New spotted bass world record?

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
http://www.bassmaster.com/news/new-world-record-spotted-bass#

It's not official yet but it looks like an new world record came out of one of my favorite lakes. I knew one of the "mother load" lakes would pull through with the record and New Melones did it. I was just a few miles away fishing Tolluch that day avoiding the tournament going on at New Melones where this bad boy (girl) was landed. That lake is awesome and produces monster large mouth, spots and every once and a while a fat small mouth. I don't expect this record (if it becomes official) to stand very long because there are 3 or 4 more lakes in the mother load producing world class fish like this.
 
That's pretty cool I swimbait fish so I'm on a forum that has a lot of guys out that way. Figured that record would be broke some day soon.

Doubt the record last for to long.
 
Everybody thought it would come on a swim bait but a 5" Senko caught that fish. The biggest spot I ever caught was a 6lb fish on my ultra light throwing a maribu jig while crappie fishing lol. Talk about a fight!

Do you fish mostly soft or hard swim baits? Do they stock trout in the lakes you fish or are you using different patterns? We've been knocking them on Califoria Reservoir Lures swim baits rigged on big jig heads.
 
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Mostly hard baits but I typically have a few hudds on me, some places are stocked some aren't but even in places that aren't I catch bass on 10 inch hard trout baits.
 
Incredible...what a brute! I can only imagine the fight. I've caught spots at Lake of the Ozarks and Kentucky lake and they were a hoot! Aggressive strikes and great fighters. :thumbsup:
 
519vx said:
Incredible...what a brute! I can only imagine the fight. I've caught spots at Lake of the Ozarks and Kentucky lake and they were a hoot! Aggressive strikes and great fighters. :thumbsup:
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I told you it was a hog! Imo spots fight even harder than smallies pound for pound.
 
Check out this limit caught in a tournament at Bullards Bar -- every one of those spots is at or very near 8 pounds. For my money, that trumps a single 10 1/4-pound fish.
 
That is an insane limit of spots!
 
ditchparrot19, that is a bunch of fatties. I don't know why the guy in the middle has to have his fingers in the fish's gills though unless he was going to eat them. Along that line, a good friend of Ed's and I were just talking about those Bullards Bar fish. He said there seems to be a gap in the year classes of fish. Great big ones and small ones and not many in between. Maybe a large number are being taken home for the table. He said someone took some home but couldn't eat them because the flesh was so yellow. I guess a steady diet of orange meated kokanee even makes a bass turn color. I think he may have screwed up as any improvement in a bass's taste would be a plus. Pretty bland tasting fish in my experience.
 
calamari said:
I think he may have screwed up as any improvement in a bass's taste would be a plus. Pretty bland tasting fish in my experience.
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I don't know. I've never had any qualms with eating them, but I don't eat many because I like catching them so much and I have a lot of other options for table fish.

I have a reduced-fee membership on a dove lease that comes with the stipulation that I lower the bass population in the big pond on the property every September. The guy knows what he's doing in regard to management of that place and understands that a bunch of small to mid-size fish need to be taken out every year for the overall health of the fishery. I release the big ones, and there are some REALLY big ones in there. There are also some gigantic bluegill ? the biggest I've ever seen.

The ones I take home always taste just fine to me.
 
Spotted bass especially need to be thinned. We keep many limits a year of 12-14" spots and turn the big ones back but we hardly ever keep any large mouth. As far as eating? I'll take a mess of spots or gills over trout or kokanee any day, those are for bass to eat.:D Big fish should always be put back as they are the best spawning fish and produce the most, healthiest babies.:cheers:
 
Bullards bar has been hit very hard since it got on the map a few years back with a record tournament bag and being named on BASS's top 100 lakes.
 
ditchparrot19 said:
I have a reduced-fee membership on a dove lease that comes with the stipulation that I lower the bass population in the big pond on the property every September.
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If you get a reduced fee in exchange for catching bass out of his pond you are my newest idol. Just hope he never finds out that he can actually charge more money if he lets people fish! Good job!:10sign:
Lots of people like bass and they are certainly a mild fish to eat but maybe it's because I ate so many bass and blue gill when I was a kid I got blown out on them. They certainly aren't a bad tasting fish. As far as the worst tasting fish I ever ate, that would be a Surf Scoter.:)
 
I catch a few of these and our State record is in the 4.5lb range. I know I have caught larger then this not knowing the record. I do have a question though. Ours here get some red in their eyes when spawning and flat out attack my legs and feet when I am belly boating(which has been a while). Has anyone else experienced this with Spots? Never had it happen before and only happens to me where Spots are prevalent. Which is exactly one series of ponds. Record for here is in the 17.75 inch class and I have caught them 18-21 inches. Which, I guess makes me pretty stupid. I just don't keep Bass, but I guess would of if I knew the record.:cheers:
 
Spots are extremely aggressive year round and even more so during spawn. They easily out compete large mouth and smallies in lakes with both or all three species.
 
It is like a bolt of lightning hitting you in the leg or foot. They sure are courages fish. But it scares the crap out of me. Too many snappers in the ponds not to be nervous and then something drills you in the leg. I have some pic's some where of some good spots from here. Yours would eat ours.:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
Spots are extremely aggressive year round and even more so during spawn. They easily out compete large mouth and smallies in lakes with both or all three species.
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It's simply a case of one species or another being best suited for that particular environment. The real advantage for the spots -- especially in the canyon reservoirs out here -- is they spawn so much deeper than largemouths and don't lose entire year-classes due to falling water during periods of drought.

There are lots of Southern impoundments with high concentrations of spots, but the largemouths still dominate. Kentucky Lake, arguably the best tournament lake in the country, is a prime example. If you have to take a single spot to the scale there, you know you're probably sunk because there are so many largemouths and they're so much bigger on average.
 
Well, it's not official yet but it looks like this Bullards Bar spot may claim top hog from the Melones spot caught last year. Unofficial at 11.2 right now.

 
Check out these hogs caught just the other day, four fish for 40.25lbs. I'm not positive but I think this was at New Melones. Why isn't the Bass master classic hitting this awesome lake while they're in Ca?

 
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