I have watched and photographed a hell of a lot of anglers connected to and often landing some serious fish. A serious tarpon or GT is obviously very different to what we would call a serious bass, but when you chase a specific fish you are obviously hoping that one day you might connect with whatever the fish of a lifetime might be of that particular species. What is always very noticeable from my point of view is when an angler hooks into a much better than average fish and they feel confident in their connection to it - which in turn means they are confident to pull hard and give themselves the best possible chance of actually landing it…………….

A big cubera snapper from Gabon, one of the countries I most want to go back to………………..

Sometimes though it’s out of your control. I will always remember a good friend hooked into his first tarpon in the Florida Keys. It was a big, powerful fish, and for a lot of the time they basically do what they want while you try and hold on. If you have never been attached to fish like this it’s impossible to get across just how serious some fish are, but after an hour or so into the scrap - yes, he could have pulled harder but any angler is going to be a bit nervous when they first hook up with a dream fish - there was the most almighty commotion on the end of his line. His big tarpon was very suddenly eaten by a very big hammerhead shark, and very suddenly the battle was over. Crestfallen is the word I choose to use now, but I am sure you can imagine the variety of language that poured forth upon the boat for a while afterwards.

Via guiding, photography and fishing I get to watch a lot of anglers connected to a lot of bass. Sometimes you know straight away that a particular bass is a rather special one, but sometimes the angler is so calm and under control that when the fish pops up you get a bit of a shock. John and I had a pretty good idea that Paul below was connected to a heavier bass, but we didn’t know it would be this big. Measured at 82cm, then tagged, released and recaptured a year or so later, and released again, I would class Paul’s bass as the fish of a lifetime. He did every single thing right and everything went his way.

I have also seen a number of bass anglers make big mistakes when suddenly connected to what I believe was a somewhat larger bass than normal - whatever “normal” actually is in bass fishing or even during a specific session. It’s very easy to suddenly panic when something somewhat heavier and/or more powerful grabs your lure. If you get away with a mistake or two then Lady Luck is definitely on your side, but fishing as we know is a cruel mistress and we are often punished for any mistake we might make when connected to something better.

I defy anybody not to have at least a split-second of doubt when they know they are connected to something serious. I would then suggest it’s how you instantly quash that doubt or worry and get on with properly fighting the fish that counts so much. I guess it’s nothing more than human nature to suddenly think “shit, it’s really real, this is a proper fish, will my rod or reel or mainline or leader or knots or hooks and so on hold up?” How much do you trust your setup and do you have the confidence to fight the fish rather than let the fish do what it wants for far too long?

Having been around a lot of serious fish over the years - both witnessed and sometimes actually caught by myself! - I very firmly believe that the longer a fight goes on, the greater the chance there is of something going wrong. Some fish are going to pull a lot of string for a long time almost whatever you do, but bass are not those fish. Whenever I hear about a specific bass ripping thirty yards of braid off an angler’s reel and scrapping for ten minutes, my first thought is always this - tighten your bloody drag up and pull the fish properly. I don’t care how big the bass is that you have hooked, because there is no way on earth that any bass should be “ripping” thirty yards of braid from your reel. Perhaps a particularly heavy fish in a very strong current, but thirty yards is a long way, and with the gear we use it should not be happening.

So in turn I would politely suggest that about 99% of anglers could easily pull their fish about 99% harder. They will say they do, but they don’t. In general we are collectively terrified to do so because I guess we are worried about losing the fish if we pull too hard and something gives - whereas my belief is that far less bass would be lost if anglers pulled them a hell of a lot harder. I happen to trust the gear I use for my fishing. I know that my leader is simply and categorically not a weak point because the FG knot is so bloody strong. I know that my hooks are good because I check them a lot. I know that I can put a proper bend in any of the rods I use because I have been lucky enough to learn how to pull fish properly via a lot of fishing related work and actual fishing around the world with serious fish. I have a lot of photos of anglers hooked into bass and it’s rare to see anything like a proper bend in the rod.

But I am also a human being who feels the same things as any other angler. I got lucky to connect to what I guess could be described as the bass of a lifetime last week, but because it wasn’t a particularly scrappy bass I didn’t really know how (comparatively) big it was until I first saw it thrashing on the surface not far from me. The drag on my reel was wound down pretty tight, but if a scrappy 76cm bass had insisted on taking some line it might have been able to. I completely trust my gear and my ability to get a fish like that in very quickly though, with a good bit of luck required as well. What I do know is that for a split-second I suddenly worried about my overall connection to that bass when I first saw the size of it, but I managed to instantly quash those doubts and get on with subduing it. Of course the environment and conditions play their part in how things pan out, but I completely trusted my (20lb Sufix Advance fluorocarbon) leader when it came time to grab said leader and pull the fish in on a small wave and into a rockpool. I guess it’s easy to say all that now, but with how quickly things unfold when we are fishing I do believe that confidence plays such a big part. A healthy dollop of good luck never hurts either, because I am sure we have all lost a few fish which still haunt us……………

When you do actually hook that fish of a lifetime - be honest here - is there a tiny bit of panic and worry?

© Henry Gilbey 2023