When you’re fighting a bass. Can you estimate the size by the fight?

[geo g]

The answer in Florida is NO.  I have had some pigs just give up the fight early, and some 2 to 4 pounders that were just plan mean, and deep in the water.  Until they break water all bets are off.

[Surfcaster79]

No, if you foul hook one you'll think you have a monster on until you real him in... add that same fowl hooked fish in some good current and you would be really in for a surprise when you real it in.

[Black Hawk Basser]

It's really hard to tell.  The bass at my home lake definitely fight harder pound for pound than in the various ponds and pits around here.  They are extremely toady, muscular fish.  My best bass last year barely slurped up a frog from the surface and swam right at me.  I had no idea it was a 21" fish.

[TriStateBassin106]

Yes. Usually for me a fish that doesn't jump as much and pulls a good amount of drag after the hookset is usually a good fish. (1.8lbs to 3lbs) anything below is either jumping a lot or just being dragged in with no resistance. 

[Darth-Baiter]

9 hours ago, geo g said:

The answer in Florida is NO.  I have had some pigs just give up the fight early, and some 2 to 4 pounders that were just plan mean, and deep in the water.  Until they break water all bets are off.

My dream is to slip my kayak into some Florida waters. 

[Koz]

I would say that in waters  that I fish consistently I am usually accurate with the species and weight of whatever hits my bait. But in new waters or waters that I don't fish consistently I usually don't have a clue.

[Johnbt]

Sure, I've been guessing the weight of every fish I've hooked for 50 years or so. Just the other day I set the hook spinnerbait fishing and there wasn't much there. Then it pulled a little for an instant and I thought 2 pounder. Then it took off and I knew and it circled halfway around the boat pulling against a MH rod. 

 

I missed hitting the citation length for a pickerel by one inch. It was only 23" and 3 pounds.

[Captain Phil]

From my experience, the strongest fighting bass are around 6 pounds. Of course this depends upon the tackle you are using at the time.   I catch most of my larger bass flipping with 25 pound mono. I have had a few bass pull me to my knees on the first run.  The largest bass I ever caught this way ran under the boat breaking my flipping stick off on the side of the boat.  Some big bass seem to come to the boat fairly easy.  I once caught a six pound largemouth on a 4" Rapala with a 6 pound spinning outfit.  I was fishing in a field of pads and somehow got the bass to the boat.  That was some fight.

[J Francho]

Most can tell you exactly how big it is if it breaks off.

[Dwight Hottle]

13 hours ago, geo g said:

The answer in Florida is NO.  I have had some pigs just give up the fight early, and some 2 to 4 pounders that were just plan mean, and deep in the water.  Until they break water all bets are off.

 

That's my experience also. My last trip to the St Johns I had a 6lber fight like a really big fish thought it was a DD. Caught a 10-2 the same day & thought it was a 5lber until I saw in the water boat side.  I have caught lots of 5lb smallies that I swore were 7-8lbers before seeing them for the first time. Some fish just have an attitude. 

[JustJames]

Just a few day ago, I caught two bass not back to back but 15 mins apart. Same setup, same lure same drag. First one was about 4lb caught in 10 FOW around 50’ out in open water no cover at all, second one around 7lb about 5-6 FOW and 20’ with a lot of tree. The first one definitely pull harder, tried to go deep, then came up and jumped a few time. The second one tried to get into tree at first hookset. I had to thumb the spool firm and walked back instead, the bass gave just a few head shakes but easier to pulled out of cover otherwise my 8lb leader with 15lb braid not gonna stand a chance. The first one definitely took me longer than second one to land.

first bass open water.

second bass with lots of cover.

[softwateronly]

23 hours ago, RDB said:

Agree...though you have more experience with 2’ long bass than I.

 

Although not foolproof, I can usually tell if it’s a big bass by the head shakes.

Agreed, the reel stopping head shakes are the only giveaway I know of. 

[Boomstick]

At some point during the fight, I usually have some idea of if it's big or small, but that's about it. The largest bass I hooked I knew was big because it towed the rowboat around like a motor for a couple minutes before swimming under the boat and shaking the hook. That was in a class of its own.

 

I caught two bass over five pounds last summer. One of them bent up my spinnerbait and put up quite the fight and the other came along quietly. I also caught several two pound bass in the same area and on the same day. I was surprised that one of them was over a pound, and another one I thought was going to be almost certainly 4+ but ended up being 2.5.

[Manifestgtr]

On 4/16/2021 at 1:04 PM, Bankc said:

I can usually identify the species before I see them, and with that, I'll have an idea of the size, based on what I typically catch in that lake.  But even that's not real accurate.  

Same here...bass have a much more vertical fight than pike species. And if the pulsing is rapid, you’ve probably hooked that little sunfish that was nibbling on your senko, etc. 

[LrgmouthShad]

Winter PB put up a great short fight. Mostly bulldogged deep. Head shake at boat. I thought it was around 6 pounds until it shook its head. Figured it was big because of the ultra subtle bite on a spinnerbait, had no idea how big. When it shook its head I couldn't believe the size. Seeing big bass through the internet nowhere near compares to them in person. I thought my first six pounder was a giant.... lol. Basically though the bite is more of an indication to me to the size of the bass rather than the fight. The more subtle the bite, the bigger the fish for me. 

[BassNJake]

On 4/17/2021 at 8:29 AM, Darth-Baiter said:

My dream is to slip my kayak into some Florida waters. 

Your dream or the alligators dream?  lol 

 

[Bubba 460]

Without a doubt... last summer I was fishing a black, Manns 12" worm in a large cove littered with sunken lay-downs blown in from a hurricane years ago. I had already caught several six to eight pounders there in the last week of fishing. Anyway, I felt the bass suck the worm in with a slight "thump". I waited three seconds then hammered home. When the heavy action rod and 30 lb braid went tight the bass took off straight away, burning line off a tight drag. She ran about 18 maybe 20 feet then she was locked-up, she had gone under, over or around something and I could not move her nor did I feel her after that. Was she big? ~ you better believe she was. I have never had a bass do that to me with that much brute power... a king salmon, yes.  I'll never forget it.   "No bass can take three barrels down"

[txchaser]

Only thing that seems to be consistent for me is if I'm fishing a moving bait and it just stops moving and the rod loads up, either I'm stuck on a laydown again, or it's going to be big. Only thing I can figure is the big girls are too lazy to eat and move, they just sit there.

[Bankbeater]

Sometimes I can in the summer if the bass is in open water.  With the gear I use I can start noticing a stronger pull when the bass is around 3 pounds or so.

[the reel ess]

If it's a big fish I usually overestimate it by a pound or two. I've caught 2 over 7 this year and one 6. But I caught a 3.75 on a Whopper Plopper last weekend that fought harder than any fish I've caught this year. It wouldn't give up, even when I lipped it. Thank goodness for the hooks on a WP. Best hooks on any lure I have.

 

But some of the lightest strikes I've gotten were big bass on topwaters, like a popper. They'll just sneak up under it and it'll disappear.

[goosejetski]

Not usually. They all seem to fight differently.

[Alex from GA]

I fish a lot of rivers in central FL all winter and the bass there are a lot tougher than in the lakes.  A couple of days ago I caught an Alabama bass that I thought was over 3 but I weighed it @ 1.87.  It was a really mean fish.  

[cheezyridr]

On 4/16/2021 at 12:58 PM, blckshirt98 said:

On a side note foul hooked fish feel 3x heavier than they actually are, hate it when you think you have a donkey on only to find it hooked all funky.

 

 

the hardest fightin bass i ever caught, was a snappin turtle. hahahaha