TrophyCatch Anglers Personal Best Catch Survey 2025

TrophyCatch is all about celebrating anglers' catches of giant bass in Florida. In this survey, we want to dig a little deeper into your personal best (PB) catch. If you've ever caught a bass, you have one regardless of size, and we would like you to tell us about it. For most of us it's a special memory, yet for most of us, we aim to move on and set a new one with each new cast. Your participation in this survey will help us gather information on perhaps thousands of PB bass catches.

We'll explore the PB data for patterns and share results through a series of articles and social media posts with the greater TrophyCatch community and beyond. Hopefully, we all will learn something new and valuable in the pursuit of the next PB as we study how some of these biggest bass have been caught.

Collectively, TrophyCatch data play a pivotal role in FWC research and management decisions. Your responses will be anonymous. Thank you for your time and participation!

Click OK to begin.

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* 1. How heavy was your personal best Largemouth/Florida Bass? (Select pounds and ounces from the two dropdown menus and click OK.)

	Pounds	Ounces
Your PB weight	Your PB weight Pounds menu	Your PB weight Ounces menu

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* 2. Was your personal best bass weighed on a scale?

Yes

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* 3. Did you catch your personal best bass in Florida?

Yes, I caught it in Florida.

No, I caught it elsewhere.

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* 4. If caught in Florida, was your personal best bass submitted to TrophyCatch?

Yes

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* 5. When did you catch your personal best bass? Select the date in MM/DD/YYYY format below.

Date / Time

Date

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* 6. What time of day did you catch your personal best bass?

Dawn

Morning

Midday

Afternoon

Dusk

After dark

I don't remember

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* 7. If you remember or have a time-stamped photo, please provide the time of day in HH:MM format for when you caught your personal best bass? (Enter the time and click OK. If you don't remember, simply proceed to the next question.)

Time of day

Time

AM/PM

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* 8. Where did you catch your personal best bass?

Public waterbody

Private waterbody

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* 9. If you are willing to share the name of the waterbody from which you caught your personal best bass, please type it below and click OK.

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* 10. What were the weather conditions when you caught your personal best bass? (Select all that apply and then click OK.)

Rain

Cloudy

Clear skies

No wind to light wind

Moderate wind to strong wind

Pre-front

Post-front

Stable

Cold snap

Warming trend

Don't remember

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* 11. What type of habitat were you fishing when you caught your personal best bass? (Select all that apply and then click OK.)

Shallow water (less than 8 feet)

Deep water (greater than 8 feet)

Near shore (within a cast of the bank)

Offshore (farther than one cast from the bank)

Moderate aquatic plant coverage

Heavy aquatic plant coverage

Man-made structure (dock, fish attractor, culvert, rip-rap)

Natural woody debris (snag, blowdown)

Open water

Other

Don't remember

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* 12. Did you catch your personal best bass on an artificial lure or a live bait?

Artificial lure

Live bait

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* 13. If you caught your personal best bass on an artificial lure, please select the lure category below that best describes it.

Plastic worm

Other soft plastic

Topwater lure

Jig

Crankbait

Swimbait

Jerkbait

Spinnerbait

Bladed jig

Other

None of the above. It was caught on live bait.

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* 14. Since our lure categories don't fully capture all lures, if you caught your personal best bass on an artificial lure, please name or describe it below and click OK.

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* 15. From where were you fishing when you caught your personal best bass?

From a boat

From a kayak, canoe, or other paddle craft

From the bank

From a dock or pier

Other

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* 16. Were you using live imaging (forward facing sonar) when you caught your personal best bass?

Yes

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* 17. Were you fishing with a guide when you caught your personal best bass?

Yes

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* 18. Were you bed fishing when you caught your personal best bass?

Yes