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John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
#12583082
01/17/18 08:23 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522
KenTx1962
OP
Old Careful Dude
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OP
Old Careful Dude
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522 |
I spent Saturday with a young guy in my boat talking about big fish and telling him about John Hope and his work tracking big fish. He had never heard of John and that conversation got me re-reading this piece from a couple of years ago. I know some of you have seen it, for those that have not I think it's a pretty interesting read. John Hope article link
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583118
01/17/18 08:40 PM
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,521
Ken A.
Groovy
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Groovy
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,521 |
Great article Ken. The most fascinating thing to me is the story he told of the fish that traveled 18 miles in one day to return to where it had been caught.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583121
01/17/18 08:41 PM
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 15,473
K.D.
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 15,473 |
I consider his book(s) the Bible of bass fishing. Based on science, observation and time on the water. I used to make it a point to sit in on every seminar he did during the old boat shows.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583145
01/17/18 08:56 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522
KenTx1962
OP
Old Careful Dude
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OP
Old Careful Dude
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522 |
I don't think he's on the forum, buy I heard Tommy Martin tell a story and if I remember the details right he caught a fish on Toledo that traveled 27 miles in a day...if he's on here or someone knows him well ask him about us and see if he can give us more details.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583174
01/17/18 09:12 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 28,420
Okie Poke
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 28,420 |
Wow, sure enjoyed the read. Now I'm ready to go out and catch some of those shallow bass during winter....Thanks!
😎 Dallas Cowboys....eventual Superbowl Champions 😎
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583209
01/17/18 09:32 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 7,092
beartrap
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 7,092 |
was fishing a tourney on lake martin(Al.) years ago,caught a 4lb bass out of brushpile in front of a dock in Blue Creek...this fish had unusual scar/depression on it's back...weighed in the fish and released it at Pineywoods landing up in north part of the lake....two weeks later caught same fish out the same brushpile ironically on the same bait(jig &pig)...no mistaking it was the same fish because of the unusual marking/scar....this fish in two weeks had to swim approx. 15 miles including several miles of open water plus turn into a creek and another 3-4 miles up the creek into an inlet with several docks... had a very similar story from guy who used to put tournaments on in southwest Louisiana...his story involved a fish that taggedby a student doing research for a class project...this fish was tagged and released at weigh-in site and two weeks later caught again at same spot it was originally caught.....this fish has swam approx. 14 miles and had to make several turns in and out of canals and bayous to get back to where he was caught... obviously fish and animals have some sort of homing instinct because there's too many instances such as the two above.....
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583224
01/17/18 09:47 PM
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,581
GROD
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,581 |
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583285
01/17/18 10:26 PM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 203
coachfish
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 203 |
So my question would be, when water temperatures hover in the mid to high 40s, do those fish still remain in the 8-12 ft. range? If so, Im staying shallow.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583303
01/17/18 10:41 PM
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 40,959
CCTX
mapquest
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mapquest
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 40,959 |
Great book. Ive read it again recently. His words in the book are a little different as presented in the article
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583334
01/17/18 10:57 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522
KenTx1962
OP
Old Careful Dude
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OP
Old Careful Dude
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,522 |
It's not just animals, you can release a 17 year old boy miles from the house in a mall and at some point, generally when he's hungry, he can find his way back home
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583356
01/17/18 11:10 PM
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 5,139
Lake Fork Guide Marc Mitchell
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 5,139 |
Funny thing is Myself and Jason Hoffman and Dennis Canada had breakfast this morning and we were talking about this tracking thing with DC big fish and Johns fish and some of the fish I tagged back in the days and how they moved.
I tagged a couple years ago out of white oak and turned them loose in Wolf and three days later they were back in White Oak on beds.
Dennis gave us some real insight on how his big bass never left wolf branch. She stayed in there year after year and I think he caught her 3 X.
He and John Hope did some things together back in the days. In fact JH put the transmitter in DC fish. We were still talking about all of this at lunch time.
Funny how you get to talking about fishing and the good old days and time just fly's by. Dennis and I have been good friends for many of years.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583368
01/17/18 11:21 PM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 7,737
GIG'EM AGGIES
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 7,737 |
It's not just animals, you can release a 17 year old boy miles from the house in a mall and at some point, generally when he's hungry, he can find his way back home Yep, 30 year old daughter's can find their way back home after being gone for 11 years too, lol. Oh wait, cancel the lol.
I am a Senager. (Senior teenager) I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only 50 years later. I get an allowance every month. I have PU truck and a bass boat, I am blessed. Conscience never acquits, it either accuses or excuses.
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583372
01/17/18 11:22 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 464
OneFishAway
Angler
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Angler
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 464 |
PB 9.25 Benbrook
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Re: John Hope thoughts on trophy fish
[Re: KenTx1962]
#12583374
01/17/18 11:24 PM
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 15,473
K.D.
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 15,473 |
I remember being new to Fork after coming home from the service. Sherry Ruslink took me under her wing. I spent many hours following her around the lake learning the boat lanes. After knowing her a year her and my wife at the time realized Sherrys daughter and my wife were close friends in Jr Hi.
Anyway I remember her introducing me to John Hope and the talk about cover vs structure. I also remember them telling me that if they put me in a perfectly square pasture at mid day and said they would be back in an hour that when they got back Id be anywhere at the edge of the pasture. Now if that pasture had a singular pole in it or even a tree, when they came back in an hour Id be up against the cover.
His ideas and concepts are so easy to understand. Even the anaology about people getting up and using the same path every day to go to the fridge for food. Flusher feeding bass will do this same thing.
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