How to Catch a Trophy Bass: 12 Expert Tips for Landing the Big One

There are many things anglers like to talk about if you ask them what it is they love about fishing. You’ll get flowery prose talking about the peace of it all, the more primitive feeling of besting nature, and everything else, depending on the person. 

However, one thing stands out for anyone who has ever held a rod. Catching the big one. 

Since humans started pulling fish out of water, long before sport fishing existed, there has been a certain level of joy to be had in pulling in a larger-than-average fish you can tell all your buddies about. 

Today, we’re going to go over a variety of tips that are going to help you finally catch that once-in-a-lifetime bass, snag an amazing picture to remember it by, and become a local legend. Who knows? You might even beat the world record with a bit of luck mixed in.

1. Getting Geared Up: What to Use When Targeting Trophy Bass

One of the best things about bass is that, despite being an especially aggressive game fish, they’re accessible to anyone. You can give a kid a cheap rod combo and some inexpensive lures, and they’re likely to get a bass if they’re patient enough. 

However, when you’re going after trophy bass, you need to be prepared to not only target bigger fish with more advanced tactics, but also successfully land that fish. 

Even the lowest quality gear is going to land a 1-pound dink, but when you get a 7-pound+ bass thrashing around on the line, you need the gear to match it. 

For the most part, this is going to come down to quality. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to buy a glorified broomstick rod and 25-pound line. Even a medium-light rod can do wonders and hold up to a big bass if you know how to use it and it’s made well. 

When purchasing rods for more advanced bass fishing, make sure you’re paying a little extra for a quality piece of equipment rather than just ticking off boxes for action and power. 

We recommend looking at popular options such as St. Croix, Shimano, and other renowned brands. If you still want to catch trophy bass on a budget, Shakespeare’s UglyStik line has served anglers well for generations, and while they’re not perfect by pro standards, they get the job done. 

We also recommend purchasing a couple of different rods to use with different techniques. As you’ll see later, this isn’t about being a one-trick pony.

You’ll jump between finesse, jigging, swimbaits, and topwater frequently.

A good way to start is to get a light spinning rod for hyper-finesse presentations, a medium rod for a good jack-of-all-trades, and a medium-heavy or heavy rod casting rod with a fast-action tip for more robust rigs. 

Your reel simply needs to match the rod setup, and don’t shy away from slightly more costly options for better performance and longevity.

A big trophy bass will smoke a cheap reel every time, and your ability to fight it doesn’t mean much.

Gear ratios are important for your presentation, but if you’re at the point where you’re trophy fishing, you likely know which gear ratio you prefer for your style on each rod. 

2. Get a Selection of High-Quality, Proven Lures

When you go for trophy bass, you’re not going to want to waste time tossing those random experiment lures that hit the market all the time. You want to use proven bass catchers.

Preferably, you’ll have already had experience with the majority of lures in your arsenal, as well. After all, this is like stepping up from Little League to Major League baseball. You’re not just trying to catch a fish. You’re trying to catch THE bass that’s going to probably be the highlight of your time fishing.

These are usually going to be staples. Your jigs and top-tier trailers, swimbaits, soft plastics, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and other staples of the sport are all valid, and you likely have experience with them. 

We recommend heading to Tackle Warehouse, looking at the top-rated versions of all of these you’re familiar with, and buying each one in a variety of colors. You want to ensure your kit covers jigging, topwater, finesse, and a variety of soft-plastic strategies at the very least. 

You can also check out our other BassForecast articles for our top recommendations for bass during different parts of the year.

3. Find the Perfect Spots

Fishing in any random hole isn’t going to produce a trophy fish reliably. Bass need time to grow to those trophy-worthy sizes, and that typically requires a spot that is either low pressure or highly managed. 

Take time to find the best spots near you. Then, choose two or three within close proximity to each other, and make those your regular rotation of spots. 

The point of this is to make sure you’re fishing in spots that are likely to hold trophy-worthy bass, and you’re capable of lake-hopping if conditions aren’t right at one spot or another. 

You’re not going to catch a trophy bass on the first catch. At least, not unless you’re super lucky. You want to have options available that allow you to maximize each minute you spend on the water.

This is a stark comparison to casual bass fishing, where you pick a spot and more or less put up with the conditions to make sure you have a good time. 

4. Get to Know the Spot

A lot of bass fishing techniques don’t just require you to learn how to work the lure. They also require you to target specific parts of a lake. 

For example, when you dropshot a spawn for those early spring bass, learning how to work a dropshot rig is only half the battle. The other half is knowing when the spawn occurs and also where the beds are.

This is information that requires you to develop an intimate understanding of the water you’re fishing in.

You’re not going to roll up to a brand-new spot and know exactly where the beds are or where the schools of baitfish tend to go during certain periods.

Unfortunately, this really only comes with time spent fishing. Maps and other resources can help, but you need to get on the water and experience it. 

Luckily, if you’re already an experienced angler, you likely know a lot about the spots you fish. Even if you’ve never taken trophy fishing seriously.

If not, make that a priority every time you hit the lake. Don’t get stuck in bad habits with lucky spots, but take note of various features you find and how they can be used effectively. 

5. Don't Waste Time

It’s a stereotype for fishing in general that anglers set up in a spot and sit there all day. That’s a wildly inefficient way to fish, and when you’re trophy fishing, you have to stay moving.

Optimally, you won’t be spending more than 15 or 20 minutes in a single spot without substantial bites to warrant it. You’ll check out a spot, cast around the area, and then move on if you don’t notice anything. 

Big bass are few and far between. Even at the best spots, catching a true trophy bass is unlikely. You maximize your chances by looking for the bass instead of waiting for them to come to you.

6. Fish According to Conditions

If it’s an early summer morning with dragonflies skimming the top of the water, pull out your Whopper Plopper and buzz the top around the weed lines.

If it’s a hot summer day, cast a jig toward that drop-off in the distance and hop it around the edge.

Fish behavior changes throughout the year, as weather conditions change, and even throughout the day due to sunlight and the day-night cycle. 

Different techniques are going to be needed to adjust to what the bass are doing. That way, you’re making more catches with each moment you have on the water, and your chances of hooking into a giant skyrocket.

Again, this is a whole topic of its own, and you can find our guides covering bass fishing in different seasons and conditions to help you prepare for any given situation.

7. Keep the Pressure On

When you hook a big bass, keep her coming toward the net as fast as you can, especially if there is cover in the area.  If you let up the pressure, a big bass can throw the bait or wrap your line around cover, and before you know, that fish of a lifetime is gone. 

The exception to this is when you are finesse fishing deeper with light line. Though the principle still applies.  While your line is lighter and the rod more limber, you still want to keep a good bend in the rod to keep that fish from throwing the hook.  

8. Always Bring a Landing Net

A landing net is a good thing to use regardless of the size of the bass you’re catching. It puts less stress on the rod, the fish, and your back when you can simply scoop the bass up instead of bending over, leveraging your rod, and lipping it. 

A landing net is going to help ensure that, once you get a monster on the line, you have a much better chance of getting it to the boat or shore instead of it spitting the hook and swimming away.

Also, lipping a larger bass can be dangerous for the bass. All that weight that makes it so desirable is horrible to dangle from its jaw, and the net helps you avoid that. 

9. Avoid the Weekend Warriors

Your chance of catching a giant when you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with families trying to enjoy the weekend is extremely low. That’s a high-pressure situation, and there are too many variables at play with all those other anglers for you to reliably stand a chance. 

Trophy-sized bass are older and have likely been caught a few times. As a result, they’re also not quite as dumb as dinks that just spawned the previous spring.

If there are a bunch of staple baits all flying in and out of the water, that seasoned bass likely isn’t going to fall for it. 

Instead, put in the extra effort to get up earlier, stay out during those extra-hot days, take the rough path to unused areas, or even keep your rods ready to go during the winter. 

A lot of the time, the trophy bass are found in those situations that the average angler just doesn’t want to put up with.

They’re at the far bank with lots of brush covering the path or so deep in brush that boats have trouble with them, or they’re swimming around cold water looking for a midwinter meal. 

10. Details Matter

When you step up your game and start targeting trophy bass, you realize that the smaller details are a lot more important than they used to be.

Things such as barometric pressure moving bass up or down in the column, moon phases potentially changing their behaviors, understanding the local insect life cycle to match the types of bugs falling into the water, and similar small details give you a huge edge. Even though they’re not crucial, if you’re just looking to have a fun day. 

11. Focus on Quality Over Quantity

Remember that you’re targeting trophy bass, not any bass that’ll bite. Instead of looking for a lot of fast bites like the average angler, you need to specifically focus on getting that big bite. 

Getting more bites in general indeed increases your chances, but the quality of those bites matters. If you’re throwing tiny finesse baits and getting back-to-back bites from dinks and even baitfish, you might want to stop using those, rig up a bigger bluegill swimbait, and use that to blend in with the baitfish. That’s the prey for the big bass in the area. 

It’s often better to sacrifice those fast and easy bites to instead get a chance at what’s feeding on those smaller fish. 

Although it’s also important to realize bigger baits don’t always mean bigger bass. Especially in high-pressure situations when finesse is crucial. 

12. Be Patient

One thing you’ll notice when looking at the record books is that very few of the anglers who got their names written down and immortalized were beginner anglers with no idea what they were doing.

They’re mostly hardcore anglers who put in years of effort to master their techniques and truly understand their local fisheries. 

If you’re fishing for the bass of a lifetime, and maybe even to break a record, you need to be willing to go through all the learning, disappointments, and smaller successes to get there.

Stick With It and Catch Your Personal Best

Trophy bass might be the driving force behind the hobby for many, but bass fishing isn’t defined by finally getting that big bass. It’s a journey full of bad days, lots of dinks, and always learning something new. 

Be patient, stay out on the water when the weekend warriors pack up, and you’ll get that trophy bass when the time is right.

If you want to further improve your chances of landing a big catch, take a look and download the BassForecast fishing app.

Our app tracks real-time weather, leveraging bass industry research and proven seasonal patterns to deliver tailored forecasts, ratings, and tips.