No problem, Chris. As a matter of fact, I may have read something you may not be aware of.
Besides talking to trophy bass hunters such as my buddies Chris "fish" Wolfgram (
www.trophybassonly.comn) and Chuck Bauer (
www.worldrecordbass.com), ; I've also read several books. Most notably is "Tracking Trophy Bass" by John Hope (I have several of his articles on my site).
As the story goes, John Hope caught 2 trophy bass within a week's time and implanted them with radio transmitters. One of those two bass he named after his wife, Wanda (he named all the bass he tracked).
That week marked the beginning of an amazing story that has established John as a nationally recognized expert on the behavior of trophy largemouth bass.
John and his wife tracked more than 30 largemouth bass ranging from seven pounds to 15 pounds, eight ounces on lakes throughout the nation. The tracking program also involved other species, including walleye and a couple of trophy smallmouth bass.
The first 10 years of John's tracking program resulted in, Tracking Trophy Bass, a comprehensive book on locating and catching trophy fish. The book was very well received in the angling community and soon sold out.
John was the person to note what he calls "funnel points". John's terminology came from his attempt to describe locations in a lake where trophy bass feed. He sat down with a map and marked all the places where he'd caught really big bass and started to notice they all had something in common. They looked like funnels.
During a trip to Houston County Lake (Texas) he decided to test his theory and announced to all on the trip that he could mark 10 places on the map where trophy fish had been caught. There were professional guides and others with many years of fishing experience among the crowd.
"After they all stopped snickering," says Hope, "I marked the map and let them take a look at it." They all had to admit that every spot he marked was correct.
John and co-author Jesse Miller released an updated version of the book in 2001. The new edition includes new information garnered through 16 years of John's continuous research, which includes findings from extensive research conducted on his private lake on his property.
In his book, he notes that big bass tend to be loners, and stay within a defined area. My trophy hunter friends note the same observations, based upon their experiences. He also defines 3 types of bass - shallow, mid-layer, and deep bass - that stay within their haunts except during the spawn. It's a pretty good read.
Doug Hannon also has some good books and videos on trophy bass worth reviewing. He's also a well-known expert on trophy bass behaviors. It's been a while since I've dusted off the stuff I have by him, so I don't recall what he says about bass being loners, if at all.
Are these definitative research studies? Probably not in the eyes of some. However, there's nothing else I know of that comes close.
Hope that helps!
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