What, to you, is a “nice” bass?

[Jig Man]

A keeper smallmouth where I fish is a nice fish.  They have to be 15” long to be a keeper and the biologists say it takes 10 years for one to grow that big.

[FishinBuck07]

The lakes I fish, if you catch one that is a nice one!  Lol?

[JediAmoeba]

I just caught this one...it's pretty big for the local water.  

[gim]

43 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

A keeper smallmouth where I fish is a nice fish.  They have to be 15” long to be a keeper and the biologists say it takes 10 years for one to grow that big.

In Minnesota it takes a bass about a decade to get to 20 inches/5 pounds. I heard that directly from a fisheries biologist in 2016 at the Bassmaster Elite AOY at Mille Lacs. It’s very unfortunate that some people still harvest such an old fish but it still happens. Even a 3 pounder up here is probably 6-7 years old. I would say a bass that is 17+ inches is a nice bass here.

[Mobasser]

3lbs is a "nice" fish to me.

[roadwarrior]

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

A 7 lb Green Bass and a 5 lb Brown Bass both fit into that category IMO.

 

A-Jay

 

[Teal]

Heck I dont know, I guess I catch myself saying it if its 3 pounds plus.. if I can get on a mess of 3 - 4 lb fish, that's fun..

 

My son has reeled in countless 2 pounders and I always tell him they they are quality fish. 

 

 

But I have a whole new set of phrases for bigger fish... hawgs, toads, studs, monsters, lunkers, etc. 

[A-Jay]

14 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

What Is That ?

A-Jay 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

In Florida, I consider any bass three pounds or better nice.   I believe the strongest fighting largemouth bass are around six pounds.  Bass larger than that do not generally clear the water.  They will try to break you off or run under the boat.  We call them "rooters".  Some folks think Florida fisherman only care about ten pound fish.  The fact is a 10 pound bass is rare no matter where you fish.  The average bass in Central Florida is about 2 1/2 pounds.  A nice tournament kicker is 5 pounds and over.  An average weekend tournament winning 5 fish bag on the Harris Chain is about 18-20 pounds.  This takes 4 nice fish and one kicker.  I once won a local tournament with two fish that weighed 19 pounds.  Two bites...two fish.  

Wow! I’ll take those two bites over a thousand others 

[roadwarrior]

3 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

What Is That ?

A-Jay 

My corona virus mask.

[keagbassr]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I'd consider 1-2lbers "cookie cutter" fish I expect to catch every time I go out. A 3-4lber is a "nice" fish I don't get to catch every time, and a 5lber is a special fish..."Toad". Of course where I live an 8lber is a fish of a lifetime. 

This sums up my thoughts exactly only to add for largemouths, for smallies i always say any smallie is a good one. 

[A-Jay]

55 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

My corona virus mask.

OK ~ Nice

Love what you've done with your ears.

A-Jay

[Cdn Angler]

3 - solid

4 - will remember

5 - amazing

6 I don't understand

 

Canada

[soflabasser]

4 hours ago, Mike L said:

For me it’s about expectations. 
If just junk fishing anything over 3 qualifies. 
If punching mats it’s probably a 5+
If bed fishing I’d say a 7+ 

Anything 8 and up down here are special regardless of where and how. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

8 pounds is big enough to be on TrophyCatch so I would call that a trophy bass, especially if caught from land in public waters in South Florida. Any bass over 18 inches or 3 pounds is a quality bass anywhere in the nation.

[BrianMDTX]

I guess everyone has there own criteria. Heck, I may have to rethink my position. After spending the afternoon getting caught up on chores, I went back out and hit the pond for an hour. I caught this 17-1/2” bass on an as-yet unknown 40+ year-old plastic worm on an UL rod and reel that’s also between 40 and 50 years old (I know the reel was mfg in 1970). It was a great fight getting that bass in on that tackle! So to me...today...2.72 lbs was a nice bass!

 

[RoLo]

 

The following refers to a "good fish", not trophy-class or record-class.

In our experience, the weight of a GOOD largemouth bass is 3 lbs, a threshold I've found

to be remarkably cosmopolitan. Among other reasons, 30,000 Islands, Georgian Bay, Ontario

is noted on my cover page, because 3-pound largemouth are almost as common there

as they are in Florida (A conspicuous weight plateau).

 

As for smallmouth bass, I'd call 2-lbs a 'GOOD' fish (an adult).

 

Roger

[Hook2Jaw]

Two pounds makes me happy.  Three pounds feels dang good.  Four pounds is a less than common occurrence.  Five pounds only happens a few times a year, and six sets me on fire.  Seven and eight make me wish for a bit more girth to make them a nine or ten.

 

Nine or ten will make me tie a fish to a bush and sprint to my truck for my scale.

 

Overall, two pounds is my cutoff for a good fish.

[fishwizzard]

For a lmb, if my fist would fit in it’s mouth without touching the sides, that’s a nice bass anywhere.  
 

Otherwise it’s entirely dependent upon where I am fishing.  There’s a pond by my house that I fish all the time that I never been able to a 4lb bass out of. I’ve gone within an ounce or two quite a few times but I’ve never broken 4lb and it’s starting to drive me insane. If it ever happens I’m going to make an absolute fool of myself in front of all the joggers and little kids. 

[BrianMDTX]

4 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

For a lmb, if my fist would fit in it’s mouth without touching the sides, that’s a nice bass anywhere.  
 

Otherwise it’s entirely dependent upon where I am fishing.  There’s a pond by my house that I fish all the time that I never been able to a 4lb bass out of. I’ve gone within an ounce or two quite a few times but I’ve never broken 4lb and it’s starting to drive me insane. If it ever happens I’m going to make an absolute fool of myself in front of all the joggers and little kids. 

lol. 
 

I see you’re a chicken necker. Where’s that pond near?  

[Fallser]

A couple things.  One, I fly fish for them.  Two, depends where I'm fishing.  On my local creek, 12 inches for both largemouth and smallmouth is a nice fish.  My PB smallmouth from there was 16 3/4".  My best largemouth is 13 inches.   There are bigger fish of both species in there.  I've seen them.  They're just  few and far between.  

On the other lakes and rivers that I fish, here in SE PA, NJ, Vermont and Northern Ontario.  I'd consider a 2 lb fish of either species a nice fish.  I've done better with large smallmouth,  four 20 inch fish on the fly rod over the last 15 years, all caught in Canada.  I've just really been fishing for largemouth the last 5 years.  Best I've done there is 21 inch fish.  Lot of down time the last couple of months, maybe the frogs I'm tying up will get me a bigger one this year. 

[Junk Fisherman]

16" is a "nice" bass around the tough pressured waters in the Chicagoland area.  Up north in Wisconsin and Michigan, a "nice" bass is 18".  When I take my smallie trips up north, I don't even bust out my phone for a picture unless it is over 4 lbs and once I get a few 4s I usually stop with the pics.  My scale doesn't come out unless I think it might be 5.  

[Dan Turpin]

If I get a 2lb Smalljaw on a day out I am stoked.

 

My PB smallie is 4.2

 

Have not caught a LMB yet, only one lake on the Island with them...and I don't know how to fish those god d**n weeds yet...

[MIbassyaker]

If I'm fishing near someone and I catch one around 2lb or more, that's about the size where I'll hear them call out "nice!"

 

So I guess 2lb is a nice bass. 

[DitchPanda]

Quality is 2+...over 3 is nice...5 and up is big...my biggest of the year is around 7...ever is 8.75

[Hammer 4]

IMHO, any size that you catch, and makes you smile is a good size, be it 2 lbs or 10 lbs.