He’s caught over 800 10-pound largemouth bass, holder of 13 worldwide patents, and inventor of the weedless trolling motor prop. Doug Hannon is the Bass Professor.
Today on Retro Bassin’ we are going to take a look at some of the most important contributions of the Bass Professor Doug Hannon, one of bass fishing’s true pioneers and an angler that truly swam against the current in his approach to bass fishing.
If you grew up watching the Bassmasters on ESPN you likely recall a segment called the Bass Professor in which lunker hunter Doug Hannon would detail different, and often little discussed, aspect of bass fishing.
His weekly lessons covered everything from catching bass during seasonal transitions and fluctuating water levels to the effects of barometric pressure, light conditions, and the moon phase on bass behavior.
Doug was an expert diver and videographer, and his segments were often accompanied with dramatic underwater shots of big bass lurking deep in the shadows, ready to clobber unsuspecting baitfish.
Each Saturday morning, the Bass Professor literally submersed the viewer into the world of the largemouth bass, 2-1/2 minutes at a time.
Although I always assumed Hannon was a marine biologist, or at the very least a life-long bass enthusiast, he was actually a psychology major who never so much as cast a rod until he was in undergraduate at Tulane University
In his book Hannon’s Field Guide for Bass Fishing, co-author Horace Carter tells the story of the first cast that would ignite a life-long quest to unlock the secrets of the largemouth bass.
What shocked me the most about that story was where the Bass Professor made those first casts, in Wimberley, Texas, less than 12 miles away from this exact location.
The nickname of Bass Professor was coined years later by outdoor writer Frank Sargeant of the Tampa Tribune who was more than impressed with Hannon’s fishing knowledge and abilities.
During the 1980s, Hannon plied shallow, weedy waters around his adopted home state of Florida in a 16-foot aluminum boat, compiling an impressive string of catches that included over 800 10-pound plus largemouth bass.
To comprehend down just how insane of an accomplishment that is, you could catch a 10 pounder every single weekend for 15 years and not surpass Hannon’s record.
When he wasn’t fishing he was writing, and Hannon was a frequent contributor to Bassmaster Magazine and wrote a number of groundbreaking books on bass fishing strategy.
In the upcoming epsiodes of this mini-series we will take an in-depth look at the lost lessons of the Bass Professor, but today I will leave you with the first lesson he taught me: Hannon’s Northwest Factor.
In his 1984 book Catch Bass! The rule simply states, “The northwest area of a lake in the northern hemisphere is the center of fish life and spawning activity.”
This occurrence has to do with four factors:
1. The location is protected from seasonal northwest cold winds.
2. The southern angle of the sun provides more sun and less share on the northern shore, this increasing the water temperatures by 3 degrees or more.
3. The added sun and warmth enrichs plant life.
4. Increased plant life provides a dark bottom condition which absorbs more of the sun’s energy.
So, if you are hitting the lake after a long winter’s nap and aren’t quite sure where to start your search, head for the northwest corner.
Next week in our Lost Lessons of the Bass Professor mini-series, we’ll learn why Doug Hannon believed it critical that everything from your bait to your boat be as natural as possible.
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