Very Nice Northern Bass. They were likely females looking for food energy items for egg development. Keep in mind that as these bass get larger you should not hold them solely by the jaw because the full weight can disjoint or damage the mandible hinges of the jaw. A big bass with a broken or damaged jaw is almost always a later mortality due to being hampered in capturing food. No use injuring or killing your biggest bass needlessly. Improper handling will result in premature death of the numbers of bigger bass per acre.
Previous discussions of correct way to handle large bass
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=402580Examples of Bad Handling
http://www.laperlaranchresort.com/fishing1.htmlExamples of correctly holding big bass to reduce broken jaw problems
http://bigbluegill.com/forum/topics/correct-way-to-hold-larger-bass?commentId=2036984%3AComment%3A589403&xg_source=activity
Bob Lusk Says About Handling Trophy Fish.
Do Not, under any circumstances, hold a true trophy bass by its lower jaw without supporting its body with your other hand under the rear part of its stomach. By no means, with any bass of any size, ever pull back on the jaw of your fish, as it can become quickly fractured or dislocated. That's usually a death sentence to a big fish. If you don't believe me, ask those who run the ShareLunker program at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Several great specimens were donated to that program last year to spawn and help stock public lakes around the state. But, those gorgeous girls didn't get past angler handling to do what they could do to help many other lakes. They died from bad handling.
From:
https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/hold-a-fish.html
