Bass on the Atkins diet?!?

[Mr. Sandman]

I am seeing some big bass caught....length wise but the weight is not there.

Fish that have the huge heads and long length of 40's but weigh in the high 20's... saw a 53.5" fish ....weight 45

I miss the old days with "Overweight American" bass when the fish weighed more then its length ...by a lot!

[fishweewee]

Lack of menhaden is the problem, I think. I don't think any other forage stacks up to menhaden in nutritional (particularly fatty) content.

[RIJIMMY]

I thought that was typical for early-mid season fish. They have not beefed up from the spawn and migration yet.

[macojoe]

I got a 48" Bass last week that weight in at 33.21 pounds??

[irishcurse]

Fishweewee is right. The bass that were eating pogies years ago were much fatter. They expend much more energy chasing 50 sand eels than one fat pogy.

[tlapinski]

the season started off good, with fish like RappinMikey's 38" 24# bass and a bunch with similar dimensions i caught back in early may. my last good fish came a few weeks ago whiched taped out at 44" and 27#'s. nice empty belly on her. the bass i kept last weekend had some small herring and mole crabs in its belly. i have seen way too many bass with crabs in them over the past few seasons. there just can't be a lot of nourishment in something with such a hard shell.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Toby I'm seeing the same thing... a few crabs or bugs in the last fish I've kept... and they were skinny.. on the flip side took a 39" 22lb fish two weeks ago... nice and fat

[Van]

When I keep them for the table, I find Lots of fish with empty stomachs.

I agree on the Menhaden issue.