This article is 1 in a series of several articles written by the author specifically targeting big bass. It will explore not only techniques and methods for fishing for large bass but also the mindset and off the water work necessary to be consistent.
Those who believe do not need explanation, for those who disbelieve, no explanation will suffice -C. DeFronzo
Big bass fishing is much different from simply going out and catching a limit. In fact, most anglers will likely never catch a truly giant bass in their lifetime. There are many reasons why some anglers excel while the vast majority fails. Throughout this book I encourage you to keep an open mind as I will explain some methods and tactics to point you in the right direction in your quest to land bigger bass. Why do most anglers fail to catch a giant fish?Firstly, 99% of what we as anglers are fed from journalists and outdoor writers is written from the tournament perspective. Go out and catch as many fish in a limited amount of time as one can. These are essentially little fish tactics. Fish fast and cover as much water as possible. Put your lure in front of as many fish as possible. Occasionally these tactics may hang a big fish but they are geared for limits. All of our magazines. Books and television shows are based on this. There is little written about the exploits of big bass hunters. The reason likely being that there really are no set rules to catching big bass. There are things you can do to improve your chances but a hard pattern doesn’t exist. Additionally, the market is so flooded with baits and manufacturers advertising their wares, we get inconsistent and inconclusive reports on the success that these baits provide. Sure manufacturers and the representatives may tout their products as catching larger fish but in all truth, it is a sales pitch. Perhaps it is based on one guys experience when he caught one big fish, kind of like most of fishing lore. What your Dad and Grand dad told you about how it used to be is likely not how it really was, instead a few bright moments of a fishing career come to the forefront and convince us that the era was different. It simply isn’t accurate. Understand that truly giant bass make up a tiny fraction of the overall bass population on any water. In some parts of the country, there may be a larger percentage due to increased growing seasons but if you think that there are 50 ten pound bass swimming around in an acre of Florida water, you are deeply deluded. Next, few, if any anglers have the patience to go out and do something totally foreign to them. If they change their mindset to fish for big fish and experience no success, there is little chance they will actually stick with it. I’m not sure any angler will fish a certain way and not catch fish when he is confident in his ability to catch little fish to salvage a day of skunkeness.
Consider my friend Matt Allen from California. Matt is a big bass hunter. He has numerous fish over 12 pounds to his credit including a 17.2. He fishes big bait and swimbaits to catch these slobs. He might go 3 months without a bite and then all of a sudden catch 4 ten pound fish in an afternoon. Most anglers would not have the perseverance to stick with tactics that aren’t producing action for that long.
Committing to the mindset of approaching your fishing from a standpoint that you want to catch big bass is important to your success. You must commit to solely targeting big fish. Do not get discouraged when you come up empty and do not abandon your tactics in favor of smaller, easier to catch bass. Another problem I see is that there are few fisherman who are humble enough to consider themselves students, rather than teachers. With this I mean that most anglers consider their ability as superior and often tend not to have an open mind about new methods and ideas. You see, targeting big fish is not like pattern fishing. These fish are few and far between and really can’t be consistently patterned. It might be easier for a beginning angler to attempt this type of fishing and for an established angler. I would say that if you can open your mind up to something new with little interference from your traditional methods, you might be able to accomplish a goal that you set.
It is unlikely that even after reading this book* that you will go out and hang a 10 pound bass during your first outing. Rather, what you should hope to accomplish with the information in the eBook is to surpass your personal best and then continue on a quest to increase the overall size of the fish you catch. If your best fish is a shade over 6, go and put emphasis on catching a 7 or an 8. This is a natural progression and when you look at the fact that you are searching for something that has been elusive to your fishing for so long, you have a motivating tool.
*Note: this article is an excerpt from the authors book Catching Big Bass
