Heavy fish in FLW striper series

[eelskimmer]

The top bass in the FLW Walmart series was 35.8 lbs. To me that
is a huge fish for a limit of 34 inches. A 34 inch fish should run in
22-25 lb class. Am I wrong?? Last night I released a 38 inch SB
because I thought it wasn't over 30 lbs for the Striper Cup. Again
I rate a SB as one pound for each inch starting at 50 inches. Are
the bass getting bigger?? In this Servies the first 16 SB weigh-in
were over 30 lbs. That is 16 SB 34 inches or less over 30 lbs.
I am ready to tear my hair (what little I have left) out for not
scaling that fish last night. Tonight is too late for Striper Cup.

[t.orlando]

It's combined weight of 2 fish

[leptar]

show me a 34" 20# bass please... I've taken them from 15 to just over 18lbs with a small blue and a bunch of silver sides in her belly...


My buddy's 44" only went 33lbs and change...

maybe thats the 2 fish total weight?

[eelman]

A 34 inch fish is between 13 and 15lbs at the most........36inch- 15 to 18lbs

[clambelly]

they had one 34" fish weigh in at 19#.

the winning weight was 35.5# for the two fish.

both tournament records from what i heard.

[JohnR]

Guys, to compare apples to apples, in the FLW Series, it is 34" FORK Length, not nose to tip of tail. So a 34" Fork Length can really go 36" or a tweak over - or approaching 20 pounds for a fatty. Two fatty "34 Inch Fish" in this tourney could pull 35 and change combined weight...

[piemma]

Had a 43" fish this Spring that went a tad over 25#

[eelskimmer]

Yeez, thanks guys. So it was two fish at about 17lbs each.
Thank god I thought I was losing my mind. Tail fork or
tail end, in forty years starting at 16 inches I can get confused.
In the eighties I was releasing 38 inch SB for a number of
years after the size limit was reduced. Don;t blame me, I
look for pounds not inches.

Now, for the rest of the season what size should I keep to get
a 30lb to keep. I usually leave the scale in the car.

[Rappin Mikey]

35.5", 25#

[Riptide]

The 34" fork length gave us legal fish up to just about 36" overall. In the past the events have been won with a pair of fish going 33.5 combined. This time we got 33.5# and tied for 4th. That 19#er was a slob and if paired up would have REALLY blown the total weight record away with nearly 40# total weight. Great event, great staff can't wait for the next one.