Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Some Indiana Bass

here are some big bass we have got this year the one bass had freakish girth the pics don't do her justice....

Awesome fish man! You get any weight or length measurements on those beauties?

The biggest one was 23.5 inches long and 21 inches around it looked like it had just eaten a 3 pounder it was freaky...this lake produces a ton of fish in the 4-6 pound range and has produced bass up to 10.5 pounds I saw one I am convinced would hit 12....private and only 3 people fish it

Very nice AEM.

Those are some healthy looking bass! Very nice!

Did you catch them all on the same bait, and what were you using?

That had to be fun!

If you need a place to get rid of those scroungy things, I could let you dump them in my pond out of the kindness of my heart:)

Your lake is producing some large bass so you should be informing the anglers as to the best ways to handle large bass to protect them from mishandling and a premature death. It takes a long time to grow a trophy bass. It is a shame to loose that fish due to poor handling by anglers. Just because a fish swims away does not mean it lived longer than a several days until it developed fungus that eventually lead to its death.

Here are some bits of information for proper handling large and small bass.
If you catch a fish larger than five pounds, use the dipnet. If no net is available, guide the fish to the boat or dock, kneel down and lip it with wet hands and use your off hand to cradle the lunker under its belly.
Never hold a large bass by its lower jaw only. Jaws of large fish can easily be dislocated if its mouth is opened too wide or there's too much weight on the jaw.
Fish Handling and Lifting Info
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4...

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/handling-bass.html

Holding Bass
http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/hold-fish.html

Bass Pro Shops have a program where you donate a fish that meets their minimum size, and they have a replica mount made for you in exchange, providing it was handled properly and was in good shape.

A while back they took in a large LMB. It wasn't until after they had it a while that they noticed that it's bottom jaw was broken due to poor handling technique. They performed surgery and fixed it. The lower jaw was broken right in the middle - it pulled apart enough to break it, but not tear the skin.

They should have kept getting fish from Cecil or at least had him do the mount.

I see the broken jaw in the middle thing once in a while as a taxidermist. I suspect it's from snapping the jaw back on larger heavier fish. Back when I was raising largemouth bass I would never hold a bass like that -- always supported the weight of the fish.