Relationship Between Girth And Weight (Bass)

[smalliefinnatic]

So last summer I caught my pb largemouth up north. I was ecstatic...but also confused. Ill start with how I caught it, it was a textbook spot with submerged timber, about 6 feet deep, and knowing the structure of the lake because Ive fished there so many times (I dont have electronics) remembered there was an access to much deeper water! I flipped in a texas rigged venum craw (watermelon candy red) and hopped it around. 2 casts later I was about to give up but I noticed another hole a little deeper back, pitched her in and shook it, right as it fell my line was being pulled and my rod felt mushy almost, like being pulled through mud, so I swang and hooked into the fight of my life. When I landed her I noticed the bass was not widest around the middle...but fattest from the gill about 3 inches down. It looked like she swallowed a bird or something! Also she was only 19.5 in but weighed 5pn4oz!! I checked the scale and its accurate to a tee. My question is do you think this bass was possibly feeding on a small mammal/huge fish while I caught her? And is that the reason why she weighed so much...I mean, ive seen buddies catch 21+ plus in and weighing only 5 on the dot. Thanks

[Bluebasser86]

The fish in avatar was only 21.5" long and 7.76 and I've caught 18" fish that went 4.5 when they were gorging on shad. It would certainly have to be a fat fish, but it's not impossible.  According to the fish calculator on this sight it would have had to been about 14" around, not hard to imagine at all. 

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Northeast fish tend to be short and fat around me.

 

This one was from earlier in the year, only 22" long.

 

[Dwight Hottle]

I did not measure this fish for length & girth. But I believe it was 21"x21". Another fish from the same pond measured 23"x23"  Both fish caught in southern GA. Obviously girth adds more weight than length in for inch.

 

[A-Jay]

I did not measure this fish for length & girth. But I believe it was 21"x21". Another fish from the same pond measured 23"x23"  Both fish caught in southern GA. Obviously girth adds more weight than length in for inch.

 

 

Such a Fantastic shape on that Bass ~

 

She's the epitome of "Stout";  bulky in figure; heavily built; corpulent; thickset; fat: 

  Synonyms: big, rotund, stocky, portly, fleshy.

 

A-Jay

[AK-Jax86]

I can post fish that are longer than these posts but no where near a fat

[PABASS]

PA has a weight calculator that states a 19" LMB should be around 3.7# and a 20" LMB 4.3#.  It states its a tool for estimation, I caught a fat pre-spawn female this year in my avatar she only went 17.5" and she easily weighed 4.5#.  I caught another that went almost 21" and weight 5#1ounce which is spot on with the PA chart, so it depends on time of year and what they ate before you caught them, just like you and I before we get weighed.

[smalliefinnatic]

Thanks everyone, clears up that. But why was this fish so darn fat near the gill instead of the middle? Was it swallowing maybe another large fish?