big female bass! 2024

TheSickdrift reply :

So i went to my local lake here in the high desert, i get there around 9am, and then... i see 3 BIG bass patrolling the waters back and forth, of course my heart started pumping, so i started to throw everything from natural color jigs, that did not work, so i rigged up some Texas rigged worms. Those bass had no interest in what i had to offer!, they wouldn't even look at my set ups!

Now i am a beginner in bass fishing, so i might of done something wrong, anyone ever had experiences like these? and if you did how did you end up catching these hogs!.

Any tips would be appreciated!

Grey Wolf reply :

Did they see you ?

Raul reply :

You see them they see you.

Kneeling down, moving back away from the water so the fish can 't see you a lot of times does wonders.

Smiths.R reply :

Sounds like spawning bass. If they saw you, it's all over. Also, unless you hit the bulls eye on the nest, they probably won't hit it. I always use weightless T-rigged worms. Just jiggle it on the X.

stratos 375 reply :

i have witnessed this phenomenon many times before, as others stated, if'n you seen them, rest assured they seen you, or picked up on the vibes. I've got a couple of very old limerock pits close to my property down south, I've stood on the edge & watched 10 pounders swim by. when the're in that ignorant type of a mood, there's not much you can do. If'n your the type who doesn't mind throwin live bait, try a gigantic crawdad, or a nice juicy salamander. Sometimes something actually alive will trigger the killer instinct in her.

Paul Roberts reply :

Here we go again. The very first this year of the "cruising bass" threads. Congrats on being the first this year!

I'm not being a jerk, just noticing the seasons rollin' around again.

Search "cruising" or "cruisers" ... from the search page and you'll see good discussions from previous years.

J_Pearson reply :

NOTE:

Although you'd probably find a boat-load of information on catching those big cruisers in past forum posts or articles under the 'Fishing Articles' tab, there's no wrong done in the asking of a question. It certainly beats talking about proper spelling and composition right?

Oscardrift240...Good luck! Those cruisers can be tough to catch, and are often very spooky once your presence has been made. However, my best advice I can offer you is to make a very quiet presentation with either a small finesse worm or senko wacky-rigged. I personally use a Gamakatsu finesse wide-gap hook on light spinning tackle. The light line and spinning setup allow you to make an accurate cast with the small presentation. As long as the cover is not too thick, you'll have no problem landing hogs with a properly set drag. Just fight them smart and you'll be rewarded.

Catching early-season cruisers is a blast in my opinion, almost as much like hunting and stalking as it is fishing. A very rewarding experience.

Best of luck

Paul Roberts reply :

Quote
NOTE:
Although you'd probably find a boat-load of information on catching those big cruisers in past forum posts or articles under the 'Fishing Articles' tab, there's no wrong done in the asking of a question. It certainly beats talking about proper spelling and composition right?

...

JP

Of course not. Always new people on board too to add new stuff and potentially new perspectives.

..."proper spelling and composition..." You lost me there.

Raul reply :

Quote

Oscardrift240...Good luck! Those cruisers can be tough to catch, and are often very spooky once your presence has been made. However, my best advice I can offer you is to make a very quiet presentation with either a small finesse worm or senko wacky-rigged. I personally use a Gamakatsu finesse wide-gap hook on light spinning tackle. The light line and spinning setup allow you to make an accurate cast with the small presentation. As long as the cover is not too thick, you'll have no problem landing hogs with a properly set drag. Just fight them smart and you'll be rewarded.

That would be one approach, but I insist, don 't let them see you by staying away from their line of sight.

A couple of years ago I had to go to Mexico City and what the heck, Puebla is just an hour drive away and I knew there a beautiful pay to fish lake there so I asked my compadre to come with me. We arrived at the lake at about 9 in the morning just when they open it to the public, so we began fishing along the shoreline, caught some fish and moved, suddenly my compadre stopped walking and began casting religiously, I walked towards my compadre and being the water very clear I could see what my compadre was casting to, there they were a couple of what looked like 5 pounders, I told my compadre, that the fish were seeing him and under those circumstances they were going to be hard to catch. Well my compadre can be pretty stubborn which is a good and bad thing, on the bad side, things aren 't always your way and previous experiences have taught me that lesson, in spite of my recomendation he stayed where he was standing casting to the fish. I walked along moved about 20 yards ahead of his position proceeded to cast a 1/2 oz spinnerbait to where I saw the fish and before reeling in I hid behind a tree, I had barely retrieved a couple of yards when I caught the first fish ( one of the fish my compadre was trying to catch ), I released the fish ( didn 't have a scale to weight it but I 've caught numerous 4-5 lbers and I guesstimate the fish was somewhere in that range ), made a couple of more casts from the same position and by doing the same I caught the other fish.

TheSickdrift reply :

The water was very clear, I am almost certain they saw me. They were at least 7-8ft away from me. Well i learned what not to do when i do find "cruisers" amateur mistake on my part. As far as trying your guys tactics, i am for sure going to try that this weekend.

I am sorry for bringing up old subjects, Maybe this thread will help new bass fisher men like my me who find them self's in the same situation. It is very frustrating seeing huge bass and not being able to catch them. :'(

roadwarrior reply :

Old subjects are fine...They come up occasionally

around here.

8-)

Fishing Rhino reply :

Sometimes they just are not interested.

I remember one instance when I was a kid, whose targets were bluegills, yellow perch, hornpout and other sunfish.

I saw a bass sitting in very shallow water with its tail only inches from the shore. Looked like it weighed ten pounds to me back then. It was probably only a couple of pounds.

I dangled my worm baited hook right in front of its nose. Nothing. I brought the worm into contact with its nose. Nothing.

And this was a live wriggling worm. Too smart? Too fearful? I have no idea. It just sat there, gently maintaining position with slight movement of its pectoral fins. They, plus its gills working were the only indications that it was alive.

I thought briefly about trying to bop it with a rock, but vetoed that thought. I watched it for a while and walked away.

I could have sworn it winked at me as I walked away. True story, except for the winking part.

It's just the way it is on some days.

Copen1822 reply :

Sometimes you almost need to "throw" the tackle box at them. If you can find a place where your outline is broken up yet you can still see their reactions just start throwing everything you have at them and judge their reaction. Generally soft plastics. I've had the most luck with tubes, but it takes awhile just switching size and color. Sometime you eventually find one they like sometimes not. They can be very individually picky too, one will bite a certain color/size and the one cruising with her wants something totally different. That's all I got, if you figure out a magic formula for cruisers let me know ;D

Paul Roberts reply :

Quote
Old subjects are fine...They come up occasionally
around here.

8-)

Just don't mention the 'S' word (senkos).

Certainly didn't mean to come off as chastising you. Poor word choice and composition I guess. ;D There IS a collection of good info in past threads worth finding.

Welcome to BR, btw.

Raul reply :

Quote
I am sorry for bringing up old subjects, Maybe this thread will help new bass fisher men like my me who find them self's in the same situation. It is very frustrating seeing huge bass and not being able to catch them. :'(

Dude, don 't sweat it, you don 't need to apologize for bringing up old subjects, you open a senko thread and pretty fast it will get locked because we 've had senko threads at nauseum and now there are all in a sticky thread, but other than that, there ain 't no sticky threads 'bout how to catch visible bass, so you can ask pretty much anything.

I understand that there are newcomers to the site, I understand that there are newcomers to the sport and that you 've got questions, if I can be of help then I 'll try to help.

I 've been bass fishing since 1980, I 'd say that from those 30 years I spent at least 15 learning on how to catch them, then I spent another maybe 5 honing what I learned in the previous 15 years and the last maybe 10 years teaching others on how to catch them.

After all, you end up with this: you can read all you want, ask all the advice but finally, you have to figure it out on your own by trying what you 've read and what was said to you. We are only here to share our experiences.

midnighthrasher reply :

I was at my moms lake last year and i saw a very nice looking 4lber and i wanted to catch her!!!! I threw everything that i could at her and nothing. I mean everything. Thousands of dollars worth of tackle. I changed my line from braid to braid with a fluo leader and then to straight fluo. I was realy going crazy. My family found it crazy because i literally sat down there at the water for the whole day. I went to sleep and woke up the next day fresh and ready to get her. I went down to the water rigged up with my core/cumara with 6lb fluo ( thats right 6lb on a baitcaster ) and a 2/0 widegap gamagatsu hook with the biggest juiceist nightcrawler i could find. As i aproched the wharf and water I made as little noise as possible. As soon as i tossed the worm near the area it took off and i NAILED her. A really beautiful 3.5 lb'er.

So if i was you either go live bait or try something real natural.

Big Fish Rice reply :

Quote
Sometimes they just are not interested.
I remember one instance when I was a kid, whose targets were bluegills, yellow perch, hornpout and other sunfish.

I saw a bass sitting in very shallow water with its tail only inches from the shore. Looked like it weighed ten pounds to me back then. It was probably only a couple of pounds.

I dangled my worm baited hook right in front of its nose. Nothing. I brought the worm into contact with its nose. Nothing.

And this was a live wriggling worm. Too smart? Too fearful? I have no idea. It just sat there, gently maintaining position with slight movement of its pectoral fins. They, plus its gills working were the only indications that it was alive.

I thought briefly about trying to bop it with a rock, but vetoed that thought. I watched it for a while and walked away.

I could have sworn it winked at me as I walked away. True story, except for the winking part.

It's just the way it is on some days.

;D I too have had this happen. Sometimes it's just a no-go and they get the upper hand on ya.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, just had myself a laugh remembering the time I almost literally threw my tackle box at the fatty sitting a couple feet off shore.

TheSickdrift reply :

Thank you all for the good information and stories, glad to know i am not by myself in this type of situation. This has to be one of the best forums i have ever been to, glad to be a member.

I'm going there this weekend, more confident and more knowledgeable.. Thank you BR!

TheOriginalFishaholic reply :

I'm a hard-core shore fisherman and I have experienced this many times in the past...and have since changed my approach to early season bass AND clear water conditions - I believe in stealth and dressing according to the season, trying to blend in with my surroundings as much as possible.

Sure, there's times when not even the stealthiest approach will work, but that just makes the urge to succeed even stronger, LOL...sometimes it's not the patient fisherman who catches his prey, but the impatient one - the guy/gal who's gonna try everything and anything to trigger a positive response.

The best results I've had under extremely clear water conditions is simply to use very light line and down-size my baits...and never underestimate the positive results from dead-sticking.

little_stephen reply :

i was going to mention tossing live bait........ a chunky crawdad would do good. I myself found bass have a hard time resisting a juicy crawler thats wiggling in their face. but spawn throws all the rules out the window!

J_Pearson reply :

Quote

Quote
NOTE:
Although you'd probably find a boat-load of information on catching those big cruisers in past forum posts or articles under the 'Fishing Articles' tab, there's no wrong done in the asking of a question. It certainly beats talking about proper spelling and composition right?

...

JP

Of course not. Always new people on board too to add new stuff and potentially new perspectives.

..."proper spelling and composition..." You lost me there.

Sorry I had just got done reading through an un-related topic that involved way too much outside of fishing and kind of vented right there. My apologies.

Best of luck guys!

IwillChooseFreeWill reply :

when he said composition, thats where you throw old fruit, heels, rhinds and food into a pile right?

Bassin_Fin@tic reply :

Those fish are a major pain in the rear.It's one of natures ways of teasing us I think.

One thing you can do is mark that location and IF the bass there are staging and getting ready to build a nest,looking for male suiters,or using it for a feeding ground,you can go back after dark or very early in the morning before it's light out.Then be very stealthy and use senkos,flukes,lightly weighted creatures on a t-rig and fish very slow.This will help prevent you from initially spooking them.

Good luck and welcome

J_Pearson reply :

Quote
when he said composition, thats where you throw old fruit, heels, rhinds and food into a pile right?

haha..Exactly! ;D

WRB reply :

Quote
So i went to my local lake here in the high desert, i get there around 9am, and then... i see 3 BIG bass patrolling the waters back and forth, of course my heart started pumping, so i started to throw everything from natural color jigs, that did not work, so i rigged up some Texas rigged worms. Those bass had no interest in what i had to offer!, they wouldn't even look at my set ups!
Now i am a beginner in bass fishing, so i might of done something wrong, anyone ever had experiences like these? and if you did how did you end up catching these hogs!.

Any tips would be appreciated!

This is a signal that pre spawn bass are about 2 weeks or the next full moon away from bedding, weather permitting. There should be a lot of big bass located out on the first deeper water break, near where you are seeing the cruisers. Go back and Carolina or Texas rig a creature bait or big plastic worm out in the deeper water and work it back to shore and you may catch the bass you can't see. Good luck.

WRB

Big Bass Chaser reply :

I'm also in California and fish rocky highland reservoirs where the bass can see and feel (your footsteps) coming from a distance. I used to be befuddled on how to catch them, but I think Raul has it. You need to hide like you were Batman stalking a thug. They cannot see, hear, or feel you or they will view as suspect anything you throw at them. Because I've been heartbroken a few times with big girls really shallow like that, I now explicity watch as far ahead as my polarized shades will allow to see if there are any cruisers or shallow bass. When I see them I get a football head (with rattles seems to be better) jig out and cast it way, way past them hopefully in deeper water. My goal is always find something hard near them if they are holding still or in front of them if they are cruising and shake that jig against it hopefully without moving it. You can feel the tack-tack-tack of the jig banging the rock and I'd say about 75% of the time the bass at least investigate and of those that investigate about 50% bite. Of course, that is my local lake, and these are northern strain not southern strain bass so they tend to be more aggressive.

On my most recent trip I saw three shallow bass and caught two of them this way. The third felt me coming when I got excited watching it and snapped a dry branch I stepped on. It looked directly at me and then two of it's friends swam up and they just watched me for a minute and swam away.

Red reply :

I once had this opportunity, the fish was slowly cruising along and as it made a wide 180 degree turn I pitched a shallow crank right in front of it. Then at the right moment I cranked it really hard twice and hit the bass with the crank. It turned towards the bait, then I cranked one more time and she nailed it! Totally inhaled it. It was only about 5lbs, but it was pretty cool! Had I had a jig or worm tied on I would have used it, I just happened the have a crank at that moment.

Cliff

Hammer 4 reply :

DVL..?

TheSickdrift reply :

Quote
DVL..?

not Diamond Valley, its called Mojave Narrows, its located in Victorville, CA.

Its a decent lake, most of the people who fish there are just there for trout/catfish. So bass fishing is actually decent there. 8-)

Hammer 4 reply :

Cool, I know where it's at, never fished there...good luck.

Chaz Hickcox reply :

GET A SWIMBAIT!! Not that paddletail BS, a REAL swimbait. I personally prefer Castaic Swimbaits, if budget is an issue go with their original hardheaded series. 14 bucks a pop and I still have one I bought in 1999. That's how I used to catch them patrolling bass.

RoLo reply :

Three possibilities come to mind when nothing is going to work, be it natural or artificial:

1) If you see them, they also see you (that's never good)

2) Spawning cows are fasting cows, and though the bucks may be easy to catch

the cows can be nearly impossible

3) Especially in ponds, I've often seen pods of indifferent bass cruising along the shoreline.

In some cases, you can almost follow their progress around the pond, as excited anglers

along the bank become vocal and can be seen pointing at the water. In every case though,

no one ever touches a single bass (in some way, this may tie into number 1).

Roger

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