BY PETE MARINO
PERRIS — I’ve been bass fishing since 1996, and over the years I’ve caught many fish in the 8-to 10-pound range. I’ve also caught three over 11.75 pounds but I’ve never broken the 12-pound mark, until a couple weeks ago when I caught a true giant.
I was at Lake Perris with a friend, and we were fishing in 10 to 12 feet of water targeting big prespawn largemouth. I wasn’t seeing as many that day as I had been, so I told my buddy that my fish must have transitioned onto the bank out of the prespawn areas, so we started making casts up tight to the bushes.
After a few minutes, my buddy got his bait stuck in one of the many bushes that line the East End of Lake Perris, so I cruised up to the bank to retrieve his rig and I saw a huge bass slowly swim off the bank and I said ”there’s a giant!”
We watched as this enormous bass slowly swam out from the bushes and I said ”that might be a 12 pounder.” So, I got his bait unstuck and backed the boat way off the bank and we proceeded to make cast after cast to that area for about 25 minutes for no love.
At that point I slowly continued down the bank. When I got about 75 yards away, my buddy says “I’m going to have some lunch, you should go back and see if that fish is a bed fish and try to catch it.”
He wasn’t even done saying it and my trolling motor was on high and we were on our way back to that fish. Within about two minutes, there she was locked on a bed in three feet of water between two bushes. This fish was so big that it took up most of its bed, and because she was positioned between two big bushes I backed the boat off and opened my rod locker to see what I had rigged up that could handle such a big bass. I moved a couple rods and there it was, my Dobyns 744 paired with a Daiwa Tatula reel and 65-pound braid with a white Jackhammer chatterbait on it with a white Zako trailer. My plan was to make a long pitch to the bed and send my chatterbait down to the fish and use it like a jig.
I made a 25-foot pitch to the bed and placed my bait directly in front of her and about 8 inches away. As soon as my bait went down, she instantly perked up and started to nose down on it. It was then in an instant that I noticed my line over a thick stick, so I quickly pulled it away from her because I wanted everything to be perfect without the chance of issues with that stick.
But I pulled the bait away, she was about to eat it. Instantly my hands started shaking because I knew I was going to have a shot at something special. I normally stay calm, but this was different. This bass was next-level big.
I made another pitch, and this time it’s clean. As my bait hits bottom, she instantly goes nose down on my bait and inhales my jackhammer, and I crossed her eyes. I yelled, “I got her” and the battle was in full effect. She tried to take me further into the bushes and I tried to horse her out, but neither of us were giving an inch. Then she came up, and that’s all I needed to get her turned. She then tried to bulldog me to deeper water as I backed the boat off, and she made a hard right and slowly wanted to come to the surface. I applied more pressure which kept her from jumping. She slowly but strongly came from right to left about 15 feet from my boat, and my buddy said, “That thing is massive!”
It was then that I knew I had something special. To me it looked like an 18 to 20 pounder. I mean, I’ve never actually seen a bass of that size in person, but this fish looked like it had that potential. I got her turned again and started putting more pressure on her and pulled her to the boat and into the net.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, massive was an understatement. I got her out of the net and removed the Jackhammer from the bone on her top jaw. I held her up and said “this could be the lake record.” My hands were shaking so bad that I needed a minute to calm down, so I put her in my live well with some “Stay Alive” to calm her for about 5 minutes.
I grabbed my phone and called my wife and quickly told her what just happened. She asked me if I had weighed it and I told her “No, I’m trying to calm down.” And I think her response was, ”What the heck are you waiting for? Weigh that beast!”
So I got out the scale and put it on her: 13 pounds, 7 ounces. A true giant. No, it wasn’t a lake record much less a 20 pounder, but this is by far the biggest bass I’ve ever caught or held, a true bass of a lifetime.
This bass likely swam around as a 15 pounder a week ago before dropping eggs, and she’s probably closer to 16-plus with a full, healthy belly. I took some quick pictures, released her and watched as the biggest bass of my life swam out of sight. Freaking awesome!
Pete Marino is a Southern California guide who specializes in Lake Perris bass fishing. Follow him at @petemarinofishing on Instagram, Pete Marino Fishing on Facebook and for more info, visit his wensite at PeteMarinoGuideService.com.
