While winter is widely known as the best time to catch trophy bass because of the spawn. It is the summer where nearly all of the record sized bass are caught. There’s just something about the summer with its heat and thick vegetation that just makes those behemoths, those truly monster bass want to bite.

The 3 biggest bass ever caught out of Lake Toho were caught during the summer months. John Faircloth’s 17 pound 12 ounce uncertified Lake Toho record was caught in July. Ed Chancey’s official Lake Toho record of 16 pounds 10 ounces was caught in May, and Captain Jamie Jackson’s 15 pound 8 ounce Lake Toho monster was also caught in May.

But Lake Toho’s record bass are not the only records that have been pulled out during the summer. The Florida certified state record of 17.27 pounds was caught in July, and the uncertified state record of 20.13 pounds was caught in May. But it also doesn’t stop at just Florida either. George Perry’s world record bass of 22 pounds 4 ounces was caught in June, and the bass caught by Manabu Kurita that tied the world record at 22 pounds 4 ounces was caught in July.

Nearly all of the top 25 biggest bass ever caught were reeled in during the summer months. This is the time that personal bests are broken. My personal bests were all broken during the summer also. I caught a 10.10 on a whopper plopper in September, a 11.9 on a frog in August, and my biggest bass of all came in June weighing 12.5 pounds.

The summer is without a doubt the best time to go not just trophy hunting but record hunting. Whether you’re fishing in Florida or all the way in Japan, the time that records are caught is soon arriving. So re-spool your rods with new line and sharpen your hooks because you never know the next one you hook into could be a life changer.

Capt. AJ