Caught my PB yesterday. How much do you think it weighs?

[Bassin' Brad]

4 hours ago, dwh4784 said:

Just buy a scale. I weigh anything I think is at least ~3lbs  and sometimes it is pretty surprising. I would guess that fish at 3lb10oz. I would also guess that after being out of the water for four pictures and laid on the ground that it died.

Give me a break, just because someone snaps a few pics does NOT mean that fish kicks the bucket. I agree with proper fish handling, but when someone has no problem with ramming a heavy wire 5/0 hook into a fishes mouth and then makes the fish fight for his life until they jerk the fish out by its lip but then say 4 pics killed the fish it's like really???

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Bassin' Brad said:

Give me a break, just because someone snaps a few pics does NOT mean that fish kicks the bucket. I agree with proper fish handling, but when someone has no problem with ramming a heavy wire 5/0 hook into a fishes mouth and then makes the fish fight for his life until they jerk the fish out by its lip but then say 4 pics killed the fish it's like really???

You did fine man, nice fish and pics 

[Choporoz]

I'm not at all sure how much it weighs.  Until you get a scale, use couple pieces of line, or rope....if you have fairly accurate length AND girth measurement, we'll all feel better about guessing for you.

   Welcome to BR!  And congrats on your PB.  And also congrats on a 2fer thread in your first week; "How much does this fish 'on the ground' weigh?" 

[fced]

5 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

Actually, he isn't being negative.  His opinion is based on fact, how lying on the dirt or boats carpet removes a fish's slime coat and causes a certain percentage of death in the days following release (not immediate). 

 

Pro anglers get paid to get a bass into the boat and have it survive for a few hours until it is released, they don't get penalized if it goes belly up a day or two later due to infection.  Not saying anything negative about boat flipping or pro anglers, just laying out the rationale why it may not be best to use pro anglers as an example of the best practices for fish survival.

 

A hook in the mouth of a fish is very different than removal of the slime coat, as far as survival goes.

I'm not arguing over this. Ive watch plenty of experienced anglers flip fish on the boats carpet. You don't think pro anglers care about the fish? Come on man they also love fishing. I promise the fish is fine.

[Michaelangelo]

3.5 - 4 realistically.  It's a healthy fish.  Once you can fit your fist in it's mouth without touching on any side, then you know you're getting some size.

 

Some very sound advice - get a scale, and a soft ruler.  If you were to ever catch a trophy bass, and didn't want to kill it to be mounted, you will need lots of pictures, and lots of measurements.  Weight is for bragging rights, or knowing what your biggest fish 'actually' weighed.

 

I've caught thousands of fish that have touched the ground, boat, net, etc.  Some people are very unrealistic about their survival after those instances.  Pretty sure PETA would have shut down all fishing shows by now if a fish touching something other than water 'actually' killed them every time. Look how many pros grab the fish on the back in front of the dorsal fin.  Pretty sure B.A.S.S. isn't going to let them do that either if it kills them every time.

 

Just be quick about unhooking and releasing, that's it.

[NCbassraider]

10 hours ago, fced said:

The fish is fine. By saying this by no means am I starting an argument on my thread but don't be so negative. You take a hook and impale fish with it and your worried about the fish being on the ground for 2 seconds. Just about every pro bass angler flips them on their boat. 

You don't know it's fine and my guess is it will probably die.  A fish hooked through cartilage is in no danger of dying.  Laying it on marine carpet or even worse, dirt will kill them.  Just because it swam off doesn't mean it is fine.  It will most likely develop infections and die a slow, suffering death.

 

There is a reason MLF now penalizes Pro Anglers for any fish that touches marine carpeting or any part of the anglers body besides their hand.  It's bad for the fish.  Just learn and move forward.

[Bassin' Brad]

Yes. A slow, painful, agonizing, heart wrenching, excruciating,  merciless, unbearable death. 5 seconds on the dirt makes medieval torture methods seem like a walk in the park. Come on really?? I'm sure it's not good but give me a break. It's a stupid fish that touched the ground for like 5 seconds. Does it hurt the fish? I'm sure probably does. Does any fish ever die from it? Probably. Is it good to lay them down? No. Are we taking the whole thing a little overboard?  Absolutely. 

[NCbassraider]

1 hour ago, Bassin' Brad said:

 Does it hurt the fish? I'm sure probably does. Does any fish ever die from it? Probably. Is it good to lay them down? No. 

 

This sentence is all I needed to read.  It proves everything else you wrote is disrespectful to the species and ecosystem in general. 

 

Nobody is going overboard about anything.  We are just simply stating that harming the fish can easily be avoided.  A 6-7 year old fish is a beating incredible odds just by living that long.  Keeping it healthy ensures it can return to grow bigger and also to reproduce.  A fish like that is strong and smart and those are the genes we all want reproducing.

 

If you've ever caught a fish that was in the advanced stages of skin infections, you would agree it's probably a rough way for a fish to die.  

[Bassin' Brad]

I personally hate to see any animal tortured or starved or such like......but, I'm no animal "lover". What about the fish that you have fouled hooked? What about the ones that have ate your plastic bait that came off in the water and then slowly died? What about ones that peoples boat prop injured? What about the ones that suffer from pollution? What about the ones that swallow your lue? Unfortunately we hurt fish all the time and yes we need to be careful but the fish are there for our enjoyment so if some guy gets excited about his PB and lays the fish down for a sec to snap a pic there's no need to tell him it's going suffer a slow painful death. Whole fisheries have nearly been starved to death due to natural causes such as drought. If the fish died, (which it probably didn't) so what. The guy next to him may catch one and filet him alive to eat. 

[OCdockskipper]

53 minutes ago, Bassin' Brad said:

Yes. A slow, painful, agonizing, heart wrenching, excruciating,  merciless, unbearable death. 5 seconds on the dirt makes medieval torture methods seem like a walk in the park. Come on really?? I'm sure it's not good but give me a break. It's a stupid fish that touched the ground for like 5 seconds. Does it hurt the fish? I'm sure probably does. Does any fish ever die from it? Probably. Is it good to lay them down? No. Are we taking the whole thing a little overboard?  Absolutely. 

Wait, so you agree that doing things to remove the slime coat is not good, but mentioning it in passing on a fishing forum is "taking it a little overboard"?

 

I don't think NCBassraider was scolding anyone for the practice, he was just stating a fact that many newer anglers may not be aware of.  If one chooses to not follow the advice, that is one's prerogative.  If you are going to keep and eat the fish, it is a moot point.  However, since a majority of anglers on this forum practice catch & release, it really wasn't out of line to mention it

[OCdockskipper]

7 hours ago, fced said:

I'm not arguing over this. Ive watch plenty of experienced anglers flip fish on the boats carpet. You don't think pro anglers care about the fish? Come on man they also love fishing. I promise the fish is fine.

Your fish may indeed be fine, however removal of slime coat does lead to a percentage of fish dying days or weeks later due to infection.  Just because an experienced angler chooses to ignore this doesn't mean it isn't going to happen.

 

Aaron Martens is a pro angler who places fish care high, watch him and you will see he tries to avoid having the fish hit the carpet when he boat flips them.  Doesn't always happen but that doesn't mean you can't make an effort to try.  Mike Iaconelli on the other hand, has on film, on multiple occasions, thrown fish 20 feet in the air in anger just because they weren't big enough or because he lost at something.  He has every right to do that, he caught them so he can release them how he chooses.  He may indeed care greatly about the health of bass & bass fishing...he just has an odd way of showing it.

[NCbassraider]

20 minutes ago, Bassin' Brad said:

I personally hate to see any animal tortured or starved or such like......but, I'm no animal "lover". What about the fish that you have fouled hooked? What about the ones that have ate your plastic bait that came off in the water and then slowly died? What about ones that peoples boat prop injured? What about the ones that suffer from pollution? What about the ones that swallow your lue? Unfortunately we hurt fish all the time and yes we need to be careful but the fish are there for our enjoyment so if some guy gets excited about his PB and lays the fish down for a sec to snap a pic there's no need to tell him it's going suffer a slow painful death. Whole fisheries have nearly been starved to death due to natural causes such as drought. If the fish died, (which it probably didn't) so what. The guy next to him may catch one and filet him alive to eat. 

You are giving examples of accidents that can occur while fishing that are not always in our control.

Mishandling a fish is something that we can all control.  Further, I would rather someone fillet and eat a bass than lay it on the ground.  At least it's not a wasted death.

 

Look, you are obviously young and I'm not going to try to debate you because when I was young I thought I had all the answers too.  I think you and the OP will make a better effort after reading these comments whether or not you care to admit it.  If not, that's your prerogative.  Karma is a ***** though.  Keep that in mind.

[Bassin' Brad]

I think it's good to teach people about proper fish handling, but I just think it's immature to tell a guy his fish probably died a "slow suffering death" when you don't know if it did or not. 

[Bassin' Brad]

32 minutes ago, NCbassraider said:

 I think you and the OP will make a better effort after reading these comments whether or not you care to admit it.  If not, that's your prerogative.  Karma is a ***** though.  Keep that in mind.

I already try to treat fish properly....so nothing will change on my part. I never lay fish in the dirt. I also don't tell people what kind of death their fish probably suffered for being on the dirt for a couple seconds. 

[TnRiver46]

The fish in the picture is in grass not dirt. We have a pond at work with bass that are trained and they jump onto the grass for bluegill all the time. They are like 9 years old and flop in the grass weekly. A bunch of folks on this thread suggested taking an accurate measurement, I don't think an "accurate" measurement is possible without laying the fish down 

[fced]

9 hours ago, NCbassraider said:

You are giving examples of accidents that can occur while fishing that are not always in our control.

Mishandling a fish is something that we can all control.  Further, I would rather someone fillet and eat a bass than lay it on the ground.  At least it's not a wasted death.

 

Look, you are obviously young and I'm not going to try to debate you because when I was young I thought I had all the answers too.  I think you and the OP will make a better effort after reading these comments whether or not you care to admit it.  If not, that's your prerogative.  Karma is a ***** though.  Keep that in mind.

The fish is fine.

[Fishingmickey]

On 9/30/2017 at 11:26 AM, fced said:

Yeah it's definitely 3! I was just curious if it was 4 or close to 4 because of its belly, guess I'm going to have to invest in a scale haha. Thanks dude! 

You might check this out. https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/catchrelease/bass_length_weight.phtml

 

Fishingmickey

[NCbassraider]

11 hours ago, fced said:

The fish is fine.

That's great.  Can you give me the winning powerball numbers while you're at it?

[dwh4784]

On 10/4/2017 at 7:18 AM, Bassin' Brad said:

Give me a break, just because someone snaps a few pics does NOT mean that fish kicks the bucket. I agree with proper fish handling, but when someone has no problem with ramming a heavy wire 5/0 hook into a fishes mouth and then makes the fish fight for his life until they jerk the fish out by its lip but then say 4 pics killed the fish it's like really???

Four pictures, one of which is is laying right on the shore and another held up ~15ft from the shore. I'm no bunny lover, I take pics of any fish I think is decent. But be reasonable. That fish was placed on the ground, and was out of the water for too long if you care about their survival.

 

I also wasn't the one to bring that aspect up, just voiced my opinion.

[NorcalBassin]

Congrats on the PB and sorry for the red carpet welcome mat we laid out for you as a new member being a bit stained. I'm not going to be throwing any stones at you since I've certainly unintentionally treated some fish with less respect for their longevity than I should have before I knew better... take a couple pics and weigh her as quickly as you can (<60s) and the likelihood of her surviving is still quite high. Best of luck chasing a new PB.

[JustJames]

Congrat man, that fish look to be 4-4.5 lbs to me and I'm pretty good at hand scale lol.

It tough love here, doesn't it? But becuz everyone loves bass here. Even my wife sometime complains I care more about bass than her HA!. 

Now OP should know how to handle bass better and we should also give him a break too. I used to do that all the time laying fish on grass to take pic since that only way to get measurements, but I don't do that anymore after reading a lot of post of how to handle fish.

[fced]

8 hours ago, dwh4784 said:

Four pictures, one of which is is laying right on the shore and another held up ~15ft from the shore. I'm no bunny lover, I take pics of any fish I think is decent. But be reasonable. That fish was placed on the ground, and was out of the water for too long if you care about their survival.

 

I also wasn't the one to bring that aspect up, just voiced my opinion.

15ft? Lmao I was right next to the shore. Every single picture my foot is right next to water. I just layed the fish down on the ground and left to get some chipotle and came back as quick as I could. The fish was out of the water for 30 or 40 minutes she's fine.....

[Pro Logcatcher]

Man, this is an intense conversation.

[Steveo-1969]

I just wanted to thank the Mods for leaving this thread open. It's been one of the most entertaining things I've read on the site all week.

[Choporoz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqw1FI1hfJA