My New Fish Mount! Male Or Female?

[Dalton Tam]

This passed April I fished a tournament and caught a fish that supposedly weighed 6lbs 3oz. based on a cheap set of scales. It was a "jelly jar" tournament. I decided to get it mounted since I had never gotten one mounted before. I've turned back several fish that were larger and kicked myself in the but for it. But the main reason I decided to mount this fish was because it seemed to have blown its eggs out because it was so skinny, I decided it wouldn't hurt to get HER mounted. My taxidermist claims that the fish is a MALE fish because it had no egg sack and its belly was tight where as most females have loose skin around the belly where the taxidermist can tamper with and make the fish look a little bit more "girthy". I just wanted to know your opinion on this. BTW the fish was 17.5 inches long. My Taxidermist has an 8.5 lb. fish in his shop that is only 16.5 inches long. Here is a photo. I put a 2 liter bottle aside the fish so that you can tell the size.

[7mm-08]

From what I've read, it would be unusual for a male to get that big.

[Dalton Tam]

corrections on that.... the mount used for this fish was 17.5 inches and the mount or the 8.5 was 16 inches. This actual fish is almost 24 inches long

[clayton86]

Iv always been a fan of replica mounts but what's it matter if its a he or she though its the memory that matters. There's been one iv been dieing to get done I seen it in a local tackle shop and want one similar just swap the smb with the lmb and vice versa.

[North Ga Hillbilly]

good lookin mount either way. If it was a male he was a boss hawg. So the fish you caught was 24", but he mounted it on a 17" mold?

NGaHB

[Revo_Carrot Stix]

I was watching Strike King Pro Team Journal and Mark Mendez mentioned that its easy to tell a male by looking at the bottom jaw - male bottom jaws come to a point in the front, whereas females have a rounder look. Anyone else heard this?

[George Welcome]

I was watching Strike King Pro Team Journal and Mark Mendez mentioned that its easy to tell a male by looking at the bottom jaw - male bottom jaws come to a point in the front, whereas females have a rounder look. Anyone else heard this?

Not so according to any biological papers that I have ever read.

[Bass_Fanatic]

corrections on that.... the mount used for this fish was 17.5 inches and the mount or the 8.5 was 16 inches. This actual fish is almost 24 inches long

My mounted fish is 24" and she weighed 10.1 lbs.

[Dalton Tam]

My mounted fish is 24" and she weighed 10.1 lbs.

Fanatic, I caught this thing right out of open bayou back in April. Bryan Mabou's old digital scales read 6 lbs 3 oz. I'm not sure If I beleieve that. But the fish really is quite skinny. If this fish could have had some girth I maybe could have set some kind of Saline Lake record ha.

[Dalton Tam]

good lookin mount either way. If it was a male he was a boss hawg. So the fish you caught was 24", but he mounted it on a 17" mold?

NGaHB

Yea the foam mount placed inside the fish was 17.5 inches. The head and tail fin of the fish adds the extra length.

[North Ga Hillbilly]

Got ya.

NGaHB

[Bluebasser86]

That would be a huge male bass from everything I've heard. I don't think I'd trust anyone but a fisheries biologist on whether it was a male or female, but then again I've never really had a reason to need to know.

[deaknh03]

Ask if it wants to buy a wooden Ipad, that should give you your answer.

[FishinTN]

I've heard the round/pointed jaw also.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Ask if it wants to buy a wooden Ipad, that should give you your answer.

ha ha I just heard this story as I was reading.

[George Welcome]

How can you tell the gender of a largemouth bass?

By looking at the bass in your hand.

As a general rule the vent or scaleless urogenital opening in a male largemouth bass tends to be more circular in appearance while the opening in a female largemouth tends to be more elliptical. Having said this, however, I should hasten to note that few biologists or fisheries managers rely on this method of determining the sex of a fish, because even to the well trained eye it results too often in mis-identification.

Instead, at least during the spawning season, a much more reliable method of determining the sex of mature fish is to gently push on the fish's belly, back toward the tail. When you do this properly, you will often see a white milky substance (milt) flow from a male bass while a few eggs will be evident from a female fish.

Beyond this very seasonal method, however, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between male and female largemouth bass. The only possible exception is when you catch a particularly large fish. As a general rule, largemouth bass bigger than eight or nine pounds are nearly always females.

Source(s): http://www.in-fisherman.com/interactive/...

[Mattlures]

That would be a very large male but not unheard of. The weight of the fish sounds right based on the description and your taxidermist made a reasonable determination.

[WRB]

There are lots of factors why a largemouth bass isn't typical body weight for a particular lake; old age, injury, desease all contribute to the lack of ability to catch prey.

It is very rare for a largemouth male bass to weigh more than 7 lbs, the vast majority over 5 lbs are female.

The sex organs, gonads are either testicles or ovaries of largemouth bass are internal, the external appearance are indenticle between the sexes. You can sex the bass if the females have eggs or the male has melt.

General weight formula for LMB is length X length X girth divided by 1200 = weight in lbs. Length is measured with the mouth closed from tip of lower jaw to center of the end of the tail, with the fish laying on a flat surface. The girth is measured around the bass at the widest area near the center of the dorsal fin flattened.

Tom

PS; I would return the mount for the proper length and girth of the bass you caught. The girth of a skinny bass is about 60% of the length, the average is 75%, heavy body bass are over 85% of the length.

24" skinny bass = about 6.9 lbs.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Fanatic, I caught this thing right out of open bayou back in April. Bryan Mabou's old digital scales read 6 lbs 3 oz. I'm not sure If I beleieve that. But the fish really is quite skinny. If this fish could have had some girth I maybe could have set some kind of Saline Lake record ha.

Yeah your right. Ive never seen anything over 8lbs come out of Saline. But there are a ton of 5-6lbers come out of there every Feb.-April.

[Dalton Tam]

How can you tell the gender of a largemouth bass?

By looking at the bass in your hand.

As a general rule the vent or scaleless urogenital opening in a male largemouth bass tends to be more circular in appearance while the opening in a female largemouth tends to be more elliptical. Having said this, however, I should hasten to note that few biologists or fisheries managers rely on this method of determining the sex of a fish, because even to the well trained eye it results too often in mis-identification.

Instead, at least during the spawning season, a much more reliable method of determining the sex of mature fish is to gently push on the fish's belly, back toward the tail. When you do this properly, you will often see a white milky substance (milt) flow from a male bass while a few eggs will be evident from a female fish.

Beyond this very seasonal method, however, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between male and female largemouth bass. The only possible exception is when you catch a particularly large fish. As a general rule, largemouth bass bigger than eight or nine pounds are nearly always females.

Source(s): http://www.in-fisherman.com/interactive/...

If the fish had already blown her eggs out for the year wouldn't she still have an empty egg sack left behind? and also the loose belly skin that the taxidermist said he could usually take and make the fish look like it has a full belly, would this be a determining factor?

[WRB]

If the fish had already blown her eggs out for the year wouldn't she still have an empty egg sack left behind? and also the loose belly skin that the taxidermist said he could usually take and make the fish look like it has a full belly, would this be a determining factor?

The body of your bass has the classic over size head and skinny body of an under nourished fish. Unheathly female bass do not fully develope eggs. Your mount should represent the bass you caught.

Tom

[rboat]

I have heard from some of the guys at the local hatchery that full grown mature adult bass are normally between 3-4 pounds as the average. Larger ones are possible but rarely go much over 5 pounds. I also heard a general charateristic deals with the lower jaw being a bit more narrow and protruding out slightly more than the female but it is not a true indicator.

Either way, nice catch!