, she turns and looks at me with a s**t eating grin on her face and says to me awwww what's wrong daddy did I take your spot?...I looked over where her line landed and put my Texas rigged 6" pumpkin seed/chartruse lizzard just to the right of hers and felt a THUMP!! I dropped the rod realed the slack and set the hook turned and looked at her and said NOPE!!
She still had the weight over me but I will never forget that day.
steverowbotham reply :
My PB smallie was a 7.60 lber
I was fishing a 20 boat club tournament and I had a really good bag in the 24 pound range. I still had a high 3 I wanted to get rid of. I was working a jerkbait over a sand flat and watched a behemoth come up about 4 feet under the jerk and turn around. I pitched out a dropshot slammer and she hit within seconds. Best tournament fish of my life. We weighed 27.90 lbs and got beat out by a 28.05 lbs bag. Uggghhh!
But I got big fish at least.
Ratherbfishing reply :
My PB (around 7.5 lbs) came on the outside edge of a ditch in standing timber. (I won't disclose the lake because it already has too many tournaments). We'd been "chased" off the remainder of the lake by swarming flies (this spring was terrible) and we hadn't gotten so much as a bite for over an hour when "Bessie" finally grabbed hold of my bait. I knew immediately that she was a big one. I remember hollering "Get the net! Get the net!" repeatedly. What's most interesting to me is that it's only been the past few years that I've used a crankbait very much but my two largest bass (the other one weighing in at 6 lb 3 oz) came from the same model crankbait: the Rapala Shad Rap. Same size but different colors (green and white). I don't own, work for, or hold stock in Rapala but sometimes I think I should.
J Francho reply :
Another title could be "Bloody Fish Butts and Sticky Slime," but I think I'll leave it with these two quotes by Noel:
"Dude, that fish is bleeding from it's butt!"
"I though that was fishing line, but it was a big stringy booger coming off that fish!"
I don't have any explanation for all the gross things that happened to me today, but it was all worth it. Even the bad case of the dropsies I had early in the day.
Noel Good called me yesterday to invite me for a day on Erie. It took all of 3 milliseconds to make the arrangements. The weather was perfect, light chop on the water receding to glass, and bugs everywhere. ERIE! I love this place. Reminds me so much of my home waters on Lake Ontario, but way better structure and much bigger fish.
We started with jigging spoons,with Noel boating a few fish fairly quickly. I had a few on, but kept losing them. I discovered a bent hook, then realized I was using my 6-8 m/XF jerk bait rod, not the slower, beefier 7' MH/M that suits my style better. Get a 3X treble on the spoon, attached to the right rod, and I was hooking up.
The fish we marked stopped responding to the spoons, so we both switched to drop shot rigs. This is where we really started picking the fish off. Action was fairly slow, but with flourishes of catches. Many of the fish we caught we're spotted on the graph, and we would watch them come up to the baits, and then we'd really sell the bait. Sometimes two or three fish came right up to the bait. Most fish the came up off the bottom to the bait ended up on the hook.
Had I caught all my bites, we'd easily had a 50 fish day. I had plenty of technical issues, but was having a ball. Deep fishing in open water is one of my favorite ways to fish. Hook them, and Hang on!
Size wasn't all there, but we had two significant fish. Noel had a nice fish that was about 4 lbs.,and I set a new personal record for smallies that has stood since the mid 90s. I really didn't think it was a PB, until I got it on the scale, and the numbers kept going up and up, LOL.
"Noel, you just put me on a PB smallmouth!"
Erie smallmouth are like a different species of fish. Heavy, surly, and thick. Even their mouths are strong as hell. I bent hooks trying to get them unbuttoned for a quick release back to the depths.
Gear:
Spoons, St. Croix Avid AVC70MHM, Daiwa Alphas, 10 lb. Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon.
Drop shot, St. Croix Avid AVS63MLXF, Shimano Stradic CI4, 6lb. Seaguar InvisX.
Thanks to Smooth Drags Carbontex replacement washers for controlling those beasts!
Now the part you're all waiting for.....pics!
A decent fish finally, after fixing my "technical issues."
Noel with a pretty little chunk.
Look at the belly on this fish!
Here's what they were eating.
They are never ready to come in boat.
Noel: "This is the type of fish we want more of!"
5 lbs. 12 oz. Awesome fish, but I'm gunning for a 6 now!.
Another view of that fish.
Another great day on the water with a great host. Noel is a VERY good stick, and an even better host.
Thanks for the great day!
GLADES reply :
Mine came as a teenager fishing on lake Kissimmee FL during a 3 day trip in 1975 while fishing with my father. My dad was good friends with the owner of Camp Mack so we rented a cabin over the water and a 17' Boston Whaler. I caught the 11.8 bass using a silver Johnson spoon with a frog colored pork rind attached.
That was the only fish we caught that day, but it still stands as my PB.
Raider Nation Fisher reply :
My PB came from one of the ponds at the plant I used to work at. Back when it was the SAKS 5th ave. Warehouse, corporate office, distribution, and fashion show building the CEO had the pond stocked with bass and sunfish. This was maybe twelve or more years ago. When they shut the place down 5 or 6 years ago, everyone quit fishing it. Some locals fished it but that was pretty much it. When we started building the Pharmacy. plant that is there now, we discovered this pond. Now to the story. I had gotten off work about an hour early last fall and decided to go beat the banks. We were demoing a building at a different location so I had missed my lunch time fishing that day. I had gone back to a shallow cove that I generally had good luck in, and started throwing a Texas Rigged RI Big Unit at the downed trees and stumps on the opposite bank. I was pitching at a standing dead tree and letting the bait drop alongside it when she struck. I went to reel in my bait and i thought I had snagged a log. I jerked the rod to try an free my bait and this monster fish exploded out of the water. We fought back and forth for a good 6 or 7 minutes before I got her close enough to the bank to lip her. She weighed in at 9lbs 4oz. We had always seen some big dang fish out there, but this was the first one any of us had caught that weighed over 5lbs. Since then the locals have removed a decent amount of the sub 3 lb bass and a good quantity of the million plus sunfish from the pond. My buddy and I have seen some monster fish that have got to be over the 10 lb Mark swimming around in there. I've hooked one of them and my hook straighend when I tried to rod lift him instead of using my hand or a net. Looking at it though that fish was way over 10lbs. Ive seen my pb swimming around in there too, she has a black spot by her gill so I know its her. She's gotten even bigger too. And the wierdest thing about it all I have never caught another fish within a five yard radius of that tree since, regardless of what Im throwing.
oldhippie reply :
golden shiner through 8" of ice, 7#,,,in southeastern wisconsin,,i live in tennessee,,took a vaction to try ice fishing,still caught me a nice'un
Hooligan reply :
I upgraded three times last year from a twelve pound fish, all three upgrades were over 14. The first two were on Fork spooning, one on a Friday one on the following Sunday. (Both weighed in bag on certified Boga) A month later I was fishing an unmarked portion of an unmarked lake in an unmarked area of the unmarked state of CA. Ok, the lake is CLEARly marked, but that's another story... We were drop-shotting structure and I laid into a 14-4. The only thing remarkable about it, other than the size of the fish, is that it hit a 4.5" Robo in 19 FOW.
Fat-G reply :
I think you guys will like this story.
I started fishing because of a VCU Summer Discoveries camp called “Go Fish”. It’s run by a catfish guide on the James and a VCU Fisheries Biologist. I’m still really good friends with both of them, and work for Mike, the guide, in the summer. During the Go Fish week we fished a few ponds for bass, catfished on the river, and waded a smaller river for smallmouth and bream. I actually caught a 10 lb. 2 oz. bass at one of the ponds on a live gill, but I don’t consider that my PB. Anyways, after the last year of Go Fish that I was young enough to do, I had the bug.
One of the catfishing days we stopped at a pond very close to my house and caught a bunch of bluegill to use for shovelheads later that day. I remembered where it was, and the summer after the camp, went back with my brother and dad. Earlier in the day I had bought a 6’6” MH Berkley Cherrywood and a Shimano Callisto to put on it, spooled with 12# Trilene XL. At this time I was still very new to fishing. I had three or four lures, one of them being a ½ oz. Booyah jig in black/blue. After half an hour of not catching anything, my brother and I saw a big fish cruising the shore. We both were trying really hard to coax it to bite, but with no luck. Keep in mind this is the first time I had ever gone fishing besides the camp. Right as we were about to give up and go home, I looked down and there she was just looking at me, no more than three feet away. I dropped the jig in the water and instantaneously she SLAMMED the jig. I was so excited I didn’t even set the hook, just pulled her up on shore. That fish weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz, and was the fish that kind of started it all for me.
I bested that fish two years ago, pitching the exact same jig on the exact same combo to a laydown at a different pond. That fish was 8 lbs. 15 oz. She had just spawned and was rail thin. Wish I had caught her a few weeks earlier. I'm sure she's over 10 now. I've had her pinned a few times, once on a wacky Trick Worm and once on a frog, but she has eluded me. It's weird, ever since catching her, the biggest I've caught from that pond is ~5, and numbers have gone WAY down. I used to go out and catch 20 fish a day, with the majority of them being 4-5 pounders.
Goose52 reply :
Hayden - NOW I know how you got started, and "hooked," on jigs so early! Great story!
Colton Neal reply :
My best came on a small pond on a south central Kansas farm. It weighed 11lbs 2 oz and was only a few ounces away from the record which has since been beaten. It's now 11.8. I caught the fish in 2004 on a brown jig with a zoom trailer. Since then i've caught plenty of 9 lbers but i want to catch that record hahaha
jojo&laken reply :
I was 9 years old and wade fishing with my dad during spawning season on Rayburn i will never forget it not only for the fish but because the fire ants were floating around on the lake in little balls. The lake was way up that year and i guess it flooded them out, but anyway i had a plum trick worm rigged wacky style on a finacky hook. I threw it out and let it sit (you know how hard that is being 9 yrs old) so i was playing with the balls of ant try to drown them and felt a tug set the hook the best i could when she hit the top of the water i didnt know what to do. I wasn't going to let my dad do it for me so i just turned toward bank and headed out dragging the fish to bank because i couldn't reel it in. She weighed 10 lbs 10 oz's If you have children take them fishing they will never forget it i promise
fxdwgkd reply :
My personal best was on Father's day back in 06'. It was hotter than usual for that time of year. So I waited untill early evening to go out. I was fishing along a downed tree in the 2nd basin of Big Lake, whitley co, IN. I was using a firetiger crankbait on a fiberglass spinning rod with 8lb mono and running it on the bottom. I felt a small tug and then it was game on. She did not have a lot of fight in her so I did not think she was that big. She jumped and tried to throw the lure and I saw how big she was. All I could do was look at the guy fishing with me a say "NET"
Took several pics and measurements and let her go. Went to the dock and another angler was launching his boat. He asked how we did and I told him I caught a 6lber. He proceeded to tell me he had caught a 10lber on Sylvan Lake the same day. Something special must have been happening that day.
Will2 reply :
Last July I got my PB. Fishing at our local beach, Fishing had been great all day. Me and my son had about 4 to 6 bass each ranging from 2 to 3 1/2 lbs using a new stick worm ( green minnow). Every time we were about ready to leave another hit. Just about ready to head out for the day. I had a loop in my line down in the spool. Decided to cast it out, I didn't get the line out far enough, starting pulling out the line. After pulling the loop out, started reeling in line in.Hit the line just stopped. Thought I had a major snag after letting out some line in the current. The my drag started running. It was a great fight. After getting him I was shocked at his size. Took a couple of pictures and weighted him in at 13lbs. That was one of the best fishing days yet.
Both me and my son had a great day fishing.
JIGFISHERMAN. reply :
Didn't weight my personal best largemouth or smallmouth....Oh well.
PB Large-10" powerworm-3/8oz head, early spring, in 97' I've caught enough big bass since then to put this one over 7lbs.
PB smallmouth, just under 5lbs in Aug 06' Pretty impressive consider just an inland lake, and in summer. Close to, if not 6lber in spring.
LgMouthGambler reply :
Lets see..... One evening while having dinner at the local Brus Room, me and my Fiances uncle were throwing our chicken bones in the water and watching the snakeheads and other fish eat at them. While looking in the water, we noticed some pretty big bass swimming around in there. Now this lake that is in the back has plenty of bank spots to fish, so the next week, early on a Sunday morning I arrived to try and pull some big fish out of there. When I first arrived I decided to start by fishing under the structure of which is a back patio outside area. This area is about 7 feet off the surface of the water, and goes out off the shore about 30 ft. So as Im pitching and casting under this area, Im pulling in some decent size bass, but no big ones. All of a sudden I look and see a shadow thats moving under a floating piece of wood under the structure. I flipped my lizard out and slowly reeled past the piece of wood, and bam! She hit and started to run. Faught her for a bit, and thank god for braided line otherwise she would had broken the line on the cement pilings. The picture shown was taken by the surprised bartender that was opening the outside bar. Needless to saw, after she was making some noise about the fish, the manager came out to check out the fish, along with other employees. What a morning. She ended up weighing just over 8 lbs.
Mattlures reply :
Randall wasnt this fish 16+ lbs that you caught off my bluegill?
Ha ha I think you catch so many momsters you forget some 
Here is mine, also caught on my ultimate bluegill
This was a bed fish that was tucked under a huge round boulder. I was laying on my belly pitching it under me. All I could see was part of the tail. I had no idea she was soo big. After I hooked her I scrambled to get off the rock and on to shore. I admit I was a little rattled when she first broke water. She weighed 17.2lbs
00 mod reply :
OK, well after seeing some of these monsters, I am a little ashamed at posting mine, but here it goes!
A buddy of mine, with whom I fish with quite regularly still, had been going down to a good friend of ours pond and fishing a couple of times. It was about 20 +- acres and FULL of buck brush and a lot of flooded timber. My kind of place. The very first time we went there, I caught a 4.6lb bass. We thought it was big, but most of the fish we caught that day were much smaller. Little did we know, we hadn't seen anything yet! This place turned out to be the best little fishing hole EVER! Within the 6 months or so we fished it we lost count of how many 5+ lb fish we caught out of there, and many were on topwater! If you have ever had a 20+ keeper day on topwater, you know what I am referring to!
So here's the story: We had been fishing this one "pocket" of buck brush where I had lost a monster on a jump, that I swore was over 10 and no one believed us, so we fished it hard every time we went in hopes she would bite again! I was fishing a black/blue jig ( imagine that) and my buddy was fishing a t-rigged Bieber(RI Sweet beaver, but we call em Biebers because the big girls love em). I had caught some and he was catching more, but that was OK, because I love my jig. He hooked into a nice 6 lber and it changed my mind! Thank goodness. Literally about 5 cast later I pitched the beaver right next to a thicket of buck brush and let it sink. Nothing on the initial fall and I bump it one time and it felt like the rod was gonna come ripping out of my hands! BAM BAM two hard taps before I knew it and the rod was bending with each one! I slam the hook home and it was one of those hook sets where you set the hook, but the rod just loads and all you feel is a head shake, rod never goes past 3 o'clock! Yes sir...I knew it was a big one! After a good little battle, our plastic coleman 2 man boat had spun around backed all the way up into another patch of buck brush, but we landed her. Quickly removed hook, weighed her with the scale we already had out after his 6lber the fish before. too 3 quick pictures and let her swim away! She was caught 3-30-11 and weighed 8 lb 9 oz.
Told the owner about it the next day and he was mad because I didn't keep the fish to mount it. I told him it's ok, I am having a replica made of it! Should be ready real soon.....hope the wait pays off!
My buddy caught an 8lb 1oz exactly one week later about 100yrds from the spot!
Jeff
Randall reply :
Matt that one was 15lbs 12oz which is almost as big as the other one by weight. It was my longest bass ever at 31 1/2 inches long so it's my personal best by length. It is close to the weighed weight of my other fish but in reality my other fish which weighed 15lbs 14oz and was around 28 1/2 inches probably weighed around 17 lbs when we caught it. It spit up what I am guessing was a one pound gizzard and a bunch of other partialy digested stuff while we waited on a good scale. I call it 15lbs 14 oz because thats all I have proof and witnesses of but to me in my mind it's a seventeen pound fish or right at it. Funny thing is how the lake has changed since I caught the first big one and the difference in the shape of the fish. Hydrilla got into the lake and our fish are starting to get the shape to really have some good weight to them almost year round. I just need to catch another 31 inch fish with the shape of the other fish.On 1/12/2012 at 11:12 AM, Mattlures said:Randall wasnt this fish 16+ lbs that you caught off my bluegill?
Ha ha I think you catch so many momsters you forget some
Here is mine, also caught on my ultimate bluegill
This was a bed fish that was tucked under a huge round boulder. I was laying on my belly pitching it under me. All I could see was part of the tail. I had no idea she was soo big. After I hooked her I scrambled to get off the rock and on to shore. I admit I was a little rattled when she first broke water. She weighed 17.2lbs
Mattlures reply :
Randall, you sir are a bad man. You catch too many big fish! I have a bad memory and I thought that fish was 16 and change. I apologize and I was givving props not trying to call you out. After I just reread my post it kinda sounded like that but its not what I meant. I have had 2 fish that I distintly remember spitting out big trout durring a fight. Both times it dropped my fish to below 10lbs and I knew they were both over. Each trout was between 1-2 lbs. Its is a sucky feeling when you see a big hunk of fish flying out of your fishes mouth. You know your gonna get robbed. I especialy feel for you because it happened on your PB.You got double robbed!
I think you might need to make a bigger version of your bait!
31 inches is incredible. I have never caught on close to that. If I did it might just beat the world record. I didnt measure my PB but I would guess it around 27-28in Your 31 looks old to me your other fish looks younger. Maybe you will find it when it gets to 30+ That would be a monster!
Bankbeater reply :
Air temp was 75, and there was no wind at 5:30 AM when we got out on the water. My Dad was throwing a white buzz bait and had about 3 dinks by 6:00 AM, so I knew they were coming up. I was throwing a black jitterbug and starting my retreive as soon as the bait would hit the water. I hadn't gotten a single bite when we got over by an old road bed that went off into the lake.
I threw out over the road bed but I let the bait sit until the water had calmed down around it. There was a big swirl and a wave as soon as I started moving the bait. I knew it was a big one from the way it was bending my rod. When I got the bass over to the side of the boat it tried to make a run to the trolling motor. I saw that both sets of treble hooks were in so I wasn't too worried about the bass getting off.
Turned out to be bass that went 6-02. After the sun came up over the trees the bite shut down and we were on our way home by 10:00 AM.
NILBasser reply :
My own PB is 7.5lbs which I have done twice so far. The first one was my first legit "big" fish, over 5lbs. I caught her on Father's Day fishing a chrome/black Risto Rap in open water where schools of bass were chasing shad. I was fishing solo that day and she was the first fish of the day about 5 minutes into the day. And yes I was pumped!!! The second was caught right here on the lake I live on in May of '06 off of a bed. This was the first fish I ever really "worked" to get a strike. I fished this fish for more than an hour before finally getting her to hit a jig. It took bringing the jig in over her shoulder from right to left and she just smoked it like she had not seen a bait before, awesome!!! And I threw alot of baits at that fish before she finally hit. God I can't wait for open water!!!!
camman reply :
Great stories.
My PB came out of a popular lake in SoCal. It was during the spawn and was really windy. We had been fishing out in deeper water for most of the day getting a few pre-spawn fish but nothing of size. We roll in shallow and I can barely make what looks like a bed and a small male sitting on the bed. I flip a RI Beaver over just beyond the male and I see it take off. Oh well, I pop the bait once and as I start to reel in, my line takes off. I set the hook and casually bring the fish in as I thought it was the small male I had seen. I'm trying to force it in as I thought it had maybe wrapped when a huge fish jumps. Once I realize what I have I start to baby the fish and avoiding the weeds. My buddy nets it and it goes 14.2 lbs.....grab a quick photo and off she goes.
bassman31783 reply :
Every year my friend Hans and I try to take a spring fishing trip to Lake Fork. 2yrs ago we had our trip planned for early March but when the time actually came for our fishing trip we didn't get a chance to get out on the water because of storms. A month later we got our chance to go back to Fork and fish it on a day.
When we got on the water we went to our favorite spot, threw on a few hollow body swimbaits and proceeded to have our best day on Lake Fork. We had decided that on this particular day that we would try and get some video of the fish we catch and put together a little fishing trip video.
Within 10min of launching the boat we were at our spot swimming our lures through patches of hydrilla when my lure just stopped dead in it's tracks. I reared back and set the hook and imeaditely knew it was a nicer fish. I shouted out to Hans to get the camera out of the bag and start taking some video. As he was getting his camera ready my bass cleared the water to show me just how big it was, at which point I shouted back at Hans "forget the camera and get the net!!" After a short but furious fight we landed my bass, put her on the scale, took a few pics, and sent her on her way. 9lbs 2oz.
After that we proceeded to catch big bass after big bass. Just after 1hr we took our 5 largest and it was over 30lbs. Heck of a day topped off with me catching my PB.
jkarol24 reply :
Caught my PB in the tourney i won in NY, a 4.78 lb LM as a co-angler. So anyways, its probably 1 PM or so (2 hours left in the tourney) and i've got probably 14 lbs and whipping my boater. As you can imagine, this guy is not to happy with me... So we are running a stretch of docks and he noses up to this big ol' nice looking dock, puts down the power pole and looks back at me. He goes "alright, this is MY dock, don't cast on it". I'm doing alright so i think to myself is all good, he's had a long day, i'l just turn around and keep fishing the previous dock behind us. So anyways, im skippin lures into this dock, cast after cast and am getting nothing. Im trying to get my lure into a nice little spot, and i finally got it just right on maybe the 25th cast. Sure enough, the line twitches and i set the hook and this pig comes flying out of the dock and under the boat. My boater notices this, drops his rod, nets the fish and dumps it in the bottom of the boat, and proceeds to fish "his" dock without success. To make it even crazier, i look down at this bass and its completely blind in one eye 
My boater may have come in the top 3 for Angler of the Year, but i won on that day. The fish is the LM bass in my left hand (right side of the pic) in my avatar.
Brent Christian reply :
My pb came from the Ohio river, there was a barge half way sunk wit a weed bed in it, water about a foot an a half deep, threw a black buzz bait and no soon it hit the weeds there she blew almost 7 pounds!
Borderline11 reply :
My brother and I made a spontaneous decision to drive from our parents house in PA to Georgia the day after christmas to do some bass fishing as we both had the week off. We made arrangements to fish at a place called Little River Plantation, not far from where we were staying in Tifton. The place is a 20k acre private hunting preserve with apparently some world class quail hunting, but we were just looking to do a little fishing. There was some miscommunication on our end and when we arrived on Tues, we were told they were planning on us coming on Thursday and weren't really ready for us to go out. We didn't mind as we heard of a place called the Paradise Public Fishing Area that apparently holds some big fish and just figured we'd come back in two days. Any how, as we're driving down the road, the gentleman who runs LRP chased us down and apologized, realizing that we just drove 17 hrs to go fishing, and happily put us on two of his lakes with ample shore fishing. At this point, we're both ecstatic and get to the flicking and dipping quick. We start reeling em in! I have a brief moment of hysteria/exhaustion at mid day, where it seemed like I was loopy or drunk from not sleeping in two days, and sort of hit a rut. My brother, being the great older brother and fishing partner that he is, points out an area that he seemed positive would be holding fish and told me to give it a go. I notice a submerged log maybe ten feet down (clarity was excellent) and drop a carolina rigged 10" worm to the bottom and slowly pop it along the length of the tree. It only took four or five twitches for my PB to smash the worm and go on a run. My reel started screaming as I was using my micro setup (small garcia on a 5' rod) and it got to the point where I literally couldn't get so much as an inch of line in. I end up grabbing the reel with my left hand in between spins to stop the fish from pulling more line out. This fight goes on for what felt like several minutes, where I'm screaming for my brothers help, as I'm almost positive my rod was about to snap. He comes running over and immediately asks how in the world I got stuck on the submerged tree just when the bucket mouth girl breaks the surface. At which point he's as giddy as I am and we're both sort of doing what must have looked like some kind of irish jig dance as we angle this thing to the shore. Eventually I'm able to lip her, which leads to more high fives, chest bumps, strange celebratory noises and finally some pictures. Being from PA, I view anything over 4lbs as a big fish, and while we didn't have a scale to put an exact weight on it, I knew it was easily my biggest LM! We came back to LRP on Thursday and had ourselves a 30 fish day, but none topping that big girl. It was the perfect vacation and what will probably become an annual tradition for my brother and I. Here's a pic of my PB!
gpbassbuster1 reply :
my best was back in nov of last year- it was on a wednesday, wasnt suppose to be at joe pool lake, was suppose to be at lake fork. anyway in the am as soon as i got there a boat was flagging me down, he had broken down so i towed him in to the marina. so i went back to fishing - it had been about 5 to 6 hours and no bites, i mean nothing so i started to go by one more spot, and darn if there was another boat waving me down. i said to myself there is no way twice in one day. so i towed them in as well. called my wife and told her that i will be home soon, told her the story of what happened that day and said "i have done my good deed for today". i then told her i was going to try this one last spot. threw my red trap and slam, 8#er. i couldnt believe it. when i arrived at home i told her and she replied, looks like someone was listening and rewarded me with that catch. 
backcast88 reply :
I caught my personal best in the summer of 2006 in a small pond when I was 17 while working at a Boy Scout camp in the NC mountains.
I was working as a camp counselor teaching fishing and fly fishing and the week was coming to a close and all the scouts had completed their merit badges but I was required to hold class so I told them all to meet me on the dam of the lake. We had been there almost 30 minutes and all the kids had caught a good number of Bluegill and a couple real small bass and I had been working to take their fish off to maximize their fishing time. When there was a lull on the action I took my rod with a texas rigged Zoom Pumpkinseed u tail worm and tossed it into a submerged tree top. I felt a small thump on the fall and set the hook. The kid closest too me chuckled b/c he thought I had hung the tree but once he noticed the action in my rod he yelled out "he's got a giant" and all the other kids came running over. It took me a couple minutes to get the fish out of the tree top but once I got the fish to the bank I knew it was my best. One of the kids grabbed the digital scale from my backpack and it came in a 7 lbs 11 oz. I fished around the edge for the rest of the day with my other classes and by myself and landed several dozen bass between 1 and 3 lbs and it was a blast.
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