JSJ Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Well the day looked good and me and one of my buddies decided to go some fishing at a neighbors pond... well i got my personal best didnt have a scale would like to know what he weighed... He was 23 in long. I was thinking around 8 u guys tell me what u think here some pics..... There is another pic on page 3 of another monster that came out the same lake!!! Quote
SWH Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Did you keep the fish? If so what did you do with it? Either way thats a great HAWG! Quote
JSJ Posted November 10, 2009 Author Posted November 10, 2009 yes sir, I did hes at the taxidermy!!! I weighed him on a crappy spring loaded scale and it said 7.5 but I had some friends that had caught a few big ones and they said bigger than 7.5 Quote
-nick- Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Great fish! I don't know if you knew this or not but you can still get a fish mounted as long as you can take the appropriate measurements! I'm waiting until i hit at least double digits to get my first mounted. Great catch either way. What did you catch it on? Quote
JSJ Posted November 10, 2009 Author Posted November 10, 2009 Thanks guys I was using my carrot stix paired with a quantum energy pt 10# test and excalibur xr25 blue and chrome rattletrap Quote
looking4structure Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Nice fish.Congrats on your PB Quote
YeahSure Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Catch and Release! Todays taxidermists can make an exact replica given enough pictures and correct measurements. Put that hawg back for some other angler to catch one day next time Quote
BassDeaton01 Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Hey man great fish! Catch and release is something very good to practice and it is something I do myself. But if you want it mounted then by all means get it mounted. Either way you do it is your choice. Congrats on the PB! Quote
Super User Grey Wolf Posted November 10, 2009 Super User Posted November 10, 2009 Congrats on your PB. Quote
aarogb Posted November 11, 2009 Posted November 11, 2009 Nice fish. She's around the 6, 7, or 8 lb. range. Once again, nice fish. Quote
Super User senile1 Posted November 12, 2009 Super User Posted November 12, 2009 That is a good fish! I wish the picture was larger. Quote
JSJ Posted November 12, 2009 Author Posted November 12, 2009 sorry guys I didnt realize the pic was that small Ill resize them tommorow!!! Quote
Super User senile1 Posted November 13, 2009 Super User Posted November 13, 2009 sorry guys I didnt realize the pic was that small Ill resize them tommorow!!! Now that's more like it! Again, nice fish and congratulations! Quote
Super User RoLo Posted November 15, 2009 Super User Posted November 15, 2009 Congratulations on your personal best, she's a brute! The mean weight of a 23" largemouth bass is 7 lbs, on the money. However, your bass is a tad chunkier than the average bear so it's my guess that the scale used was spot-on. Todays taxidermists can make an exact replica given enough pictures and correct measurements. Precise measurements are of little value, unless the taxidermist has access to a mold of identical proportions (not likely). Roger Quote
tand Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Make sure you retire the lure, it looks really cool hanging in the fishes mouth once it is stuffed! Great fish!! Quote
Bigs Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 Nice fish but takin one from a pond is one of the worst things u can do. I hope u at least told ur neighbor u were keepin it. I'd shoot you if I saw you takin a fish like that from my property. Quote
brushhoggin Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 anyone with a name like 420angler wouldnt shoot anyone Quote
Super User J Francho Posted November 17, 2009 Super User Posted November 17, 2009 I'm not going to pass judgment on someone that legally kept a fish, since they are well within their right. And as much an accomplishment catching a 23" fish is, it really isn't that big, in the grand scheme of things. I will offer this tidbit that I'm stealing from BR member paul. Another great one there Paul, (or is it?) No disrepect intended, but I fish a series of golf course ponds, and I don't think any of them are more then 3 to 4 acres max, some of them may only be an acre or so. Point is, that I catch a decent amount of big bass out of those lakes. And as far as I know bass can live 10 year or so, right. I think you, are as well as myself are catching the same fish over and over again, Just alittle bigger the next year. Like I said, no disrespect intended, I still love pulling in a toad as often as I get the opprotunity to. Do you think this is the case with some of your giants, and do you see marks on thier jaws that you remember making yourself? Just wondering......... no offense taken. actually glad you brought this up. this gives us a golden opportunity to discuss the power of catch and release. yes i absolutely know that a lot of the fish i am catching are repeat customers and i've said that several times on here. i'm not going to go back and check the weights, but from memory, this fish was a little over 8 early pre-spawn. when i caught her post spawn, she was a little under 8. now, after a big fall feed, at 9-12, this is the biggest this fish has ever been and she demonstrates potential to be a 10+ by next spring if she continues to survive and eat well. the important point here is this. if this fish had been caught by someone, kept, and mounted at 8 then she would have never had a chance to be 9. if i would have kept this fish yesterday at 9-12, then she would have never had a chance to make it to 10. some people complain that they don't think they'll ever have a legitimate shot at a big bass where they live and sadly, for some people that is true. not because a trophy is not possible in their waters, but because other folks are just not gonna allow it to happen because they keep fish before they have a chance to reach their full potential. even sadder is that some of the very folks who complain about not having access to big fish have shot themselves in the foot out of ignorance because they are keeping the fish that have a shot at becoming giants. that is one of the big reasons we don't have more trophies available to us - angler impatience and the "bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush" philosophy. people catch a 6 pounder and it's the biggest bass they've ever caught. " no way i'll ever catch one bigger than this!" they think. so off to the taxidermist the fish goes and with it goes any chance that the fish could have become a real monster. either that or the fish is mishandled for way too many pictures and shortly after it is finallly released, it dies anyway. once either scenario happens, the angler who caught it has no chance whatsoever of catching it again down the road when it weighs 2 pounds more. he has also deprived someone else of the chance of catching it. and probably worst of all, he has removed that bass' genetics from the system, making it much less likely that there will be any more quality fish produced in that particular system - particularly if the system is small to begin with. not that i have a problem with someone keeping a big fish. they caught it and it's theirs to do with as they choose. i'm just saying that folks shouldn't cry that they can't catch an 8 pounder out of a pond when they kept the 6 that would have become their 8. the reality is this. you can have a pond with one 6 pounder in it and 20 2-3 pounders. the 6 pounder has demonstrated some real growth potential whereas the others have not. if i had to bet on one of those 21 fish to reach 10 pounds, my money is on the 6. why? because it has already demonstrated some amazing growth potential and out-performed its competition. and if i want to ensure that fish the absolute best chance at becomming a giant, i am going to remove some of the 2-3 pounders to further eliminate competition for food. not every bass has a chance to become a legitimate trophy any more that every person has a shot at standing 6'5" or becoming a world champion body builder. genetics are far more important than most of us realize. it takes big ones to make big ones. so yes, i am catching a lot of the same fish. that's how i designed it from the beginning. sorry for the soapbox. hope it didn't sound too preachy. but to me, catch and release is our best shot at making sure that one day all of us catch the fish of our dreams. Makes sense, doesn't it? Congrats on a new PB. Quote
BassResource.com Administrator Glenn Posted November 17, 2009 BassResource.com Administrator Posted November 17, 2009 Hey guys, when it comes to public water on large bodies of water, catch and release is an absolute MUST. Conversely, when it comes to private, small pond management, selective harvest is an absolute MUST. Please do not get the two confused. Quote
Super User fishinfiend Posted November 17, 2009 Super User Posted November 17, 2009 anyone with a name like 420angler wouldnt shoot anyone Nicely played, sir! Quote
paul. Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 Hey guys, when it comes to public water on large bodies of water, catch and release is an absolute MUST. Conversely, when it comes to private, small pond management, selective harvest is an absolute MUST. Please do not get the two confused. agreed. but since we are tying to avoid confusion, the only way keeping 7-8 pound bass can be classified as "selective harvest" is either if (a) there are several 10 pound plus fish in this pond or ( the management goal of this particular pond is to raise large numbers of smaller fish. that said, jsj caught this fine fish and it's his to do what he wanted to with it. i'm sure he was proud of it. i got my first big one mounted too back when i was younger. there weren't replicas then and i didn't know any better. i'm not going to throw rocks at anyone for keeping a big fish. education is the key to more people releasing big fish, not criticism. negativity just turns people off. that's a good 'un for sure jsj. good luck with the mount. hope you release your next one. Quote
Northern Strain Posted November 17, 2009 Posted November 17, 2009 Wow thats nice! I do practice catch and release, but some times when you get a big one like 7lb or better, it is fine to mount that hawg! Quote
brushhoggin Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 anyone with a name like 420angler wouldnt shoot anyone Nicely played, sir! thanks man, was wondering if anyone would pick that up ;D Quote
JSJ Posted November 18, 2009 Author Posted November 18, 2009 well when I caught this hog the owner was actually looking out the window and seen me catch it. He told me if I didnt wanna keep it then he was gonna put it in the freezer. He has even bigger on his wall that came out the same lake including 2 12lb largemouth and a 65 lb carp along with a few 10s. I know its wierd that someone would hang a carp but a 65 lb carp. It was a state record. Possibly even a world record and the crazy thing bout the carp he caught it off a lightweight spinning reel witha piece of corn and 8Lb test line!!! Quote
Super User J Francho Posted November 18, 2009 Super User Posted November 18, 2009 The IGFA All Tackle Common Carp record is 75-11, from France. Quote
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