Largemouth Bass
When not fishing for Striped Bass we often fish for Largemouth Bass in the many freshwater small lakes and ponds of Southern NJ. For this you don't need a high powered bass boat, only a canoe.
Largemouth Bass. Photo credit - National Geographic TV
Whereas Striped Bass may be the most popular saltwater sportfish along the East Coast, the Largemouth Bass is the most popular freshwater fish.
Largemouth Bass are found in every state of the union except Alaska. They can be found in lakes both large and small. Within a few miles radius of Medford, NJ there are numerous small lakes and ponds. Some of these are associated with cranberry bogs and others result from seepage from underground springs. Most hold a decent population of largemouth bass, and usually sunfish.
In some lakes and ponds you can fish from the shore, but with a canoe you can go back into coves and along tree and shrub lined banks, where the bass are stalking bait. They favor sunfish, minnows and worms but will eat most bugs, crawfish and even a baby duck.
Bass caught in small NJ Lake
Bob and his friend Nick both have canoes and we cartop these to nearby lakes and ponds and have a ball catching bass, mostly using artificial lures. We also often catch Pickerel in these same lakes.
I find that the most effective lure for catching bass is a purple soft plastic worm.
A close second are Zoom Spooks,
mostly white ones. I often fish the plastic worm on an offset worm hook, unweighted, using a fly rod. The bass can't resist
rubber worm as it gently drops down through the water undulating as it falls.
Ive also had great success with Rapala swimming lures and with top water lures like Jitterbugs, Zara Spooks and lures with propellers on them.
Nick caught, then released, the bass shown on the right in a small NJ lake using a
Rapala Firetiger
Floating Minnow lure
while fishing from a canoe.
As with striped bass, largemouth bass do most of their feeding in the early morning hours and late afternoon or evening.
World Record Largemouth Bass
George Perry and his
World Record
Largemouth Bass
Nicks bass weighed just over 6 pounds, which is pretty big for a small NJ Lake.
In states
where the water never gets real cold,
like in Florida, Georgia and California bass can feed heavily all year long and grow to much larger size.
George W. Perry holds the world record for catching the the largest Largemouth Bass. George caught his record bass on June 2, 1932 in Lake Montgomery, Telfar County Georgia. His bass weighed 22 pounds and 4 ounces. He caught it on a Fintail Shiner plug made by the Creek Chub Co.
An Even Bigger Largemouth Bass
On May 31st, 2003 Ned Dickerson caught a 21 pound, 11 ounce largemouth in Dixon Lake in Escondito, California
and released it. This bass had a black dot birthmark on its gillplate. Three years later, on March 20th, 2006 Ned again caught this
same bass
in the same lake. However the fish was foul hooked. It was weighed and again released. As it was foul hooked it
would not count as a record, even though the bass then weighed 25 pounds, 1 ounce. Sometime later this same bass was found floating belly up,
having apparently died of natural causes.
In many California lakes, including Dixon Lake, largemouth bass gorge on rainbow trout that have been stocked by the state, and grow to large size. Fishermen use large lures designed to imitate rainbow trout to fish for the bass.
World Record Largemouth Bass - Tie
On July 2nd, 2009 Manabu Kurita caught the 22 pound, 5 ounce Largemouth Bass, shown above, in Lake Biwa in Japan. The bass measured 29 inches in length. It was caught on a live bluegill. This bass weighs one ounce more than the existing world record. Photo courtesy of Manabu Kurita.
Because Kurita's bass did not beat the existing world record by at least 2 ounces it does not become a new world record, but is considered tying the record.