McReynolds was far from a ham and egger. He was known as a competent fisherman in the Atlantic City area and always placed high in the various club tournaments down there.

There are at least 5 confirmed, legit catches (even if YOU don't consider McReynolds to be legit) as big or bigger than Cinto's. Cinto's fish was never a world record, and was never submitted for one because it was caught illegally under IGFA rules--on wire line. It was also caught on a lure with multiple treble hooks, which also made it illegal under IGFA rules at the time. Charlie's a swell guy, and we all love him to pieces, but his fish isn't even a state record in Mass--it's a co-record with two other fish the same weight--Tony Stetzko's 73 from shore, and Charles Church's 73 from 1912. Bob Rochetta from NY has a 76, if you don't want to acknowledge McReynolds fish--in fact, that fish was the record that McReynolds broke.

look how small Church's bass looks and its 73 lbs.. http://www.tattoostackle.com/yestery...s/73lbs_lg.jpg

AMEN!

nice work, Mike, in setting the record straight.
i had forgotten about the Rochetta record at 76.
thank you for jogging my memory. Rochetta is tha man!!
not taking anything away from Charlie, who is amazing.

i also was not aware of McReynolds' success down south and
i will retract my statement of his ham&eggedness; however,
i still think that he made a "bad call" to submit that particular
fish for an IGFA ruling ~~especially so, since he knew better than
anyone how it ALL went down,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,very suspect, imho.

that 85.56#'er above just confirms that there ARE sum
MONSTERS out there, still kicking arse and taking names.

i mean if 85+ is being caught from a boat, then that bodes well for us surfrats, wouldn't ya say???
:cool: :cool: :cool:

I was thinking the same thing. But then again it has a hell lot more chance of living when they put it back in the water then if it went to the cooler. Ive seen bass with 5-6" holes in their sides with organs visible that fought like hell. I think bass are a lot tougher then people think.

This is not all that clear. Last year I tried to find a definitive answer on this (because I like to weigh large fish). What is involved is something called an "isthmus injury" which, as best I can determine is the result of over stretching the narrow spot where the gills meet the mouth (i.e., the throat). There seemed to be good data that snook did not tolerate this well. There was also good data that holding very large muskies (40+ lb fish) vertically by the gill cover had no effect on survival. Certainly largemouth bass get handled this way all the time and seem to survive it. I don't think a scale or a boga grip is any better than a gill cover grab, indeed the gill cover grip probably distributes strain more evenly. I think the bigger problem is time out of water in the warm months. Experience has taught me it is very hard to revive a large fish that has fought hard, then been weighed and photographed on an August night.

It the one thing that makes us all chubby chasers, big cow bass. And it waslove at first sight with the above specimen.

yep, and you know his wife is a 6 footer
nice try though

I commend them for releasing that fish and following the law. I'm sure there are others out there like her swimming around also.

i agree

I don't trust the measurements of a live struggling cow in a Jon Boat in the dark to be accurate-- just estimates... :gf:

Of course always hard to tell fish weight from any pic! -- yet I've won quite a few bets with friends doing just that. Huge Bass here for sure! ... but to my eye lacks the super- full/ grossly- huge belly of the 78 lb. record fish. To me she's exactly how I see Tonys' Bertha or Cintos' fish: approx. 73 lbs.


VERY happy about the release! :humpty:

But: NEVER handle a Cows' Gill area at all! ... or weigh it suspended by the mouth at all! ... if intending to release it! Loved the Skinner book for the most part... but very surprised he still lip- weighs big Bass he's intending to release afterward? (IS exact weight vs. eye- ball estimate so necessary with released big Bass... esp. to guys who find & land a lot? :huh: )


THAT said: I do agree with Chef & Bart-- even mishandled & abused during release... big Bass are very hardy creatures (& survive release way more than stats. say IMO)! Oxygen depletion/ time out of water before release is the single biggest factor limiting that fishs' survival rate! (you want that picture-- BE PREPARED ALWAYS!... so you can do it in a flash! (not in 5 minutes! :exp: )

I go back and forth, but I did photograph a 67 pounder this past September, 31.5 girth, 56 length. 69.45 so it's usually close anyway.

[QUOTE=LeCounts1099;664762]I don't trust the measurements of a live struggling cow in a Jon Boat in the dark to be accurate-- just estimates... :gf:

QUOTE]

Have you ever had a big bass struggle mightily when you landed her? I haven't. They're not like bluefish or schoolies, they may flop a few times, but they are easy to measure. Granted I have never taken an 80 pounder :laughs:

The big thing here to me is that this guy is not claiming his fish to be a WR, and he released her. No matter how bad you are at measuring that fish is going to be over 80, I mean to mess it up that bad you'd have to wrap the tape around your wrist and the fish :laughs:

And how can we even speculate if the fish lived or not? If that fish died, the damage was probably already done, fighting a dinosaur like that is probably similar to running your 90 year old grandmother on a treadmill for 5 hours.

Hell of a fish either way. :btu:

-dave

Have you ever had a big bass struggle mightily when you landed her? I haven't. They're not like bluefish or schoolies, they may flop a few times, but they are easy to measure. Granted I have never taken an 80 pounder :laughs:

The big thing here to me is that this guy is not claiming his fish to be a WR, and he released her. No matter how bad you are at measuring that fish is going to be over 80, I mean to mess it up that bad you'd have to wrap the tape around your wrist and the fish :laughs:

And how can we even speculate if the fish lived or not? If that fish died, the damage was probably already done, fighting a dinosaur like that is probably similar to running your 90 year old grandmother on a treadmill for 5 hours.

Hell of a fish either way. :btu:

-dave

I don't know if you can compare an 80lb bass to an elderly human. It's been reported that stripers well over 100lbs have been netted, so is an 80 lber really equivalent to a 90 yo woman? I'm no scientist, but I would imagine that a fish that large would be pretty healthy and strong to survive in the ocean with all the predators out there. If you believe McReynolds story about the fight his fish gave, then you'd have to conclude that big fish are much stronger in comparison to a human at the same relative point in their lifespan. But what do I know?

Kudos to the guys for releasing such a nice fish.

Two big mistakes handliing that fish 1) sticking his hand up under the gills and 2) lifting it straight up like that, undoubedtly damaging its internal organs. Odds of that fish surviving the encounter are somewhere between slim and none.

the dorsal fin on this bass is about the size of my average striper catch.

Thanks for taking me completely litterally :tm:

People have lived to be 121... and I still wouldn't run my 70 year old grandmother on the treadmill for 5 hours :laughs:

I have talked to a few people who have caught 60's and many have said that the fight was short and easy. One strong run, turn and come in, Iron Mike said his came in belly up. Not trying to say that I know any of that for a fact, but you can't argue that catching and fighting that old fish didn't do her some damage.

Still, I commend the angler for making the release attempt. :grins:

Dave, I wasn't busting on you. Just pointing out that fish don't neccessarily grow old the same way as people. I've never seen a striper with gray hair or false teeth.:tooth:

I guess in my mind I'd like to think that she swam away and was fine and I was trying to rationalize that thought. I hate to think that such a fish would swim away few feet and sink to the bottom. Not knowing how the fight went, I have no idea how much damage was done. I do know that the hand up the gill certainly didn't help matters.

I hope you get the opportunity to see for yourself (and let us know)how a 60 or better comes in when hooked by you on one of your plugs this coming season.:)

No offense taken my friend :)

I was just playing. Just a little healthy back and forth to keep everyone thinking.

I always wonder about how well the fish I release fair... I try to be gentle and caring, that is after I tear my hooks out her, fishing is weird that way. You get commended for catch and release and you get trounced for keeping a trophy. Yet we all want to catch a bigger fish. I release (almost) all the bigger fish I catch.

But one time while fishing with a couple other guys on this board we were into some good fish, 25-40 pounds and after the tide bottomed out, I found a 40 and 30-something dead in the eel grass... so they came home with me, naturally. It makes you wonder though.

And before someone tells me we weren't being careful enough, the number of big fish that we didn't find dead was far better than two so I can only assume (hope) that they all survived. :huh: who knows?

I also think the formula is pretty close. Usually within 3 lbs if accurate measurements are taken, that is the key though. Either way it is a fantastic specimen and a great catch, and release.

Are these pre-spawn fish in the Chesapeake? or post spawn...?

That's a bass! :btu:

Pre spawn, they are moving up to spawn.

Dave,
I use the grandma analogy all the time.

Im gonna say pre-spawn.. they do their thing when it gets warmer.. or at least thats what i have read.

Machismo BS?

Take a good long look at the fly category records.
Some of those fish are pure SKILL.

Thats what I thought.
I'll withhold my comments about the light tackle and pre-spawn fishery this time of year....
I love the thread on the other place; all these experts talking about body shape on 60+lb fish... how many of them have caught a 20, let alone can outright say that fish is not over 60, and other claims.
Slob of a bass.

Oh my , that's a big one!