How Long Do Bass Get?

[theonethatgotaway]

just wondering how long largemouth bass get i caught a 26'' bass the other day and was wanting to know how much longer do they get.              and thanks

[Snakehead Whisperer]

George Perry's world record fish was 32.5". I've never heard of another caught at that length. Most other fish in the 20+lb. weight class are 28-30". I'm not sure, but I don'teven think Dottie was 30".

[Marty]

i caught a 26'' bass the other day

 

Congratulations, that's one helluva fish. That should be around 10# if it's normally proportioned.

[WRB]

Length measurements depend on how the bass length is measured.

Laid on the flat surface, mouth closed; Method 1. IGFA; the length is measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the center of the tail V down the lateral line.

Method 2. Bass tournament; same as 1, except to the longest length of the tail, imaginary line from tail end tips, not the slight V depression.

Method 3. Fish biologist; similar to method 1, except to the start of the tail base.

Bass are not measured hanging downward with mouth open to the tip of the tail, as was more than likely how the George Perry bass was measured! The fact remains no authentic photo of George Perry holding his bass has ever been published. There was a photo of someone unidentified holding a big bass along side a young boy from that era, however the basses body mass doen't come close to a 22 lb 3 oz LMB. With 32" length and 26" girth reported for the Perry bass.

Dottie was 29.25" long. The Kurita bass, current WR is 29" long (method 2).

My maximum length measure to method 1 = 30"

Tom

[Sam]

WRB, you left our Method 4. When we sort of exagerate a little on our catches.

 

Like, "Man was she a monster. Musta been at least 35 inches long and really heavy. Next time I'll bring a scale. Come to think about it, she was at least 38 to 40 inches. i got a hernia from lifting her into the boat."

[papajoe222]

WRB, you left our Method 4. When we sort of exagerate a little on our catches.

 

Like, "Man was she a monster. Musta been at least 35 inches long and really heavy. Next time I'll bring a scale. Come to think about it, she was at least 38 to 40 inches. i got a hernia from lifting her into the boat."

I hate when people misquote me. I never call a bass 'she'

[Fish Chris]

My 18.4 lb PB, was 29 1/2". But fish over 20 lbs have been caught, which were the same length as mine, or even shorter. A crazy long, big headed, straight bellied 17 lb'er from Florida, might be 32" ? 33" ?

 

Fish

[theonethatgotaway]

thanks for all the info

[SPEEDBEAD.]

The big fish you see caught in the southern states tend to be longer, thicker through the body. Randall Kirkpatrick's big fish are a good example of that body type. I know he has caught 30" fish.

 

Cali fish appear to be more rounded and really gorged on food when they get big.

[theonethatgotaway]

thanks she was only 9 lbs 11 oz just cant break into double digits lol

 

Congratulations, that's one helluva fish. That should be around 10# if it's normally proportioned.

[MarkH024]

thanks she was only 9 lbs 11 oz just cant break into double digits lol

Only?  Some of us yanks dream of giant bass like that up here. Congrats on your catch.

[BassinLou]

Only 9lbs 11oz. That's funny. Many of us may not see that in our lifetimes at the end of our lines.

[JellyMan]

My PB - 11.3 lbs, 28" long.

[WRB]

The reason I took the time to post measuring lengths 1, 2, & 3 was to point out the legit measuring techniques!

As anyone can see by the replies, knowone tells how they "measured" their catch. Most measure bass with the mouth open hanging down and this adds about 10% ; 30" method 2 = 33" for example.

Method 4 is unlimited; 8'2" and 562 lb bass was officially recorded in California (giant Black Sea bass).

I know lots of bass anglers who can not only tell you the length, but the weight of bass that they broke off on the hook set and never got to see it, I call this method 5. Then there always method 6; the "photo" where some bass look bigger than the angler holding it or their hands could wrap around a basketball like it was a baseball and claim the 4 lb bass was 12 lbs.......that is bass fishing!

Tom

[JellyMan]

The reason I took the time to post measuring lengths 1, 2, & 3 was to point out the legit measuring techniques!

As anyone can see by the replies, knowone tells how they "measured" their catch. Most measure bass with the mouth open hanging down and this adds about 10% ; 30" method 2 = 33" for example.

Method 4 is unlimited; 8'2" and 562 lb bass was officially recorded in California (giant Black Sea bass).

I know lots of bass anglers who can not only tell you the length, but the weight of bass that they broke off on the hook set and never got to see it, I call this method 5. Then there always method 6; the "photo" where some bass look bigger than the angler holding it or their hands could wrap around a basketball like it was a baseball and claim the 4 lb bass was 12 lbs.......that is bass fishing!

Tom

My fish was measured on it's side. I actually never thought to measure a fish while being lipped. That just seem like a hassle. Plus holding an 11lb fish makes your arm tired after all the eyeballing, hogging, photos, "OMG's", "Dude's!" and "Look at this thing's".

 

I am also guilty of NOT holding a fish away from me. After I started fishing with a few guys, every photo they kept saying "Hold it out farther so it looks bigger". I was like.. why would I want to do that? lol

[Fish Chris]

I am also guilty of NOT holding a fish away from me. After I started fishing with a few guys, every photo they kept saying "Hold it out farther so it looks bigger". I was like.. why would I want to do that? lol

 

IMPO, to hold a fish straight at the camera, with arms completely stretched, looks goofy, and unnatural.

 

On the other hand, to answer your question, "Why would you want to hold a fish (somewhat) out from your body" ?..... The answer is simple... > To "try" to make that fish look a little closer to how big it did, in real life, when using only a photo to convey the actual size of the fish.

 

Can't tell you how many people I've talked to, who were bummed and dismayed that their "Personal best bass, which they even weighed on a scale, looked "SOOO" much bigger in real life"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't hold fish out to make them look "bigger than they really did"..... I hold them out to try to make them look "as big as they really did".

 

Peace,

Fish

[Dead River]

this is not totally accurate...

 

your method 3 is called "standard length" but it IS NOT the way freshwater fish are measured by fisheries biologists. they use total length which is nose to the end of the tail fan pinched closed. this actually makes your catch a bit longer but this is how fisheries biologists measure their fish when they are doing surveys. I have done some volunteer work for ga dnr wrd and this is how it's done. I used to measure using method 2 which is good for shopping for replicas, but i now used "total length" since I've gotten to talk to several biologists and learned their ways.

 

 

 

Length measurements depend on how the bass length is measured.
Laid on the flat surface, mouth closed; Method 1. IGFA; the length is measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the center of the tail V down the lateral line.
Method 2. Bass tournament; same as 1, except to the longest length of the tail, imaginary line from tail end tips, not the slight V depression.
Method 3. Fish biologist; similar to method 1, except to the start of the tail base.
Bass are not measured hanging downward with mouth open to the tip of the tail, as was more than likely how the George Perry bass was measured! The fact remains no authentic photo of George Perry holding his bass has ever been published. There was a photo of someone unidentified holding a big bass along side a young boy from that era, however the basses body mass doen't come close to a 22 lb 3 oz LMB. With 32" length and 26" girth reported for the Perry bass.
Dottie was 29.25" long. The Kurita bass, current WR is 29" long (method 2).
My maximum length measure to method 1 = 30"
Tom

[323Walter]

On 4/1/2013 at 1:48 PM, Snakehead Whisperer said:

George Perry's world record fish was 32.5". I've never heard of another caught at that length. Most other fish in the 20+lb. weight class are 28-30". I'm not sure, but I don'teven think Dottie was 30".

I found this while researching the data for all state records. Florida is an intriguing case for several reasons but thought this section would be relevant. Here is the link to the article this quote came from.

https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahaman/all-time-top-25-biggest-fl-largemouth-bass

Some big largemouth bass specimens caught over the years in Florida were LONG in inches of total length but LEAN in pounds & ounces of weight. The documented world record LONGEST largemouth bass ever caught anywhere was taken from Lake Toho in Florida by Bill Whipple on 8-11-2002 & was 33 inches in total length but weighed an amazingly light 14 lbs 6 oz! At least three bass were reportedly 32 inches long but only weighed 17 to 17.25 lbs each.

[WRB]

All those recorded lengths without the measurement method defined or 1 photo of a bass using a tape measure to validate the length measurement. Giant bass measure with their mouth open hanging vertical could easily measure over 32", mouth closed laying flat same bass is under 29". 

Giant bass that get away next to the boat are look over 36" long and by the time we get back to tell someone it weighs over 25 lbs. The problem is they tend to shrink when measured and loose several pounds.

Tom

[Deleted account]

Unlike mammals, most fish don't stop growing, that being said, growth slows considerably with age, and is also more influenced by environment and nutrition. Under ideal conditions bass will grow to 26" to 28". Of course most will never get this long, and some will get longer.

[Catt]

ShareLunker No. 222
Caught by B.J. Kilpatrick of Paris, TX
April 26, 1995 in Lake Fork
13.46 pounds, length 28 inches, girth 21 inches
 

ShareLunker No. 211
Caught by David Lee of Longview, TX
March 14, 1995 in Lake Fork
14.16 pounds, length 28 inches, girth 22 inches

 

ShareLunker No. 1
Caught by Mark Stevenson of Dallas, TX
November 26, 1986 in Lake Fork
17.67 pounds, length 27.5 inches, girth 24 inches

 

ShareLunkerNo 19

Caught by Jeff Neighbors of Fort Wort, TX
April 6, 1988 in Lake Fork
14.5 pounds, length 28.5 inches, girth 22 inches

 

ShareLunker No. 105
State Record
Caught by Barry St. Clair of Klondike, TX
January 24, 1992 in Lake Fork
18.18 pounds, length 25.5 inches, girth 24.25 inches
 

[SeeNoSun]

On 4/1/2013 at 8:21 PM, Sam said:

WRB, you left our Method 4. When we sort of exagerate a little on our catches.

 

Like, "Man was she a monster. Musta been at least 35 inches long and really heavy. Next time I'll bring a scale. Come to think about it, she was at least 38 to 40 inches. i got a hernia from lifting her into the boat."

you forgot this one.... 

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

(aka The Sheriff Brody Method)

[newriverfisherman1953]

I think it might depend on how hard you set the hook?!?

[soflabasser]

11 hours ago, 323Walter said:

I found this while researching the data for all state records. Florida is an intriguing case for several reasons but thought this section would be relevant. Here is the link to the article this quote came from.

https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahaman/all-time-top-25-biggest-fl-largemouth-bass

Some big largemouth bass specimens caught over the years in Florida were LONG in inches of total length but LEAN in pounds & ounces of weight. The documented world record LONGEST largemouth bass ever caught anywhere was taken from Lake Toho in Florida by Bill Whipple on 8-11-2002 & was 33 inches in total length but weighed an amazingly light 14 lbs 6 oz! At least three bass were reportedly 32 inches long but only weighed 17 to 17.25 lbs each.

There has been several bass bigger than the current state record caught in Florida but they where not submitted to the state for the official state record. There has been several documented cases of Florida largemouth bass over 30 inches, mostly in Central/North Florida. I myself have caught several largemouth bass in the 25-27.75'' range in South Florida where largemouth bass don't grow as big in the state and lots of +28'' largemouth bass are caught every year in Central/North Florida. Florida fishermen tend to be tight lipped about their catches and many Florida fishermen would not reveal where they catch their potential state record sized bass and I don't blame them since the place would get hit very hard from people all across the nation and the place would no longer be as good as it was before.

[frogflogger]

Years ago (50+) a 26" bass caught from a strip pit was brought into the tackle shop we hung out at - I don't think it weighed quite 7lbs if I remember correctly -  the pits in eastern Kansas in those days were famous for skinny bass.