Big Bear Lake Opening Bass Tournament 21lb Limit

My wife and I fished the opening day bass tournament on Big Bear Lake. We had a great day, a little cold and windy but the fishing made up for it. We started out fishing points then moved to docks in the afternoon, all the fish were solid healthy fish. At the end of the day we had 21lbs 5.8oz and were able to take to win. 2nd & 3rd place both had over 19lbs, so overall it was a great day fishing in the mountains. With the water level coming back up bass fishing on Big Bear is going be awesome this year. Big Bear gets over looked for bass fishing a lot just thought I would pass on the news that the bite is on right now.

Matthew Keller

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Nice work! run into any smallies?

Thanks, no smallies for us that day. A couple teams weighed some in. The smallmouth population is doing great up here, most run 2 to 2.5lbs.

Awesome job!!! I've always wanted to bass fish Big Bear.

Solid fish!! They look like footballs.

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Originally Posted by DarkShadow

Solid fish!! They look like footballs.

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Northerns baby!

The smiles kinda tell a story. One doesn't normally think of any kind of Bass when you think of Big Bear Lake.

Do have two questions....I watch a few of the major bass tournaments on the sports channels occasionally and notice them carrying their Bass to be weighed up on stage in bags for those in the winning contention. Do they release the Bass afterwards or take them home for a fish fry? I know Bass boats have built in wells that circulate water.

Is there much of a surface bite once the water temp warms up (as much as it can up there)? Watching a Bass take a popper or slider is an amazing sight.

Thanks for sharing something many might not know about.

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Originally Posted by Viejo

The smiles kinda tell a story. One doesn't normally think of any kind of Bass when you think of Big Bear Lake.

Do have two questions....I watch a few of the major bass tournaments on the sports channels occasionally and notice them carrying their Bass to be weighed up on stage in bags for those in the winning contention. Do they release the Bass afterwards or take them home for a fish fry? I know Bass boats have built in wells that circulate water.

Is there much of a surface bite once the water temp warms up (as much as it can up there)? Watching a Bass take a popper or slider is an amazing sight.

Thanks for sharing something many might not know about.

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All bass tournaments are catch and release tournaments. To participate in them you need to have a livewell on the boat, we weigh them alive then release them to get bigger. The water on Big Bear gets into the High 60s low 70s, the topwater bite can get good. I like fishing a buzz bait or walking style bait but poppers work well also.

Fish fry? Wow, that would be horrifying! I can't stand the sight of someone taking largemouth home. The fishery would disappear pretty quickly if people took them home. Tournaments are great because they can show you the quality of fish that a lake or reservoir can produce, and you know that all of the fish caught went straight back into the water after the weigh-in. I know Big Bear has bass, but didn't think there was that kind of quality. I've only fished there in the Winter and early Spring for trout. I might have to get out there this Spring and Summer and check out the bass fishing!

Nicely done!! great job