What's Big to You? Talking about the Size of Bass

[toddmc]

I live in West Central Florida and I don't think that I have ever caught a double digit LM Bass. This LM is probably my largest and it's big to me. I have pics of others around this size but this one is probably the biggest. I don't carry a scale and I have never weighed a bass in my life. For reference, the rod is a 2016 Poison Glorious 7' H swimbait rod and the top water lure in its mouth is an Aventa Crawler GT. I think that it weighs around 3/4 to 1oz.

As I always say on these weight threads, you can use your rod to get a length and a piece of line to measure the girth. You can use the LMB length/girth/weight chart to get a weight that is very close. Once you catch enough big fish, and become familiar with the numbers on the chart, you can even just use length and the estimated fatness to get real close. i was a weighmaster in my bass club when I was a teenager decades ago, and weighing fish for a year really got me tuned in with the weight of LMB. I do carry a digital scale though because I use it to cull in tournaments. I always play the game in my head about how close my guess is to the actual scale weight. This is fun when they do it on the Bass Pro Tour.

[John G]

As I always say on these weight threads, you can use your rod to get a length and a piece of line to measure the girth. You can use the LMB length/girth/weight chart to get a weight that is very close. Once you catch enough big fish, and become familiar with the numbers on the chart, you can even just use length and the estimated fatness to get real close. i was a weighmaster in my bass club when I was a teenager decades ago, and weighing fish for a year really got me tuned in with the weight of LMB. I do carry a digital scale though because I use it to cull in tournaments. I always play the game in my head about how close my guess is to the actual scale weight. This is fun when they do it on the Bass Pro Tour.

I should carry a scale and learn how to use it properly. Here is another LM that I am proud of. Fortunately, I still have this rod so I can measure the length for the most part. I measured around 21 inches. InFisherman says that it would be under 6.5LBS. If that's the case, then I have definitely never caught a double digit bass. When I caught it, I would think at least 7 pounds but I guess I'm wrong.

[dhottle]

As others have mentioned bass size is defined by the waters you fish. For me a largemouth over 7lbs is noteworthy but 9's & DD's get maximum attention. For smallmouth I consider 5's are noteworthy but 6lbers are where it's at & 7's or bigger are the ultimate goal.

IMG_3476walgreen7.47resizeTT.JPG (45.67 KiB) Viewed 1893 times

[dragon1]

As others have mentioned bass size is defined by the waters you fish. For me a largemouth over 7lbs is noteworthy but 9's & DD's get maximum attention. For smallmouth I consider 5's are noteworthy but 6lbers are where it's at & 7's or bigger are the ultimate goal.
IMG_3476walgreen7.47resizeTT.JPG

Beauty tanks Dwight!

[dhottle]

As others have mentioned bass size is defined by the waters you fish. For me a largemouth over 7lbs is noteworthy but 9's & DD's get maximum attention. For smallmouth I consider 5's are noteworthy but 6lbers are where it's at & 7's or bigger are the ultimate goal.
IMG_3476walgreen7.47resizeTT.JPG

Beauty tanks Dwight!

Thanks sir

[dragon1]

As others have mentioned bass size is defined by the waters you fish. For me a largemouth over 7lbs is noteworthy but 9's & DD's get maximum attention. For smallmouth I consider 5's are noteworthy but 6lbers are where it's at & 7's or bigger are the ultimate goal.
IMG_3476walgreen7.47resizeTT.JPG

Beauty tanks Dwight!

Thanks sir

Likewise my friend...so glad to see you are still enjoying the time that the Universe has gifted us in our blessed pastime.

[tincanary]

Great Lakes smallies are much bigger.

Facts right here. I catch many 5lb+ smallies over the course of the year, 5lb+ largemouth I can count on one hand in my 35 years of fishing Michigan. My biggest smallie was 7.1lb caught in August of 2002 on the North Channel of the St Clair River while jigging walleye. My biggest largemouth was just shy of 5.5lb and came out of an old gravel pit in 1996.

[SteveSchmelzle]

technology also allows smallies to be targeted much easier.

it's like Livescope was built for small mouth bass fishing.

[hoohoorjoo]

Forgot to post some pics. These are 6 to 11 lbs(not in any order).

[Fishing4Fun]

Forgot to post some pics. These are 6 to 11 lbs(not in any order).

Nice fish Tim

[dragon1]

Excellent work Tim...

I agree with "big" being dependent on the water where the fish came from, or region, and even subspecies, i.e., Florida strain versus Northern strain largemouth.

FWIW, I have caught a 6 lb 2 oz that barely ticked 18" and a 22" largemouth that was barely 4 lbs and skinny as all get out. Both essentially in the same type waters of Central/Northern Colorado ponds.

For me, a big bass in CO is 5+, and 8+ in the Cal Delta...here in the small middle Tennessee rivers I'm learning, 4+ largie is my baseline or 3+ smallie. If I get to some deeper big lake waters I'm going to adjust to 5+ for smallies here in Tennessee and it would have to be 8+ largemouth for a body of water like Chickamauga.

Funny thing is 1 lb slab crappie and panfish in these parts of Middle Tennessee is nothing when this was considered really whopper sized in Colorado. I think here 1.5+ crappie and bluegill is the new standard for "big", and probably 1lb + for the feisty Red Eye.

[Just_Bass]

I consider a big bass when 5lb and up.
Good size bass 2.5-5lb
Just a bass 1-2lb
Tiny bass < 1lb
Giant 8.5 and up too bad I haven’t yell “It’s a GIANT” yet.
I do proud of every bass I catch and take picture as many as I can. I would say why not after all you work for it just unlucky your lure fall in front of big bass instead of Giant ones.



My info, I’m in CA and caught pretty good size bass every year. My PB is at 8.5lb. 99.9% shore fishing.

[dragon1]

I consider a big bass when 5lb and up.
Good size bass 2.5-5lb
Just a bass 1-2lb
Tiny bass < 1lb
Giant 8.5 and up too bad I haven’t yell “It’s a GIANT” yet.
I do proud of every bass I catch and take picture as many as I can. I would say why not after all you work for it just unlucky your lure fall in front of big bass instead of Giant ones.



My info, I’m in CA and caught pretty good size bass every year. My PB is at 8.5lb. 99.9% shore fishing.

Excellent work my friend.