Is There A "6 Lb Bass" Joke/myth Used On Beginners?

[Bucketmouth King]

Is there a 6 lb bass joke or myth used on beginners?

Heres why I'm wondering. Im new to this. This is my first year fishing. I fish almost every day with several ponds and canals on a rotating schedule. Ive noticed that every single time I learn about a new pond, the person is telling me "I've caught 6 pounders in there". None of these people telling me about these ponds are related or know each other. But they all say the exact same thing.

Now heres the catch- all of the ponds are only 1 acre or less. One of the ponds ive caught nothing but 8 oz bass when one bites at all. Another spot I cant clear 2 lbs. Another spot I cant clear 3 lbs. So I tried a test- I caught my pb of 4 lbs last week. Took a pic of it. Showed it to the pond owner who told me about the 6 lbs he caught in there. I didnt tell him the weight. Just showed him the pic. He said its the biggest fish hes seen out of that pond.

So I'm wondering- why does everyone say "theres 6 lb bass in there". Is it a joke the old timers play on beginners?

[F14A-B]

Uh, is that anything like a tent lock? Lol.. Fishermans tale? Maybe. Funny post though..

[Missourifishin]

People like to tell big fish tales. And a lot of people like to embellish them. Why everyone you talk to seems to have either caught 6 pounders, or chosen 6 pounds as their made up number, is a mystery to me though.

[Catch and Grease]

I honestly believe 6 pounds is the weight used most when people make up stories.... I've been to countless places and people tell me the same thing like " yeah I caught a 6 pound out there last week!"

Its got to the point to where if someone says they caught a 6 pounder I believe them less then a guy that says he caught a 5 or 7lber LOL!

[deep]

Most people don't know how big a 6# bass really is (you're in MD right)? Do what I do and ask them 6 pounds and how many ounces that bass was lol (and you'll likely find the fish wasn't weighed).

[Josh Smith]

I done caught me a 10-pounder out'n thar jus' a week afore the sister's a'weddin!

Dang ol' thang took me aroun' tha pond a coupla' times afore I fin'lly landed 'er in tha jonboat!

A'course, that don' compare to tha one I caught as a lad back in '89..!

Josh

[geo g]

Small ponds can very well support a few big fish as long as there is a good supply of food.  Sounds like you have been catching the food, instead of the big ones.

[wisconsin heat]

I wouldn't believe them haha. It is so easy to mis-judge the size of a bass when you do not catch many (especially of a certain size class). 

I caught a large 3lb 9oz bass a few years ago, when I first landed it, I thought it weighed 6 pounds. After 1 minute of looking at it, I was thinking 5 pounds, I was kind of surprised when i saw it was only about 3 1/2 lbs.

A year later, I catch a fish of the exact same size (3lb9oz), at first i think 5lb, then I was realistically thinking 4 1/2.

A year after that I catch a fish of similar size and I say "that fish will go 3 1/2 pounds." It ended up being 3lbs 5oz.

Point of my story is that a person who doesn't usually catch these fish and recognize the actual size of them will over estimate the fish's size. 

So unless those guys regularly catch big bass and weigh them, don't believe them, it was probably a 2 1/2 pounder.

[Darren.]

It is funny, to be honest. I actually try to encourage 

people that ask me about the waters I fish -- I really 

HAVE caught numerous 6 pounders, like the 6.6 in 

my avatar.

 

That said. I like it best when talking with a fisherman 

and s/he pulls out a phone and shows me the fish 

they're talking about. Then there's proof in the pudding.

 

I tend to roll my eyes when I'm told - duuuude, I had 

an 8 pounder on my line right over there but I lost it.

 

Being nice I usually just nod my head and smile. Inside

I want to ask if he weighed the bass before he lost it 

in order to verify it was indeed an 8 pounder he lost...

 

Silly humans. Especially fisherhumans.

[lectricbassman]

I fish a pond and was told by a couple of anglers that there were 5lb fish in it. All summer the biggest i could manage was 2lbs. I just figured they were telling stories like fishermen do. . .until i saw onr with my own eyes! 5lbs 9oz, i would not have believed it had i not seen the guy weigh it.

[reb67]

The beginners are not the only ones who have the big fish eyes. This past spring the same day I caught my pb a 5.9 which my wife was the one who netted it for me, as we where fishing our way back down the river we came across a guy we see on the river and lake all the time he fishes all the local tournaments in the area. I had never seen the man fishing with him before but right after we past them the tournament fisherman landed a nice bass and of course he had to say " hey yall left one " . The other guy asked him about how big was that fish he responded about 6lbs as he dropped it back in the water . My wife looked at him and looked at me and said are you kidding me the fish you just caught looks like it could eat that fish he just caught. The bass may have been 3 - 3 1/2. All I could say is he has BIG FISH EYES.

[Weld's Largemouth]

Is there a 6 lb bass joke or myth used on beginners?

Heres why I'm wondering. Im new to this. This is my first year fishing. I fish almost every day with several ponds and canals on a rotating schedule. Ive noticed that every single time I learn about a new pond, the person is telling me "I've caught 6 pounders in there". None of these people telling me about these ponds are related or know each other. But they all say the exact same thing.

Now heres the catch- all of the ponds are only 1 acre or less. One of the ponds ive caught nothing but 8 oz bass when one bites at all. Another spot I cant clear 2 lbs. Another spot I cant clear 3 lbs. So I tried a test- I caught my pb of 4 lbs last week. Took a pic of it. Showed it to the pond owner who told me about the 6 lbs he caught in there. I didnt tell him the weight. Just showed him the pic. He said its the biggest fish hes seen out of that pond.

So I'm wondering- why does everyone say "theres 6 lb bass in there". Is it a joke the old timers play on beginners?

Its not a joke, they are just showing off how successful of an angler they want to be

[Weld's Largemouth]

I honestly believe 6 pounds is the weight used most when people make up stories.... I've been to countless places and people tell me the same thing like " yeah I caught a 6 pound out there last week!"

Its got to the point to where if someone says they caught a 6 pounder I believe them less then a guy that says he caught a 5 or 7lber LOL!

I caught a 6 lber

[ww2farmer]

Because most people wouldn't know a 6lber if it slapped them in the face. Once scales are brought to the table, 6's become 3's, 3's become 14"ers, and so on and so forth.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Where I fish if I say what size fish Ive caught that day lets sat 15" without fail the person that asked me will say they caught one 2" bigger 17". Doesnt matter what number I give theirs is always 2" bigger. I catch a 19" they say they caught 21", I catch 14" they catch 16".

 

And yes one of my buddies lost a 6# trying to lift it out of the lake grabbing the line, so he said.

[bassguytom]

Because most people wouldn't know a 6lber if it slapped them in the face. Once scales are brought to the table, 6's become 3's, 3's become 14"ers, and so on and so forth.

People that don't fish as we do don't use scales. I hear the 6 lb. mark often as I am walking around my local lake and it usually comes from someone using a surf rod or similar set up. They also tell me they catch smallmouth in a lake that does not hold smallmouth. I had a fella tell me the biggest bass he ever caught he caught in th Schuylkill river. I said "wow that's great! How much did it weigh? He said 13 lbs. 6 oz. I said wow that is awesome! I didn't have the heart to tell him the Pa state record was 11 lbs 3 oz. Perception really does drive reality. More 4 and 5 pounders for me.

[Jolly Green]

I've never seen a six pound bass, maybe because another common trait among them is that they are all caught here yesterday.  

[BooyahMan]

Funny enough, 6lbs was the marker that the locals at the lake I frequent told me had been caught the year before I started bass fishing. I took it with a grain of salt but at the same time, I figured there had to be some truth of "big fish" to the rumour so I kept fishing the lake. I spent a whole year and a half catching dink after dink after dink after dink until I started figuring out techniques to catch 2-3 pounders consistently. Then on one random outing I nailed the biggest bass I've ever seen come out of this lake (see avatar). I'm another one that doesn't carry a scale and I think 6lbs is probably pushing it, but it was a solid 5 and dwarfed my second biggest bass. Regardless if it was a 6 or not, what's not to say that there's not another one just a bit bigger swimming around that is true 6lber?

 

Moral of the story: everyone might be lying/embellishing, but doesn't mean a few lunkers don't lurk in those waters!

[FD.]

A "6 pounder" for you is about 60% of your state record and probably not all that common.  Which says the lake is a good quality lake.  6 pounders for me are pretty common but it's also only about 30% of my state record.  It would take a 12 pounds to get to 60% of the Fl record.  

[Paul Roberts]

Because most people wouldn't know a 6lber if it slapped them in the face. Once scales are brought to the table, 6's become 3's, 3's become 14"ers, and so on and so forth.

 

People that don't fish as we do don't use scales. ...

 

Ditto.

 

In the north it's "5lbs". As you go progressively south it goes up: "6", "8", "10".

 

These are "representational measures" and have no truth of measure beyond a level of excitement or ego boost. And they are often obtained via "relative measure" that goes like this:

 

An angler catches three 12" bass (1lb each), thinking "nice 2lbers". Then he catches a 16"er (a true 2lber) and knowing it's bigger than his previous erroneous guestimate says "Whoa! that's a good... 3lber!" Then he hangs a 18"er (a true 3lber) and says, "Holy Moly! 6lber!!! Wooo hooo hoooo!" (Notice the change in numbers are more exponential than linear.) Makes for a great story too when he gets home to share his excitement and accomplishments, thinking "You shoulda been there to see that gorgeous fish! I'm so excited!" The measure ("6lbs") is more a measure of excitement and pride than actual flesh and blood.

 

Relative measure is often socially derived and influenced. Anglers commonly end up comparing their catches to weights thrown around on TV, video, and magazines, as well as their buddies' erroneous measures. Media measures are often yielded from southern waters where bass grow bigger than they do in the north. Bassmaster only recognized (may still) only 10lbers in their angler awards, which sets an impossible mark for northern anglers. More intelligent assessments go regionally, like In-Fisherman's Master Angler Awards, and others use a proportional difference from the particular state's state record fish.

 

This is human nature. And psychologists have been studying this for decades in all sorts of ways. Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel in economics for his 30+ years of work measuring we human's (in)ability to take measure of the world around us. Fascinating and revealing subject on how our minds work. So... I try not to take such measures of fish personally. But I do carry a quality (regularly calibrated) scale with me and report real numbers. My numbers often wind up lower than most people's. I can handle it.

[lectricbassman]

I try very hard to not embelish my fishing adventures. In fact im brutally honest. I cant count the number of times ive been skunked, countless dinks, less 'nice' fish and even fewer fish worth writing home about. It doesnt benefit me one bit to have a skewed perception of actual bass sizes. Im not out to impress anybody but myself.

[Skeeter Dan]

I was told that in order to be a good fisherman you had to lie about the fish you catch. If you didn't then you could never be any good at it. If I had to rely on fishing to feed myself then I would starve

[Missourifishin]

Where I fish if I say what size fish Ive caught that day lets sat 15" without fail the person that asked me will say they caught one 2" bigger 17". Doesnt matter what number I give theirs is always 2" bigger. I catch a 19" they say they caught 21", I catch 14" they catch 16".

 

And yes one of my buddies lost a 6# trying to lift it out of the lake grabbing the line, so he said.

Exactly! Every one has to claim to have caught one a little bit bigger.

[SirSnookalot]

Never know how big an unlanded fish is, photos can be deceptive as well.  I personally don't weigh anything, I go by inches which are indicated by marks on my rods at 20" & 25", close enough for me.  6# or 22-23" here in a Florida pond is a nice catch but not that unusual, catching one on a ul or light spinning with a top water is still pretty cool.

[Brnnoser6983]

This is why I mounted my 6 ponder. No fish stories here, just proof. But I think as some have said. 6 lbs is a good decent size bass, and here in Minnesota that's a great size. So it's a great figures to give on a fish tail, but who's to says there aren't 6 lbs bass there. Everyone told me I was fishing a duck pond not worth fishing when I caught my 6 er.

Matter of fact my profile pic is of the 6 lb bass my brother in law and myself caught. And both are hanging on our walls.