help with big bass

If your catching 5 pounders your doing well. Time and effort will pay off for you.

Gene - Red》X《 - Asheboro

The folks we see catching big fish from Raleigh-area water have put in a lot of time and sifted through a lot of dinks to get their big fish. There's no easy button or big-fish-only parking lot.

I'd say to keep focusing on the same places you are fishing, but with slightly different tactics and a realistic expectations on seasonal behavior and results. Large, live bait or large swimbaits would be my choice to try and upsize my catch. Knowing full well that my numbers are going to go down. Focus on low-light conditions. Extra focus on peak times of the year for large fish - pre-spawn around here, february & march.

The other thing you can do to tilt the odds a bit is to find water with limitations on fishing & harvesting (all boat-oriented, to my knowledge). Orange county water dept manages a couple lakes with limited fishing days. Randleman limits the number of boats (not a notorious big-fish lake yet). Harris has the slot limit, which lets more of those 2lbers become 5lbers.

billybones555 said:

I'm from the Raleigh area and I need help trying to find a place to catch some bigger bass. The biggest I got so far is 5 but I'm trying to figure where there are some bigger fish at. Please may someone tell Mr where to go in goes of catching something 4lbs or better.

Click to expand...

Where to locate bigger fish? Hmmmm....You figure out a universal answer to that and you'll never want for anything for the remainder of your life.....

On a more serious note: The odds of catching the biggest fish in a body of water is slim. I'm not saying fish for years in a water that never yields more than a 2lb bass. But...if you're catching 5-6lb bass I'd venture to bet there are heavier. Now, with that being said you still may never catch/hook that bigger fish. The wilder/more remote/less pressured waters are going to yield easier to catch fish than a heavier pressured area, of course.

Bottom line: leg work/homework/studying/dedicated time/persistence.....this will always pay off in large dividends.

The bigger the bait.....the bigger the catch! Not saying you can't catch big fish on small set ups, but small fish can't bite bigger lures. I fished for LMB for years before i caught my first double digit bass! Practice and patience always pays off

Just keep fishing. If it were easy to catch larger fish all the time, it wouldn't really be fun anymore...no challenge. As for bigger baits...I've caught plenty of small fish, some smaller than the bait, on big baits and small baits. The key is being in the right place at the right time with the right presentation...or finding a local aquarium that will let you fish in it!

hogaholic said:

The bigger the bait.....the bigger the catch! Not saying you can't catch big fish on small set ups, but small fish can't bite bigger lures. I fished for LMB for years before i caught my first double digit bass! Practice and patience always pays off

Click to expand...

yep, up size your baits and your avg size will go up.....your fish count may go down though. Small fish will hit big baits and big fish will hit small baits but if two people fish the same water together for a year but one uses big baits and one uses small baits the avg size bass will be higher for the bigger bait. not saying a guy cant catch an 8lber on a beetle spin like I saw the other day but it will be big baits equal big fish in the long run....

I agree to some extent on the bigger baits theory. You're "trophy fish" ratio will go up. Your overall numbers will decrease, as stated. I don't think one should use a monstrous sized bait all the time and expect satisfying results though. I think a bait quite a bit larger is better than one that is obscenely larger. There again, elephants eat peanuts.

My best bass to date from a lake was a 7 pounder on a shakey head trick worm. Not a large bait by any means!

Gene - Red》X《 - Asheboro

So what lake are ya fishing I know for sure that there are many big bass in some of the local lakes!!!!

Caught a seven plus at RRR last week on a uv speedcraw, which is a 3.5 inch bait, and she wasn't the first big one I have caught on that bait. By the same token, I've caught eleven inchers on ten inch ole monster worms.

I suggest you up your arsenal if you can afford. Have a couple poles with different types of lures on it. I typically like to have at least 3-4 with my go too's on them. If one isn't working, switch poles to something smaller. 1 pole wacky rig, 1 pole drop shot, 1 pole jig, 1 pole for cranking!

Thanks for all the replies. Spidey i really don't fish lakes except for crappie or catfish. I have some ponds i fish n a few rivers. Is there a way u can tell me what lakes i need to focus on

billybones555 said:

Thanks for all the replies. Spidey i really don't fish lakes except for crappie or catfish. I have some ponds i fish n a few rivers. Is there a way u can tell me what lakes i need to focus on

Click to expand...

That may be part of your problem. I know some ponds have big bass, but unless it has good structure and an abundance food.....your gonna catch small fish. No way around it. I'm new to the area and only fished Lake Wheeler once (was skunked), Jordan Lake once (mostly helped my nephew fish but caught a couple dinks), and Lake Benson a couple times. Every time I've been to Benson though I have caught at least [email protected] Heard there's big fish in there! I like it cause there's limited fishing allowed which means less pressure on the fish. Only thing is though there's no bank fishing allowed. Have to rent their equipment to go out there

I will just say I know there are big bass in umstead, Lynn, durant and falls lake

Thank u so much