Six pound New England largemouth...how old??

[Bassnajr]

Hey all...

Just wondering if anyone has any idea how long it would take a New England largemouth to reach six pounds.

Ideas??? Comments??? Scientific data???

[hookset on 3]

Hello Fellow Rhode Islander, I live in North Kingstown and have been Bass fishing in R.I. ponds and lakes for almost 40 years.

To answer your question, that 6 pounder is ten years old approx. For New England, with its short growing season, that fish is huge!

[Bassnajr]

Wow!!

Thanks for that input!!!!!

and...... Hello back at ya!!!

[fourbizz]

wait till Urbanredneck finds this thread. hell be able to give you a good answer

[Koop]

I know this is data for WI but thought it might help give an idea:

"Age and growth: Growth varies with the length of the growing season. That is, when the water falls below a certain temperature (some studies indicate 40 degrees), largemouth bass become very sluggish, with reduced metabolism and slowing of growth. As an indication of water temperature influence, in a relatively cold northern Wisconsin lake, it takes 5-6 years to grow a 14 inch largemouth bass, while 400 miles further south on the Mississippi, the same size might be attained in only 2-3 years. Largemouth bass have been observed as old as 16 years."

Now the a 14" bass with a girth between 8-12" is going to be 1.5-3#... for a 5-6 year old bass.  I would equate New England weather to about the same as mid / north WI weather.  So for 6#'s I would guess around 10 years.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

10 yrs is a good avg, she's between 8-12 depending on the abundance of forage where she lives.

Nice fish Al

[Tin]

Thats my fish from last year. She was about 6" when I got her. Then I gave her some of Manny's HCG and Pure Protein bars and she bulked up.

[madfish]

This is a pretty good post I didn't realize it took that long for them to grow that big. Just makes it better to throw them biggins back cause they must be doing something right to live that long.

[jaystraw]

That's really interesting. I caught a 6 pound 12 oz in NH this year, and I thought she must be around 10-12 years old. Here's a pic if I can be a bit of a showofff:

[=Matt 5.0=]

Thats my fish from last year. She was about 6" when I got her. Then I gave her some of Manny's HCG and Pure Protein bars and she bulked up.

Got any more?

[UPS VT]

I have a friend who is a biologist with our fish and game department.  He sent me a study a little while ago with some average age for certain size fish in the Northeast.  A fish of that size is more likely to be 15 years old.  It does depend a great deal on the available forage, but it is certainly a very old fish.