Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass cutting deep

this one had to go. no growth over the past year +. topped out at 5 lbs. 6 oz. 22.25" long. gape measure was 4" x 4". (4" from bottom jaw to top and 4" from left side to right)

possibly a big, old male. i'll know more when i clean it.

it's always tough for me removing a bass over 5 lbs, but when giant bass are your goal, a big topped-out senior citizen like this can deplete a lot of food resources that could be better spent on young female fish with more potential.

anyway, this one will give me one more happy moment when it's sitting next to some white beans, slaw, and fries.

RIP biggun. It was nice knowin' ya.

Have ya considered havin Cecil do his magic on him?

It'd be interesting to see it's actual age (otolith). Thanks for the gape measurement!

I've got some males that are just now making beds. Some are tagged, so I will try like heck to catch them tomorrow and remove them. The tagged ones I can go back and see how they grew.

Have ya considered havin Cecil do his magic on him?

that sounds interesting. i'll go ahead and bite. what magic?

Bob, after seeing his other LMB, I don't think this one is anywhere close to being big enough.

jignpig, he's a stuffer.
Scott, of course I thought about that after I posted.

I'd like to be able to "see" some fish nesting in my pond. The water is always about 2' visability and the fish undoubtly are just below that or deeper. Wife went out on kayak and could not see any.

I was going to don the scuba today and see if I could go find some. But wind, waves and stormy looking, may take a pass till another day.

update. female fish. full of eggs when i cleaned it. it still baffles me how some fish can have all the advantages in the world and still underachieve. i got another one in there about that same length, or maybe even shorter, that goes over 8 pounds. but i guess you can't expect that from all of them. for every one that pleasantly surprises me, there's at least 2 that disappoint. oh well, she had her chance. Clearing her out will give another young fish an opportunity to impress.

Great example of jignpig sticking to his managements goals. Takes a lot to do that... Kudos.

Way to go Jignpig, you seem to be doing the right thing. Its genetics, and I guess some fish just cant grow as good as other fish.