do the math on this one..

[Nebe]

36" G, 53" L

[BillM]

Wow! you made the best of some warm weather - Nice catch!

[Nebe]

I wish that was me.. but it is not-Chesapeake bay fish- caught and released after measurement.

[Nebe]

heres another shot-

C&R guys use this formula- Length X Girth squared, divided by 800 = weight in pounds. I come up with 86 LBS!! if this is true, we are looking at a new world record folks.

[Circlehook]

That fish is purty...and caught in a jon boat to boot.

[MAKAI]

WOW !!! better go find the find the honey, something came up.

[ProfessorM]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I wish that was me.. but it is not-Chesapeake bay fish- caught and released after measurement.

Where was it caught? Never mind I just read. Nice fish

[Nebe]

Caught in a state that has a law that makes possession of striped bass illegal this time of year-

[Pete F.]

85.86?

[ivanputski]

Its never easy to take exact measurements when the fish is alive and kicking... Keep a scale with you at all times...although my best fish come when i forget the scale or camera... if that was an 80# bass, you just released THOUSANDS of dollars in endorsements... if it was 70#, glad shes swimming... if it was 80#, I'd be kicking myself... and not knowing would probably haunt me. *(all that B.S aside, nice catch! glad she's out there breeding)

[Mike P]

I also think that the "formula" is based on fork length, not total length??

[intrepid24]

thats a gorgeous fish, and it was very commendable releasing it,
however i wonder what its odds of recuperating were after being held up by the gill like that. quite a bit of pressure there.
too bad it wasn't supported horizontally, or w/ a boga grip.
any thoughts ?

[cheferson]

Originally Posted by intrepid24

however i wonder what its odds of recuperating were after being held up by the gill like that. quite a bit of pressure there.
too bad it wasn't supported horizontally, or w/ a boga grip.
any thoughts ?

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.

[bart]

Originally Posted by cheferson

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 a hell. I think bass are a lot tougher then people think.

i agree

[LeCounts1099]

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

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!

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? )


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! )

[Canalman]

[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...

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

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

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.

-dave

[Canalman]

Originally Posted by LeCounts1099

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

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

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

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.

-dave

[ivanputski]

was kindof thinking the same thing... kind of like punching an 85 year old man in the face, dragging him out of his house into the front yard and then lifting him up by his ears... he's not going to just walk back inside and watch jeopardy like nothing happened when you let him go...

[gone fishin]

One beautiful cow. 19+/- years old and max weight app. 68 lbs. She was probably loaded with eggs. Lifting a fish that large by the gills probably killed the big girl.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by gone fishin

Lifting a fish that large by the gills probably killed the big girl.

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.

[jimmy z]

That's a bass!

[Swimmer]

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

[MakoMike]

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.

[JoeBass]

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

[ProfessorM]

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.

[RIROCKHOUND]

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

[NIB]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

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

Pre spawn, they are moving up to spawn.

Dave,
I use the grandma analogy all the time.

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

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

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

[RIROCKHOUND]

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.

[Saltheart]

Oh my , that's a big one!