Old Bass

[Mainebass1984]

I figured I would share some pretty interesting information. Back in 2012 I took a dorsal spine sample from several bass that I had caught. All fish were released alive and well. I sent the samples away to get aged. I just got them back in.

 

4/27/2012   7 lbs 1 oz 11 years old

 

4/27/2012   6 lbs 8 oz  10 years old

 

4/27/2012   7 lbs  6 oz  15 years old

 

4/29/2012   7 lbs 13 oz  12 years old.

 

 

A couple years ago I took a scale sample of a huge largemouth I caught in Nov 7th 2013, a 9 lb 1 oz lunker. That fish turned out to be 16+ years old.

 

All fish were caught in Maine.

[LunkercityVB]

This is great research. I've always heard depending on bait and bass population in a lake a bass can grow up to 1-1.5lb a year. And i'm sure this goes more for the younger bass than the old kind of like us, at some point we for the most part stop growing. Makes me an even bigger supporter of the slogan "let em go, let em grow"  and even crazier to think ive caught fish that have somehow survived for 15-16+ years. Great info thanks for sharing.

[fishballer06]

Very interesting. At 10-15 years old, it makes you wonder how many times those fish have been caught in their lifetime. 

 

I'm surprised to see you caught 3 fish on the same day in the 7 pound range in a northern state (very northern at that). That's a fish you once catch once every few years type of thing around here. I need to move further north apparently!

[Dylcook91]

So if that's the weights they were back in 2012, just think what they weigh now.

That is pretty cool to know though, and a lengthy time to wait for results.

[WRB]

The oldest known LMB was 23 years old from NY, very rare fish. Bass live longer in cold water and grow slower.

The older bass are not always big bass

Tom

[Dylcook91]

I'm surprised to see you caught 3 fish on the same day in the 7 pound range in a northern state (very northern at that). That's a fish you once catch once every few years type of thing around here. I need to move further north apparently!

Ah, living in this void of NJ/NY/PA

It's true the bass get better north, south and west of us haha

[WarEagleBassin]

looks like you had a pretty good 2012

[Choporoz]

The oldest known LMB was 23 years old from NY, very rare fish. Bass live longer in cold water and grow slower.

The older bass are not always big bass

Tom

I suspected the same.  Shorter growing seasons, or something.  So a 6 pound LMB in GA might be much younger than a 6 pound LMB in ME.

[Mumbly]

I was going through some old vhs tapes the other day and came across an old Bassmaster's fishing show that featured Chuck Roberts fishing with a Maine guide and Bassmaster angler. He was telling Chuck how long it took for bass to reach spawning age and how old each bass were at different weights. It was really interesting how the cold weather caused a short growing season.

 

I think I might watch that again.

[Catch 22]

_{Interesting science to determine the age. I use a different method. I cut them in half and count the rings}  

[BooyahMan]

Very cool information Mainebass1984! Definitely something to think about the next time there's a big bass on the end of the line.

[Mainebass1984]

looks like you had a pretty good 2012

 

2012 was a great day. 4/27/12 was an amazing day. That day my biggest 5 went 32-6.

 

_{Interesting science to determine the age. I use a different method. I cut them in half and count the rings}  

 

Basically that is how you age bass using a dorsal spine. Slice it microscopically thin and count the rings. It is more accurate then using scales. It is far better for the fish then using otiliths you have to kill a fish to get them.

[HookdUP]

Wow .. I wonder how this compares to va and southern bass and more so Florida bass .... I think they grow very fast there ...

[MassBass]

Any smallmouth in your study?

[OntarioFishingGuy]

Interesting results. These bass are much smaller than the Chinook salmon we fish for up here, which are just 4 years old when they make their spawning runs, and can weigh in excess of 30 pounds. These fish are around 7lbs, and are much older. Just goes to show the variety of fish's growth rates.

[bassguytom]

looks like you had a pretty good 2012

Specifically April 27th 2012. That is very informative information thanks for posting that.

[Darren.]

Fascinating report!

[geo g]

Great stuff, how did you take those samples and who did the testing? That's really impressive for the north country. What is the state record for Maine? Thanks for the post.

[ward131]

Largemouth Bass: 11 Ibs. 10 oz., Robert Kamp, Denmark, ME, 1968, Moose Pond

[Mainebass1984]

Any smallmouth in your study?

 

No smallmouth were aged.

[Mainebass1984]

Specifically April 27th 2012. That is very informative information thanks for posting that.

 

April of 2012 was a very interesting month. It was much, much, warmer then usual. My first day out on my boat that year was March 21st. That is an anomaly. Usually ice out is around the second week of April. The winter that year was incredibly mild. The warmest wettest winter on record up here in the northeast. Al of that played into what happened that April. Now after a lot of time on the water on that specific lake the conditions which led to that amazing day usually occurs around the first week of May. Everything was a bit off that year, about 3 weeks ahead of a usual year.

[Mainebass1984]

Great stuff, how did you take those samples and who did the testing? That's really impressive for the north country. What is the state record for Maine? Thanks for the post.

 

The age for the bass sampled in 2012 were done using a dorsal spine. The second dorsal spine. It is very important that it is the second one. These dorsal spine are then set in a solution so that all the skin is dissolved and only the bone remains. The spine is then sliced microscopically thin. We do not have the necessary machine to do this. It is a very specialized machine and costs A LOT of money. We send away the spines for them to be sliced. Once the spines are sliced we place the sections onto a slide and secure them in place. We then stain the section. After the stain has set for a minute we are then able to view the side underneath the microscope. It looks basically like a section of a tree with grow rings spanning out from the center. You can then count the age rings exactly the same as you would do a tree. Pretty cool stuff. You could also do the same using otoliths but to attain that you must kill the fish. The otolith bone is the fishes inner ear bone which has growth rings much the same as the dorsal spine. The dorsal spine and the otolith bone are viewed at being more accurate then scale samples. Dorsal spine and otolith aging are becoming the scientific norm. Aging fish using those methods are more expensive then aging fish using a microscope.

[geo g]

The age for the bass sampled in 2012 were done using a dorsal spine. The second dorsal spine. It is very important that it is the second one. These dorsal spine are then set in a solution so that all the skin is dissolved and only the bone remains. The spine is then sliced microscopically thin. We do not have the necessary machine to do this. It is a very specialized machine and costs A LOT of money. We send away the spines for them to be sliced. Once the spines are sliced we place the sections onto a slide and secure them in place. We then stain the section. After the stain has set for a minute we are then able to view the side underneath the microscope. It looks basically like a section of a tree with grow rings spanning out from the center. You can then count the age rings exactly the same as you would do a tree. Pretty cool stuff. You could also do the same using otoliths but to attain that you must kill the fish. The otolith bone is the fishes inner ear bone which has growth rings much the same as the dorsal spine. The dorsal spine and the otolith bone are viewed at being more accurate then scale samples. Dorsal spine and otolith aging are becoming the scientific norm. Aging fish using those methods are more expensive then aging fish using a microscope.

 

 

Thanks for the education.  I have been fishing for a long time and never heard of someone going that far for this knowledge.  Thanks again for sharing and thanks for your efforts.  This is what makes a site like this so good.    

[Grizzn N Bassin]

That's really cool info maine thanks for sharing!!

[Grizzn N Bassin]

The oldest known LMB was 23 years old from NY, very rare fish. Bass live longer in cold water and grow slower.

The older bass are not always big bass

Tom

Any idea where the fish was caught in Ny?