Test Your BIG BASS Knowledge!

Doug Hannon, ESPN's Bass Professor^®, has caught over 800 bass weighing 10 or more pounds. If you're tired of catching "dinks", take Doug's quiz and learn what it takes to catch the biggest fish of your life.

1. George Perry's 22 pound 4 ounce world record largemouth bass...

a. was caught from a deep hole in Montgomery Lake, Ga.
b. earned the poor Georgia farm boy $2,500 in cash and prizes.
c. was hooked on a Wiggle-Fish, a jointed wooden plug manufactured by Heddon.
d. was poorly documented by today's record-keeping standards.
e. broke his brand-new Pflueger baitcasting rod while he was fighting the fish.

2. If you're serious about catching a giant bass (over 15 pounds), you'd be wise to:

a. head for Cuba.
b. head for Mexico.
c. read everything you can on the tactics of pro bass fishermen.
d. get out your biggest deep-diving plug and start crankin'.
e. learn everything you can about the habits of the largemouth bass.

3. Which of the following will help you most to put that 10-pound bass in the boat?

a. High flipping decks on your bass boat.
b. A thorough mastery of tournament tactics and techniques.
c. Some knowledge of aquatic plants.
d. A good supply of fish attractant.
e. A powerful sonar unit.

4. If you could have only one of the following going for you in your quest for a giant largemouth bass, which factor would be best?

a. Access to private water.
b. The ability to effectively fish water over 30 feet deep.
c. A competitive personality.
d. A large assortment of treble-hooked lures.
e. A topo map of Lake Okeechobee, FL.

5. In which spot on a heavily fished reservoir would you be most likely to catch a big smallmouth bass?

a. A weedbed in a quiet tributary.
b. A small submerged hump that's 15 feet deep on top with much deeper water on all sides.
c. A bluff littered with big boulders.
d. A long gravel point that runs out into the main river channel with scattered stumps.
e. A stump field in 2 to 6 feet of water.

6. Some of my biggest largemouth bass, including a 17-pounder, were caught from rivers. Which of the following statements about rivers is most accurate?

a. They have plenty of forage species that appeal greatly to lunker bass, including perch and bluegill.
b. Big largemouth love current.
c. If you're after a lunker bass, spend more time fishing a short river than a long one.
d. You have to fish a river before or after midsummer if you're after a big bass, otherwise the bass will stratify and suffer oxygen depletion in deeper water.
e. Bass living in rivers don't live as long as bass living in still water, but they usually eat significantly more.

7. You're in pursuit of a new world record bass. Considering all variables, which artificial lure should you be using?

a. A floater/diver minnow.
b. A large realistic soft natural motion swim lure.
c. A jig-and-pig.
d. A shallow-running crankbait.
e. A deep-running crankbait.

8. To catch a lunker largemouth, you'd be wise to locate an area with...

a. ample brush, stumps and fallen trees in the 20-foot zone.
b. stained versus clear water.
c. abundant weed growth to shade the bass's eyes from sunlight.
d. cover so thick, most fishermen refuse to fish it.
e. quick access to a deep creek or river channel.

9. Hooking a potential world record largemouth is one thing, but landing it is quite another. Which of the following would you be most likely to use in handling a largemouth weighing over 23 pounds?

a. A jig-and-pig.
b. A plastic worm.
c. A spinnerbait.
d. A crankbait.
e. A large live bait such as a wild shiner or baby snake.

10. California's reservoirs have produced some enormous large-mouths in recent years. Many factors are responsible for this; which of the following is not one of these?

a. Florida bass mating with Northern-strain largemouths often produce large first-generation hybrids.
b. Trout forage leads to tremendous body weight.
c. Anglers there are highly skilled in finesse tactics such as splitshotting and doodling.
d. Strict regulations on many California big-bass lakes limit fishing pressure.
e. Bass learn not to bite when pressure is high.

11. If you're serious about catching a 10-pound or larger bass from your home state, you'd be wise to...

a. obtain the results of major bass tournaments held there in the past five years and fish the lakes yielding the biggest catches.
b. determine which counties have the lowest population, then concentrate your search there.
c. pay strict attention to newspaper outdoor columns from around the state where big bass catches are publicized.
d. call resorts on the various lakes and ask them about recent big-bass catches.
e. plan your most serious fishing in the early spring, when the bass are at their biggest.

12. Trophy Largemouths weight can actually fluctuate several pounds during the course of a year. When is the optimal time to catch a Trophy Bass at her heaviest?

a. Fall - binge feeding prepping for spawn.
b. Just before spawn - full of roe.
c. Summer - 2-3 months post-spawn.
d. Spring - 1 month post spawn.
e. Full moon on leap year.

13. A 6 lb Largemouth Bass in New York is probably near 12 years old, the same 12-year old fish in Texas would tip the scales at :

a.  5-8 lbs
b. 23lbs plus
c. never make it to 12 years old
d. 10-16 lbs
e. 8-10 lbs

14. To develop trophy-sized fish, the key factor is :

a. Plentiful food supplies.
b. Deep cool bodies of water.
c. Limited overall pressure.
d. Florida strain Largemouths with excellent genetics.
e. All of the above.

15. Your optimal time of day to catch the fish of a lifetime is:

a. Between 10am and 4pm.
b. 1 hour before and after daylight.
c. 1 hour before and after sunset.
d. Between 7pm and midnight.
e. Between midnight to 1 hour before sunrise.

Here are the answers :

1 - D. 2 - E. 3 - C. 4 - A. 5 - B. 6 - C. 7 - B. 8 - D. 9 - E. 10 - C. 11 - B. 12 - C. 13 - D. 14 - E. 15 - A.