Broke two PBs in 24 hours

[buzzed bait]

that giant tail on the smallie....  so sick dude!

[KeepinItReelFishing]

Congrats Chris!

Man, that is CRAZY you've had 98....98! in the high 4lb range.  That would suck the wind out of a lot of guy's sails who are always searching for that benchmark 5lb threshold.  So giant props to you on putting in the work all this time.  It really is statistically weird though, like where are all those fish that were 4lb 14oz or 4lbs 15oz from 2,3,4 years ago?  Stands to reason they should be larger (they were 1/2 a meal away).

When someone has the data of the years you do (good sample size) I start to seriously wonder if the fish in that lake start to take on a very different lifestyle once they hit a certain weight (assuming the weight usually corresponds to a general age).  Basically, once they get old and big they cease eating in the areas you are putting in your work ( in general).

There is a book I hear few people talk about that you might be interested in, its from John Hope and its called "Trackin' Trophies".  Essentially he installed tracking beacons in fish of various weights, with the purpose of the project to determine if larger, older fish behaved differently than their younger counterparts.  He was able to draw pretty reliable links between a markedly different behavior in fish over 7lbs vs those under.  Now, that 7lbs is relative to the lake the study was conducted on, so perhaps on your lake 5lbs is the equivalent by which fish behavior changes.  Anyway, its an interesting read and you may be able to apply some of the findings to your own pursuits.

All I know is those numbers REALLY jump out as something is going on.  Statistically it simply does not make sense that you are catching 5lb fish at a ratio of 2 for every 98 fish that are a few ounces less.  Something is either up with the ecosystem (that's the biggest that the food supply supports) or they are in fact getting bigger and living a different way of life (area/depth of predation) once they cross that 5lb mark.

Just my thoughts.  What's your take on the situation?

Edited August 19, 2021 by KeepinItReelFishing

[chefchris]

@KeepinItReelFishingok here's my take on some of the questions and has got me thinking 

so yes those heavy 4s are all from 2018-2021. 

while I like your theory and there could be some weight in that idea (I plan on buying that book, but looks like its unavailable everywhere with a quick search) I don't feel that's the case. Mainly cause when I fish with someone, (1 or 2 close friends) they have stuck 5s, 6s and a couple 7s while I'm sitting right next to them catching 4.15s. so were fishing the same area, body of water, similar baits at the same time. So then that makes me wonder if its something else or just a long streak of bad luck? 

last year we were fishing a new body of water on my buddies 17' tracker and i caught a fish that was big, when we got it to the net, it looked like a solid 5+ but nope 4.15 on two different scales, we had a good laugh about it and sent it on its way. 

my other thought was what if my scales off? has a weird glitch at 5. Nope not that either. We use food grade weights for our scales at work, I acquired a 2, 5 & 10lb weight, they are 100% accurate weights and certified, I checked all my scales and they were all accurate, not heavy or not light, so cant be that. 

one of the ponds that always seems to produce the heavy 4s is a great body of water that did produce some 5s and a 6 last year, the one 5lber I did get last year came from in the same area as the other fish. I have seen a few giants in there, again in the same areas I'm fishing, following baits back to the boat. 

I honestly just feel it was bad luck, or some cosmic lesson, it did keep me grinding and I always enjoy my time on the water, cant complain about this  season at all on so many levels and hopefully only getting better from here. Looking forward to the fall and applying the knowledge I've learned about this body of water to the rest of the season 

[SoCalBassBum]

Congrats on the double P.B

[RollTide18]

Dang! Great job!